Hello, my name is James, and I’m a terrible blogger.  I make promises and don’t keep them, I don’t finish my thoughts, I occasionally sound self-pitying.  Here’s the proof.  That said, I’d like to flex some writerly musculature now and then, and this seems like the best way to do it.  Watch out Tumblr.

I had thought about writing this post as a personal manifesto of sorts, listing things I would and wouldn’t write about, talking about my goals for this sting, making promises to myself and my hypothetical audience.  That’s not happening.  If I have something to say to the internet that takes more than 140 characters, I’m gonna say it here.

I would, however, like to make one thing clear.  Although I am currently living in Iraq, this is not going to become a blog about Iraq or my time here.  I’ve done the travel blog thing, I’ve read too many travel blogs, I don’t particularly like travel blogs.  The fact that I’m here will certainly shape what I’m writing, but that’s not the point, that’s not the overarching concern.

That said, I’m gonna write about Christmas music sometime in the next week.