As good a time as any.

All right. I’m ALL IN. After years of lurking, this here is the first post of many to this strange, oddly sociopathic medium which opens many doors and crushes fingers when some of those doors slam shut…

I’m 42, married to my best friend, two imperfectly perfect kids, great extended family and in-laws, lots o’ friends, and have a satisfying career to boot. As an architect, I’m PAID TO DRAW. Actually, I make graphic instructions for contractors to make buildings, if you distill the daily grind to its core. Life’s damn good, and I can’t complain. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Many people know me as Johnny, many others as John. Some call me Johan, or Gianni, or Giovanni, for reasons that relate to my pastime of choice: I also love to ride and race bikes (of the non motor variety). Cycling’s huge in Belgium. And food—a love affair that will never end. French fries are my Kryptonite. French fries in Belgium are known as frites. Hence my blog name: Johnny Frites, coined by a Mr. C. O’Brien, a friend and teammate who scoffed at the possibility of reading this blog, which will be replete with much exciting banter.

A minor introspective detour:

Why do we do this? I’ve been reading blogs now for some time, irritated by the origin of the name (web log) in the same way that the word “druthers” has always stuck in my craw. But the content has been fascinating; I’ve gotten to know people who don’t know who the hell I am or would care, unless they also had some sort of interest in what I write about. Certainly I have been interested in what others have written, their style of writing, what they do, how they live—no matter how much we think we are individuals we are affected by what we see, hear, read.

The issue here is the audience. If this were to be intimate, or private thoughts, or not meant to be shared, then why do this on this medium? Clearly there is a narcissistic tendency that we have when we broadcast these postings in this manner. When I post on listserves or even send out e-mail, I’m careful to see how the structure of the message can be interpreted, as the nuances of body language and facial expression add immeasurably to the message when given in person (or even spoken). So this is a new mode of expression for me, and old hat for the many others I’ve read, so be patient and maybe something good can come of this.

So here goes.