June 22th, 2016

I'm starting this blog because it's 1:30 in the afternoon.  I work at 3.  If I nap, and then have to get up and go to work, I know for a FACT that I'll be cranky.  That's a bitch, isn't it?  All I really want to do right now is sleep, and instead I'm vertical, putting thoughts to paper and generally putting a lot more effort into my afternoon than was strictly necessary.  But that's definitely not out of character.  Oh SHIT I started a sentence with "but," I should probably just throw in the towel now, right?  I don't know internet...maybe this was the wrong call.  Maybe I should have just taken a nap.  Maybe I shouldn't have gone to college, maybe I don't actually have what it takes to consistently write grammatically correct thoughts in a sequence that other people can understand.

Nah.  I'm good.

I am calling this blog "thoughts and prayers" because, well, that's the best way to describe its general purpose and ALSO because I'm a cynical liberal college student from the Bible Belt who's ready for that phrase to be used in a new context.  I don't pray anymore, at least not in any formulaic sense of the word; however, I do a lot of miscellaneous, unspecified thinking, and wishing.  So perhaps those thoughts and wishes can be seen as a sort of prayer, in some vague sense of the word; concentrated effort into improving something about the world, or myself, through study and thought.   Maybe that's insane sounding, but to me, it's a better option than having those thoughts and wishes be a waste of energy.

Alright so quick overview:  I'm Max, I'm a rising junior at Rhodes College studying history and international studies in some combination of major and minor.  I love to read, novels, articles, op-eds, pretty much anything really.  I love to write, mostly because I have a lot of opinions on things, and writing on the internet is a pretty decent way of sharing those opinions.  I listen to a lot of NPR, exercise when I can, watch soccer, play soccer, listen to/explore the world of music, and research all kinds of historical questions.  This blog will be a little bit of everything, but mostly, I'm just looking for a place to empty out my head every once in a while, to share my thoughts and ideas and rants and musings and whatever else.  I'll probably be the only person reading this, and that's fine by me.  Fortunately, writing as a form of catharsis doesn't require applause, or even an audience.  Okay, so that's it.  Have a good afternoon, internet.  "Check back soon!" he shouts into the bottomless void.