Yikes, and Coming Soon

It just occurred to me how imposing that JOEZONE logo is at the top of the page. It's not as though it sounds like screaming which, for some, is what they hear when they see words typed in all caps. To me just now, it was a lot more like being in a seemingly empty room (ooh! the subtle foreshadowing is already beginning to work suspense like that fourth cup of coffee on a long, stationary afternoon...) and suddenly being startled by a creepy "Hello" from a guy standing directly behind you (you whip around to see him, only to notice that he's staring blankly past you into space), his voice seeming to have a built-in amplification like a bullfrog on steroids. At least, all that makes sense in my head (which is pretty much the point of this blog, anyways).

At any rate, I'd quite like to shed such a reputation.

And so, soon you may very well be coming here and seeing a brand new look and feel, as well as a somewhat-different substance to the blog-formerly-known-as-JoeZone. (But fret and fear not: the meticulously verbose and dryly-witted Joe you've come to love and very nearly send lots of money to for the purpose of expanding his blog- and song-writing craft has no intentions of going on a diet, he is just planning to give up the deep-fried-sugar-lard-cheese-cholesterol-donut-paintchip-puffs that he'd consumed for as long as love-turned-hate, to his better health and the relief of those within his immediate airspace-radius.) I don't know yet what it will be, which I think is appropriate since I don't know yet who I will be (in terms of those ever-so-slippery vocational specifics), other than who I am in the most important and ultimate sense (which, I'm learning, is enough for me - the rest will come in time; God will provide.)

So there's a little teaser of something to come. I'm already working on another post which could probably work as a good first post on the new page, not so much in the introductory sense, but perhaps more in the serendipitous, unexpectedness-of-life sense. If you're not sure what I mean by that, I could try to explain it by saying that I think the new post would be a fitting representation of the new tone I'd like to emit in the new blog, but I'm not sure that trying to explain it in such a way would really help you understand what this something is going to be like when that something hasn't been fully realized yet, much less even fully conceived, because then you get into that whole weird dynamic of more words actually serving to make something relatively simple (which I do actually believe that some critical part of this whole thing truly is) into something fairly complicated; and I think that I should most likely steer clear of generating more confusion than I am normally apt to create. So I'll simply ask y'all to wait, and soon y'all'll see what I mean.

One disclaimer I should probably make here involves the fact that my amazing wife actually helped designed this blog page, for which I am forever grateful and utterly astounded. I'm completely serious here - she never fails to amaze me in the way she can make something really cool and beautiful out of the sometimes convoluted and usually quirky (historical note: this is ironic since she was actually the first of the pair of us to have been so adjectivally and appropriately described) blob of formless, incredibly-potentialed, creative brilliance so often generated by my brain. Let it then be so disclaimed that my desire for a change in relation to my blog is not so much a makeover as it is a renovation, if indeed such a distinction can be made to mean to you what it means in my head. So then, I can only hope to be so honored as to once again reap the benefit of my lovely wife's genius, and of course, as before, and all the more, pass the awesome on to you.

Kathryn the great

My wife is awesome. Such a declaration has been a long time coming for this blog, owing to the fact of my blog-envy (hers is usually more interesting). But this really has nothing to do with blogs.

Yesterday was Labor Day. We were both off (though I had to take a vacation day). Parts of the day were fun, and then by the evening the day had wore on, and so by night time the boredom of free time (spent watching too much TV) had seemingly overtaken the fun of earlier. And boredom turned into dismal-ity.

That's when my wife suggested we go for a walk. I like walks, and I like her, so this seemed like a good suggestion. And it was. But I was still moody. Probably for the first 30 minutes of the walk.

But she put up with me! For us, that was big: I have this tendency to have long, drawn out silences in conversations. Honestly, I would love to be able to say something useful very soon after she said something or asked me a question. But I'm too contemplative for that. What's more, there is often an inner turmoil preventing clear, easy answers. So, for better or worse, I wait.

And so did she. She was patient with me, didn't take offense at some of my remarks, and even kept her cool despite a flying cockroach threat. What a woman.

So here's to you, Kathryn: may your house be clean, your husband quick-thinking, your blogs hilarious and intriguing, your clothes loose in the right places, your cell phone battery charged, your smile beautiful, your garden watered (we grow vegetables in our backyard, okay?), and your cockroaches dead. And definitely not airborne.