Why Am I Here?

(previously published on my other page at astrogirl.gather.com)

This isn't meant to be some sort of ultimate question or anything. I just thought that since I was new to blogging, I should introduce myself.

I am AstroGirl. If you suspect that probably isn't my christian name, or even my pagan name, congratulations! You're sharper than a cat's claws become when their owner suddenly decides to climb your pant leg. It is, in fact, my superhero name.

You may ask yourself, "what's a seemingly mild-mannered blogger doing with a superhero name?" What? Don't you have one? More importantly, doesn't every mild-mannered anyone have a superhero name?

In the unsung, but probably soon to be written about days of yore, all the technical writers at my former company had superhero names, whether we wanted to or not. We were what you might call a superhero collective. We called ourselves The Writers in Pink, or maybe it was the League of Letters. We were the sort of awesome team that made Directors and Vice Presidents tremble in their very expensive, but sensible shoes. We were the bane of corporate banality everywhere!

I got my superhero name because I insisted on giving everyone astrological advice, even if they covered their ears and shouted "LALA LA LA LA LA LA" at the top of their lungs. This was before I figured out that the planets don't like people giving astrological advice, because it is often right and the planets like to surprise us mere mortals. Where's the fun in dropping a 10 ton brick on someone's head if they know it's coming?

When AstroGirl talks, the planets listen, even if it's only to make catty comments behind AstroGirl's back.

With all the insane, yet somehow commendable bravery of the average person who decides to jump off the top of the Empire State Building and hope they'll learn to fly before they hit ground, I've recently decided to chuck my promising career as a writer of obtuse technical tomes and focus on WRITING. This is where you come in. "You are my guinea pigs," she said with a menacing laugh, "and you will like it."

When I'm not try to find ways to get paid for writing, I plan to publish a few things here. Some of it may be travelogues. Some of it may be tales of trying to get published. Some of it may be the unavoidable justified rantings of a liberal who still can't get over her dismay that the 48% of the voting population who almost certainly lost the last two presidential elections still somehow managed to get their favorite drugged-up "Manchurian Candidate" into the White House with the probable help of a few extra disembodied electronic "voters". Some of it may just be an outlet for the giggly teenaged fan girl who, embarrassingly enough, sometimes still inhabits my almost middle-aged body (and who I like to make fun of behind her...or my...back).

My participation here may be sporadic. Not only am I trying to reorganize my entire life at the moment, but I'm also putting the finishing touches on a book I will soon publish (one way or another). Without going into too many details, it's a corporate themed self-help book that resembles what you would get if Dilbert met Al Franken and their love child was a cross-dressing Monkee impersonator.

I guess the bottom line is, I'm here for the noble purpose of shameless self-promotion. What about you? What brings you here?