What in the Wide Wide World of Sports...

So let me explain this business about a "Companion Blog".

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

It starts a long, long time ago, in an institute of higher learning right down the road from here called Emory University. I arrived there in 1988 as a stupid, self-righteous, highly egotistical shithead. I cannot stress this point to you enough - I had no idea what I was doing, who I was, or what I wanted from life. What I did have, in spades, was an excess of self-confidence about how fucking smart I was. Sometimes, that self-confidence was all that kept me going. Luckily for me, I started meeting people who were actually every bit as smart as I thought I was. They thought the way I thought, they talked the way I talked, they read as much as I did and more, and they were a lot funnier than I was, and I would have told you back then that I was pretty fucking funny. These people taught me that I really was as smart as I thought I was, and that I could be that way and drop the excessive bullshit around it; that self-belief did not have to mutually exclude belief in others.

I'm a stubborn man, but I like to think I learned this lesson well.

One of these very bright, very funny, terribly erudite people was Megan. If for no other reason, Megan would win top awards for introducing me to one Wanda Yang, now Wanda Yang Temko, my greatest, bestest friend and co-author of this here blog. But wait, there's more.

• Late night rehearsals of James Taylor's 3-part arrangement of "That Lonesome Road" in the atrium of the DUC.
• Encouragement while arranging "This Island Earth" for the now defunct (in fact, for the almost immediately defunct) A-Capella group we attempted to form, and for letting me believe that it was only 4 parts, and not 5, as it clearly is.
• Introduction to more authors than I knew existed.
• Always willing to listen.

She and I were good friends during our Emory days, but, as will happen with all human relationships there was ebb and flow in the amount of time and attention we had. Besides which, once Wanda and I were properly aligned, I had very little time I wished to spend anywhere else at all. It also should be noted that Wanda and Megan were much better friends with eachother than Wanda and I were friends with one another. In fact, you could almost say that Wanda, well... Wanda wished I would drop dead.

But that's a story for another time.

Over the years, the collective Yang Temkos and Megan were out of touch entirely with one another(s?). It wasn't until we returned from our exile in Bloomington that we finally reconnected with her, which was a delightful experience for us all. It seems that, in the intervening space, we'd all become pretty fucking interesting froods (and nobody had farther to go than I did, so this is a signifigant achievement), but more to the point the connection we all had each to the other was still strong, and meaningful, and worth building upon. Friends like Megan don't come around every dynasty.

Well, now Megan is experiencing an exile of her own. She might not have chosen hers in the same way that we chose ours, but I do not believe it is a stretch to suggest that Megan thinks of Atlanta as home. And rather than falling out of touch with her again, as would be relatively easy to do even in this golden age of communication, we have all agreed to stay in touch as thoroughly as possible, to keep a feeling of anchoring for her here should she ever find a way to come back.

Now, I have resisted the blogging trend for a long time, despite its obvious application to my occasional need to rant, or to relate an amusing anecdote about something that happened, or even just to make some shit up. But, as I alluded to in an earlier post, some things are becoming manifestly clear to me as I age.

1. Computers are a young man's game. The constant drive to keep up with every facet of available technology requires an enormous expenditure of energy. At this time in my life I can easily keep up; I even enjoy keeping up.
   
2. This cannot possibly remain the case indefinitely.

Given this, it seems obvious that I ought to start developing other skills I can use to make a living, skills that don't require me to spin my wheels quite so fast in order to keep up. I have always loved to write, and sometimes I even write well. Unfortunately, I seem to have had trouble focusing for any length of time on any length of writing. I have two stories in my head currently. One of them is a short story, the other is epic in scope, and as much as I love it, I'm not ready to write it yet, not by a long shot. As it happens, my good friend Megan is a dramaturg of signifigant accomplishment (if you want to know what that means, I suggest you ask her) so now the path seems abundantly clear.

Enter the Companion Blog.

We kill so many birds with one stone it's a wonder the Audubon Society hasn't sent us a cease and desist. We all get to keep in touch. Megan has a forum in which to keep friends and family up to date (which I, as the official geek-in-residence to all of my friends, am all too happy to manage on her behalf), and as an extra bit of fun, Megan and I will occasionally give one another writing assignments to do, riffing on a theme of a post on one of our blogs, or maybe just making something up because it's interesting. Along with the posting on topics with which we are both comfortable with, it is my hope that we can take one another out or our respective comfort zones, enough to keep the experience organic, alive, human. It seems clear to me that I am getting more out of this deal than she is, but as long as she's willing to go along with it, I'm a fool not to take her up on it.

Blog On, Wanda!
Blog On, Megan!
(er... on Dancer and Vixen!)