Enjoy My Blog Until You (Or I) Doze Off

 

Welcome to Until I Fell Asleep, a blog about any number of things written from a unique point of view—mine.

Let me start by telling you about me.

I’m a writer and I have spent most of my career talking to people and creating a wide range of marketing content and corporate communications for others. This means you probably haven’t seen my byline. And unless you know me professionally, I doubt that you are familiar with my work.

That’s okay. Creating content for businesses and agencies is what I do, after all. If you’d like to learn more or, even better, if you need content or have a story you need help telling, please check out my company website.

But I’m also interested in a wide variety of things, and I like to write about them, too. This blog is an outlet for that writing.

Why a blog?

I have a twenty-something nephew, a talented writer with a passion for popular culture. I value his opinion. He explained to me not long ago that blogs are passé. He said this was his reason for giving up writing the excellent movie review blog he had worked on since he was a teenager.

He may be right about blogs being past their sell-by date. But I’ve also had a hard time shaking the advice of J.P. Morgan, who is credited with saying (more or less) that he got rich by buying too late and selling too soon.

In other words, there can still be value in things that are no longer trendy or that have passed their peak popularity.

J.P. Morgan probably died with more money in his wallet than I’ve ever had in the bank. Heck, the singer Jaye P. Morgan, who once unbuttoned her shirt and flashed the camera while serving as a judge on The Gong Show may have more money than me, too.

But the point is that even though writing a blog may no longer be the “in” thing to do, I want to do it anyway. I think this will be fun, for both me and whoever takes the time to read it.

Hopefully, “whoever” will include you.

So, what’s with the name?

When I was in my forties, I developed a “talent” I had never possessed before. I found one day, and without warning, that I could pretty much fall asleep anytime, anywhere.

Eventually, dozing off was getting in the way of my doing things I wanted to be doing instead of sleeping. Watching an entire movie or sporting event, for example. Or finishing a long—or even a short—book chapter. This new normal made me increasingly frustrated.

A few years ago I sat down in my recliner to watch something on TV I was genuinely excited about. At that point, I was living in Pittsburgh and the local cable sports station was showing The Chief, a play about Steelers’ owner Art Rooney that had enjoyed multiple successful limited runs at theaters in the city.

I’d heard good things about the show but had never had the opportunity to see it live. So, I was excited to at least watch it on television.

And I loved it. At least, I loved what I saw of it.

The next day, I was telling my wife about The Chief and describing the play and how much I enjoyed it. As usual, the retelling took some detours as plot points connected to memories of watching football as a kid in the 1970s, and arguing with my friend about who was better, Roger Staubach or Terry Bradshaw.

At some point in my retelling, I just stopped. My wife, now fully invested, wanted to know what happened next.

My reply: “I fell asleep.”

She laughed and said, “That’s the story of your life. You should write that story.”

A rich, wonderful life

So that is what I’ve decided to do—write about things I loved but couldn’t stay awake to enjoy in their entirety.

But here you’ll also read about me – why I love old television commercials (and old television, period), why I think certain movies tell a lot about who we are, what books I’m reading, what music I love, what food I’m eating (or not eating), and why I think we maybe all take ourselves a bit too seriously.

My family and friends will make appearances, as no man is an island. Myself included.

I’ll do my best to post regularly, though I’m not committing to a set publication frequency. Stuff comes up, after all.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize what a rich, wonderful life I live. Same goes for you, I’m sure. My hope is the things that interest me and that I’m passionate about will have some meaning for you, as well.

And, if I do this right, maybe I’ll be able to capture your interest long enough to spark your own special memories. If that happens, please comment or reach out, as I’d love to hear about them.

So, I’ve shared the origin story of this blog. Or at least part of the origin story.

There’s also my wife’s continued encouragement and my taking years to talk myself into creating this blog.

There’s the wonderful logo my talented friend, Susan Ryan, designed for it.

And there’s also the work John Kostak and his team at Web Development USA did to bring Until I Fell Asleep to life.

To all these folks, I am deeply grateful.

So now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a blog to write.