The Century Mark

100 blogs?

Wow!

It seems like just 154 days ago that this ride began.

And here we are 64,031 words later, at least that’s what my computer tells me.

I can still remember my first day in the blogosphere, sitting at the computer, basically writing a story for myself.

I can also remember my second day.

And my third day.

But it was the fifth day that really opened my eyes.   That was the day that I wrote a blog titled, “Mom and Me”.

It was about my 80-year old mother.

At the time she had just moved into an assisted living facility about 15 minutes from our house.

We had tried to have her live with us, but let’s just say, it didn’t work out.

Over the next five months, I wrote about my mom many more times.

I wrote about our weekly Tuesday lunches.

I wrote about her joining a choir. 

But the subject that got the most attention were the stories I wrote about her bipolar condition.

The feedback and support I received absolutely blew me away.

I have always enjoyed writing and I have always enjoyed telling stories, but it wasn’t until this blog that I realized I could do both at the same time.

Unfortunately the circumstances of that revelation was the end of a 25-year career in the world of TV production.

By becoming a member of the unemployed I discovered emotions that I had never felt before.

Some of them were sad.  Some were depressed, but to be perfectly honest, most of them have been very positive.

I have fallen in love with a true sense of freedom.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am just now finally returning to the working world by picking up a couple of local freelance jobs.

And that’s a good thing.

But I have really grown to love my life as a stay-at-home dad.

I love the opportunity that I have had to spend countless hours with my family.

I love the opportunity to be the singer in a brand new neighborhood rock band.

But the thing that I love the most is the person I have become in the last five months.

I started seeing a therapist back in the early part of 2009 after losing my job.

Despite an optimism for life, watching your career get flushed down the toilet can be pretty depressing.

One of the first goals that we set in therapy was to have me become more present with my family.

Many times I was physically there, but my mind was wandering.

This was definitely the case when I was working.

My kids would say something like -- Hey Dad -- and I would say Pittsburgh.

Or they would say -- Do you want to (fill in the blank)... -- and I would say Tuesday.

Not my proudest moment.

So actually connecting with my family was a lot more difficult than it sounded.

Enter the blog.

As pathetic as this may be, I probably needed this little unpaid writing gig to become who or what I have become.

There's that damn, "everything happens for a reason" cliche again.

Pretty much every minute of every day now is spent thinking, “Would that make a good blog?”

And based on the wide range of subject matter I have covered in the last 99 entries -- from Spelling Bees to Judaism, my appearance on CNN to gambling on the Super Bowl -- I think it is working.

Not every one of my blogs is headed to Cooperstown, but the fact that I am actually paying attention is an accomplishment beyond words.

It has never been my goal to become the most popular unemployed guy in the world, but I must say it still makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning when I get a new follower on Facebook or Twitter.

I truly love sharing my stories with you, but even more, I love when you share your stories with me.

And isn't that what this is all about?

As we enter my new century of blogs, I have a little request.

If you like my writing, send my link to one person.

If you love my writing, make it a double.

That’s it.

If you don’t, then don’t.

I promise I won’t put a curse on you.

Here’s to another 100 blogs.

Sweet Chocolatee

I consider myself a fairly bright person.  For the most part.

I’m pretty good with money.   I’ve got a handful of street smarts and you don’t have to tell me ten times how to get something done.

Ok, maybe eight.

However when it comes to movies or magic, I am the greatest (and most clueless) audience of all-time.

I am amazed by everything, while figuring out nothing.

The big reveal in The Crying Game.... I wouldn’t have seen it coming if it had slapped me in the face.

I’ve been writing this blog for exactly three months, posted more than 60 entries and it wasn’t until tonight that I figured out that I am part of a cult.

A good cult, but a cult.

My cult is called, THE BLOGOSPHERE.

It’s a group, a large group, of people who have decided that it is time for their voice to be heard, even if you don’t really know who is listening.

In my case, I decided to write a blog about my new career -- unemployment.

I really didn’t expect anybody to read it, except for the handful of friends that I bombarded with links.

That was until Henry & Nicolas jumped in.

Thanks to them, my story was told at businessinsider.com and La Presse Newspaper in Canada.

Since then, I have had more than 50,000 hits.  Fif-tee Thou-sand hits! 

I realize to some of my blogging brethren, that number is just a blip, but to me, it’s a miracle.

I can’t even count the number of supportive notes that I have received.  

Actually, I can count them, since I saved them all, but you get the cliche.

Well, here’s the real point.

There is a wonderful person named Anne-Marie, who writes a French blog titled Montreal Chocolatee (http://montrealchocolatee.blogspot.com/).

I believe I have already properly documented the extent of my extremely limited French vocabulary, but thanks to the amazing Google Translate feature, I was able to read her beautiful blog today.

What I wasn’t able to do was read it without tearing up.

The subject was moi.   I mean, me.

She even posted her version of the “I Believe In Bacon” t-shirt.   Due in stores in 2015.

Anne-Marie and I have never met and probably never will, but thanks to this beautiful cult of ours, we are now able to follow each other on Twitter.

That’s what us cult members do, we follow.

I hope you are able to read her entire blog, which can be found at the link listed above, but if not, here are the Cliff Notes.

• I must say it is a blog as we do not read every day. Sir Bacon has a feather of truth sometimes unsettling. His adventures are told in a captivating, touching, and sincere way, whether with his professional approaches, with his children or his mother, whose condition worsens.

• I suggest everyone to go for a ride on the blog, be it for a minute or an hour, as was the case for me. The writing of Sir Bacon hung me from the beginning, I could not stick to reading a single ticket. 

Now I’m guessing the translation was not perfect, but thanks to Google Translate, you get the point.

And to me the point is this...

Honestly, between my unemployment and problems with my mom, I am going through the worst stretch of my life.  

It really doesn’t take a whole lot of support to give me a boost.

But what I got today from Anne-Marie was a whole lot of support.

And it feels great.

In any language.

Now if I can only figure out what Montreal Chocolatee means.