Hello, World!

The exclamation point on the post title may be a bit of an exaggeration. Being a chronic introvert and a reluctant participant in society, opening the kimono to the world is not exactly a comfortable endeavor. Nonetheless, here we go.

Some explanation for the blog title is in order. First, the black trunk actually exists. Here is the black trunk ...



I took special care to tweak the image giving it its ominous and mysterious look (that's what sepia tones do, folks) because what is inside are my deepest darkest secrets. That is not exactly true. This is the box into which I throw items that both hold value such that I cannot bear to part with them and that I do not want anyone else to see. Photos of old girlfriends, cards from Mary the babysitter, and kind notes from friends are all mainstays in the black trunk. There may even be a yo-yo in there.

(By the way, I may alternately refer to it as the "black chest" or the "big black chest"; I was a bit reluctant to name the blog that because I think it's really rude to disappoint people searching the intarweb for porn.)

That said, have actually not gone through the contents of the chest in a long time. I normally use the trunk piggy-bank style.

It is probably worth me answering the next relevant question: why? I have considered writing a blog for a long time. Prior to right now, I had several rationalizations for why not to write a blog:

1. Everyone was already writing a blog, including my brother, and I am one who takes pride in not following the herd.
   
2. I had already had soooooo many un-blogged adventures that my blog would neccessarily be incomplete and therefore bad.
   
3. I do not like writing.
4. I do not like taking photographs.

I have systematically declared each of these to be bullshit. Thanks to my brother, I know I can exceed the quality of the herd. Number two is so obviously crap that it is not worth discussion. My new friend, Erin, has sparked a renewed interest in writing. And I still do not like taking photographs ... but I do derive considerable pleasure from tweaking them.

So why not? It's not like anybody will read this anyway, right?