Short version: This blog began while we (the author & her husband) were English teachers in Asia as a way to let our friends periodically know that we were still alive. We had a terrific time and got so used to poverty that we decided we couldn’t just flippantly give it up, particularly since we had such a head start in it, having begun while graduate assistants. So I became a blogger to help us maintain our lifestyle while having an excuse to tell a few stories. See “long version.” It’s way better.

 
 
Long version: I’ve been blogging secretly for a long time…like years… well, at least maybe two years. And I’ve been thinking of blogging for even longer than that if you can believe it.
It really was secret too because I was trying to keep it off the search engines while living in Asia. Usually, this isn’t something that has to be worked at to accomplish… which is why, due to my great skill, I accomplished it easily. I won’t say which country I was living in, though, because like 1/5 of Earth’s people live there and they’re probably listening in as I type, which I think counts as part of my readership. If I’m lucky, other governments will start reading too because it’s a lot of work to add key words like “top secret” and “NSA leaks” in all my posts and metadata. Anyway, I’m glad they’re spying because if it weren’t for all those government agents, I’d only have had about 3 readers back then when my blog required a secret handshake. You make 4 readers and I thank you for that.

I fancy that my old, faithful readers will be shocked to hear that I’ve gone public. No one has expressed this to me yet but that’s just what I’d expect from people who are in shock. If there’s an earthquake, it’ll probably be from all those secret agents simultaneously toppling off their rolly chairs.

I write about things that I’ve observed because life is pretty weird. As my grandpa used to say, “People have the most fun of anybody” and I believe it. He also used to say that his two front teeth were shot out by a bullet but I’m less certain about that. Anyway, most of my scribblings are about things that have happened to me – even if they’re my fault. Or maybe it’s better to say that I write about the way I interpret the things that happen to me. Most of the stories are ridiculous while the rest are something like life philosophy. If I had to dress it all fancy, I’d likely say that the blog was made up of piffling cultural observations atop a mess of word salad or, to be borrow something Wild, a ridiculous blog for serious people. 

Some of the stories come from China…I mean, the big country where my husband and I lived. The other stories come from the handful of other countries we traveled through, including the good ol’ homeland, America. 

I think telling stories is important because they make us laugh and cry and while helping us gain perspective by stepping into another person’s shoes for a moment. Stories are very human that way, as if we were meant to gather around the campfire and share them. Maybe that’s why Jesus often put his teaching into stories. They have the potential to make us wiser, deeper people and maybe, maybe even people who can laugh at ourselves. 

If you hear me say “we,” it’s likely James – he’s my husband. It’s definitely not referring to my other personality because we keep that a secret.

By the way, I hope we all get that this blog is pretty much just my opinions and observations. I 100% believe that absolute truth exists… I’m just not sold on the fact that my observations are 100% in accord with it. Though, I’m open to being wrong about that. So if you get offended easily, I’m sorry. That must be a tough way to live. As someone said, “I know what I have given you…I do not know what you have received.” But if you still get offended, I didn’t intend it, and for your sake let’s both hope that I’m not actually right about everything. I’m on your side, really. That’d be wild.