3...2...1...blast off

HA HA HA
Yes, that's right, I'm kickin off this blog with some good old fashioned laughter. Why? Because just thinking of the title is making me chuckle, guffaw even. The thing is a year or so ago I told some colleagues during an intense, deadline-stifling time that I had two approaches to immense stress: I either a) got weirder or b) cried till my tear ducts ran dry. I proceeded to then announce, with a maniacal grin stretching across my face, that I was going to choose the first option. From that point forward when asked how I was doing, I would reply, "I'm drinking a tall class of crazy" (complete with random karate chop into the air).

That's pretty much been my standard operating procedure ever since (although option b has been necessary a number of times these last several months). The way I see it stress doesn't really ever go away. It may wane a tad, but I've been wondering if that's really more of an illusion. Perhaps what really ebbs and flows is our perspective, our approach to dealing with it. I say let's quit drowning in any number of coping mechanisms and declare all out war--let's call stress and all it's siblings out on the battlefield and get kung-foo hustle on their butts. Let's gather together, brothers-and-sisters-in-arms, and make a toast: "To drinking a tall glass of crazy!"

Although that last sentence would have been THE perfect ending point, I don't want to leave any readers with the notion that "drinking a tall glass of crazy" is always funny business. Sometimes it's contemplative, introspective, messy. It's a phrase born with the intention of embodying a radical, pro-active, get-'er-done, suck-the-marrow-out-of-life, be bold, and get-weirder-when-your-back's-against-the-wall kind of philosophy. It's tongue-and-cheek but in-your-face serious at the same time. It's a refusal to play life on the back of your heels and instead be stepping into the ball. Some days the best that's going to look is laughing at yourself or the kitchen covered in batter...other days it's going to be arms held high in a mighty V after a hard fought triumph. Don't over-think it but don't under-think it either. Just stop by here and write about it. And don't be afraid to use at least as many hyphens in your entry as I just have here.