Meet the Cheese

I spent about a semester and a half in community college but dropped out because I don't really finish anything. One good thing that came out of that experience was meeting a very encouraging English teacher. She seemed to be genuinely interested in my writing. From that bore an ego about my ability to write. That ego was a different type of ego. Not a Terrell Owens type ego. More of an ego that keeps to itself because it's afraid it's an unwarranted ego. I mean, c'mon some praise from a Community College English Professor who in my head, and I stress the in my head part, I thought she might have had a minor thing for me. What does that praise even mean? It's sort of like scoring 20 points for a D-3 college basketball team. It's all nice and stuff, but in the end it doesn't mean anything.

So, anyway, after college I would occasionally write but never took it seriously. I was more serious in High School. I would in my angsty little way, write poems/song lyrics in little notebooks. Though some were bogged down with teenage melodrama, not all of it is terrible.

Now we come to today. I am 31 year old man who has in the last year plus has made some real personal changes. I lost 90lbs, and have become a genuinely happy man. I have made commitments to myself and I intend on following through on them. I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll, so why not take up the hobby of writing again minus all the melodrama.

I have a sloppy vision of what this will be. I hope to post two to three times a week. I have two kids, one boy, one girl. The boy is 8 and the girl is about to turn 7. If you have any kids in that age range who are active in school and sports, you can appreciate a busy schedule. I'll probably write some about my family but not sure how much and what about. I fancy myself as a bit of a critic. Movies, Music and TV shows. Music being my primary focus though I dream job for me would be the guy who puts the songs in the movies. A think it's called Music Supervisor. I just love how a well placed song can elevate the emotions and tone of a scene. Perfect marriage of song to scene, hands down “Tiny Dance” in Almost Famous. Pure brilliance.

My influences in life will be evident and I'll certainly talk about them or their proffesions. In no particular order here are some of my favorite people/bands past and present: Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam, Tony Kornheiser, Alton Brown, Nick Hornby, Joe Strummer, The Clash, Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, Sleater-Kinney, Bob Dylan, Conor Oberst, Bruce Springsteen, David Fincher, Brett Easton Ellis, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Kevin Smith, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Bobby Flay.

I think that covers everything for a beginning blog post except one thing. The title, Not Just Cheese. There was this store in a neighboring town it was called Not Just Cheese. I thought it was a great phrase. Sort of describes me a bit. I'm a bit cheesy but I think I can offer a little more that just cheese. See, that was even cheesy. But I think I can be funny and maybe a little endearing. Who knows, maybe the only person that'll read this is my old English College Professor whose name escapes me at this stage in my life.