Okay. So blogging is supposed to be healthy for writers and, now that I’m officially on that path, I’ve decided to take the plunge and begin my own blog. Now, maybe I'm just old, but I actually had to look up what exactly a blog is supposed to be. I hear you chuckling! But after hours of exhaustive study--squeezed in between turns of Rome: Total War--I've come to the conclusion that a blog is roughly 1% insightful discussion, 29% angry rant, and 70% pure drivel.

Why, I wonder do people keep reading blogs then, when the likely payoff is so small? Either folks out there just don’t have enough to do, or they gain some kind of benefit from reading the mundane and sometimes ludicrous thoughts of others. Part of me thinks blog readers are really just looking to feel better about themselves by seeing how truly insane (or idiotic) others can be . . . then again, the optimist in me (shrinking, tiny creature that he is) thinks that perhaps readers spend the time wading through the morass of useless banter to find that 1% of inspired thought.

Well, I can't realistically promise to deliver on that 1% standard of inspiration or enlightenment. I can, however, offer that perhaps there is value in the inane drivel and the virulent rants. That the entertainment value of such things brings a certain lightness of heart, and by extension, enjoyment, that we would otherwise be lacking. If that be the case, I invite you to soak up all the rants and pure, useless drivel that I can shovel and we'll all benefit together. While I generally prefer to discuss historical issues--to include some that may today be considered politically incorrect or otherwise sensitive--there is a good chance that, rants being the unpredictable beasts that they are, I will delve into other fields as well. Welcome to my blog . . . we'll see how it goes!

M.G. Haynes