I, Blogger

Having lived most of my life in a metropolitan area, I knew that a "tagger" was a graffitist, and that the phrase "Taggers Unite!" was some sort of rallying cry that never quite went much further than its painted expression. Around the time I left the big city, I had seen the phrase "Bloggers Unite!" similarly sprayed here and there. I did not know what a "blogger" was, and had little interest in finding out.

I later learned through the pop culture god that speaks from a cathode ray box, that a "blogger" was a person who felt some need to share every intimate detail of their daily life with the world at large, intimates and strangers alike. What a bizarre concept, I thought, and then thought no more of it.

Some time later, a young lady in my area approached me to solicit a modest contribution from my business to support efforts to send a local team to an international sporting event, in return for which my business would benefit from a mention and a permanent link on the team's "blog," which was nothing like the bizarre concept I had earlier imagined. My business was featured in a "post" and has a permanent link on the "sidebar."

Fast forward to last fall, when I took up the unusual sport of scambaiting. I was looking for an easy (idiot-friendly) and economical (free) way to show off my exploits, and I recalled that "blog" thing that my business had been featured on, since I knew it was free, and I guessed it was simple. Off I went to check it out, confirmed that the price was right and that it suited my needs, and Breakfast With Scammers was born. But I was not a blogger; I was just using the platform because it was easier and cheaper than setting up a web site.

From time to time I need some technical help. One thing led to another, and on the eve of my 47th birthday, I found myself in a strange corner of the googleverse known as the Coffee Shop. (I do not include a link here out of concern for your safety; if you should be there, you will find it.) There, I discovered (among other things) the world of blogging and bloggers. I also discovered that I missed writing for the sake of writing. There is certainly some creativity involved in the fine art of scambaiting, but it's just not the same thing.

So, one fine spring day, Stranger In a Strange Town was born, intended to be an excuse to write that would chronicle my experiences in this strange new virtual world. As my personal therapy at the Coffee Shop developed in its disturbing and effective way, I thought it might be cathartic to deal with some emotional issues creatively; thus Stranger became an extension to my therapy.

Each of my blogs is somewhat limited in its approach and content; it would be entirely out of place to post a political opinion or some other rant on either one of them. Thus, when The Muller invited me to join Opine Apparatus, I welcomed the opportunity, as I can now spout whatever ramblings I feel the need to express, without compromising the artistic integrity of my existing blogs.

I will warn you that my writing is often pretentious, overly verbose, and sometimes deliberately vague, and I have a very annoying tendency towards ridiculously long run-on sentences, with way too many commas, and at least one semi-colon; this allows the sentence to continue even further beyond the point at which it has served any useful purpose. If you can put up with this, you might not mind me so much.