Finally!

My brothers and my sisters:

Thank you for visiting my blog site. I really do appreciate that you would take the time out of your day to read about my thoughts or my life. I think that’s extraordinarily beautiful. That we, as humans, can be so interested or entertained by others’ lives. I just hope that this blog proves to be interesting or entertaining and not boring (because then my life and my thoughts would be boring L).

As some of you know, I have been intending to keep a blog for some time now. I told numerous people before leavening CA that I would be keeping a blog so they could stay updated on my experiences and we could stay relatively connected that way. Though starting a blog has been on my to-do list since arriving here in Harrisburg, PA, I have not been able to actually get around to doing it until today. This is for a number of reasons and I have numerous excuses, some of them legitimate and some not so legitimate. First, as some of you may know, particularly those who have roomed with me within the past year or so, my laptop computer is like a misbehaved, unruly stepchild. Our relationship started off wonderfully. Everything was so new, and fast, and easy, and cooperative. But as time wore on, my computer started being less cooperative, and slow, and unresponsive, and moody, and unpredictable. I have decided to stick with my computer through these hard times and it has helped me develop a deep-seeded patience that I probably would not have gained otherwise. Oftentimes I will sit at my computer and wait for it to “warm up” for 20 minutes. Or wait for it to ACTUALLY RESPOND TO WHAT I’VE BEEN CLICKING ON FOR THE PAST FIVE MINUTES. So while I am thankful for the patience that has developed, there are numerous times in my week where I dream of a younger, sleeker, hipper, faster Macbook (my laptop is a PC…that makes it really jealous), and await for the day where I can be finally rid of this wretched machine and do to it what the guys in Office Space did to the unruly copy machine (perhaps not as violently).

All that to say, there have been times where I have attempted to start my blog, upload photos and all that, but my computer has stubbornly prevented me from doing so. So if you want to blame someone, blame my computer.

Next, I am not so hot about writing, especially about myself. And it’s hard for me to think that people would actually be interested in reading what I have to say. But I know that there are at least a select few (thanks Mom!) that are. So I do it for them. And I do it for myself. It’s cathartic. And as I have come to realize, my memory is becoming progressively worse at doing it’s job unless I code my memories by processing them (either by talking or writing), so…yeah.

Lastly, I am a procrastinator. Again, like some of you know, especially those who have roomed with me. I am the type of person that waits until the day before the deadline (that’s an interesting word DEAD line…doesn’t help but add stress and anxiety to already stressed out and anxious college students), to start working on that 10 page paper. And seeing as there is not really a deadline for this blog to start, I was okay putting it off until next week, then putting it off until the week after that, then the week after that, and you know how it goes.

But alas, here it is. And alas, I have a name for this blog. I didn’t really give it a whole lot of thought, the name came to me while I was showering this morning. This blog I have decided to dub “The Interstate” and let me explain why (even though no explanation is needed, I think it’s cool and it’s my blog so who cares what you think! Just kidding, I love you and I really care what you think). I think the idea first popped into my brain because I crossed a number of different interstate highways to get where I am now. And then I started to unpack the idea of an interstate highway. There are hundreds of different interstates and they all go through different towns, cities, states, etc. Some go north to south and some go east to west. And, most likely, I will not be the only person on one of these interstates. There are people going the same direction as me (maybe even the same destination) and there are people going the opposite direction to who knows where. So, an interstate is like a path that directs or contains people’s travels, our journeys. Therefore, The Interstate is the place that will contain my journey: my experiences and thoughts. Also it is a place that will reflect my “inner-state” just to add a little play on words (hahahahaha!). Deep, I know.

So I am not sure how often I will be able to update this blog. I am shooting for about once a week. In one sitting I may be able to do one story/post or a couple, we’ll see how I’m feeling at that moment. But seeing as it’s already been a month since I left CA, I have some catching up to do on what I’ve experienced since then. So I’ll try to post about some things that I have experienced or have been thinking about over the past month. But they will be retrospective in nature until I can get caught up to the present.

I am hoping to upload some photos that I took while on my trip out here but I am not sure if my computer can handle it. We’ll see. Check back in next week to see how it goes (haha I sound like a sitcom).

I love and miss you all dearly.

-Craig