Where to Begin

I read a blog tonight that rekindled the urge I sometimes have to write. I've never considered myself a writer, but  have had occasion to put pen to paper (yes I realize how dated that sounds) in the past. Since pen and paper have become so old fashioned, I haven't written anything in a long time, and I certainly never had the urge to put fingers to keyboard even when I wanted to put my thoughts into a more permanent form.  I have put up an occasional lengthy post on Facebook or My Space, but never even considered starting my own blog. And yet tonight, I have not only started one, I put some of my own design into the page and am actually writing the 1st post.

I suppose one thing to start with is the title. I thought quite a while about that because when you start a blog page you have to name it. I had a series of ideas breeze through my mind but none of them struck me as just right until the one you now see.  When that one popped up I knew it was the right one because it's something I say with great regularity.  You see, I'm always on the go, and my friends constantly tell me to "take it easy" or "you need to slow down" or something similar and I always respond "I'll sleep when I'm dead", so it seemed this would be an appropriate title for my blog.

As for the background picture, in case you can't tell, it is of me doing my 2nd skydive, and again, I felt it was representative of my outlook on life these days. You see, I turned 60 this year and it kind of took me by surprise.  As a child of the '50's and a teen of the '60's I never in a million years thought I would live to see my 50th birthday, much less anything beyond that. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was rebelling against and and all authority and vowing to never become part of the "establishment".  Now I've not only made it to 60 but I'm certainly part of the "establishment". That said, I still have enough of that early rebellious spirit in me to not want to be too complacent. 

I often describe myself as an "adrenaline junkie" and the skydive is just the latest incarnation of that need for challenges.  I've been an avid skier for over 30 years, and I'm also a scuba dive instructor, both exciting sports to say the least. On the other hand I also describe myself as a couch slug because of my serious addiction to series television. I'm still not certain how I manage to watch as much tv as I do and still manage to work a full time job, and teach scuba as many hours in a week that I do. Obviously I have more tv catch up time in the winter, but not as much as you'd think.

My other great passion in life is traveling. My mother always told me my middle name is "go", and I tend to agree with her. I'm fortunate that my teaching can fund my travels as there's nothing I'd rather do than take off for a long weekend with friends at the drop of a hat.  Just 2 weeks ago I drove 6 hrs to and from Atlanta, GA for a Celtic Thunder concert, then 4 days later drove to St Louis, MO for another CT show, then hopped a plane for a weekend in Denver for a 3rd CT concert. That's a lot of miles in 1 week, and while the excuse was to see a CT show, the real reason is to get together with the multitude of friends I've made through my CT fandom.  In fact my best friend and best traveling buddy is someone I met through being a fan of the actor Gerry Butler, you know, the Phantom of the Opera guy. :)

My planned travels in November are to see a wonderful Irish tenor by the name of Paul Byrom, who was with Celtic Thunder for 4 years and is now pursuing his dream of a solo career, and that is the final reason I finally to the plunge tonight and started this blog.  I was asked by someone to please give reviews of the 3 shows I plan to attend and I said sure. However, my main social network it Twitter & it's pretty hard to give a review of anything in 140 characters, so here I am with my very own blog.

I think this is enough for 1 night. It's amazing to me to go back and read how much I've written just now, but hopefully I've given any reader a little glimpse of what my interests are, and if they have similar ones maybe my blogs will be somewhat entertaining.   I've off to bed since have a class tomorrow. Thankfully we get to "fall back" tonight so I don't feel so bad staying up and getting this blog off to a start. If you feel like commenting go ahead. I don't expect any until I start doing some reviews, but I promise to read any that are posted.

ciao for now,
Pat