Here goes nothing:

I'm sitting here alone at High Tech Burrito, a Marinican restaurant with surprisingly decent food, staring at the cold husk of what was once a proud burrito.

How the mighty have fallen. As I loom over the tortilla carcass in my post-consumption reverie it occurs to me that this... this is it. This is the place, this is the time. This is the opportunity to start what had been until now naught but an idea floating about in my mind, consigned to the abyssal chasms of procrastination.

I should write a blog.

It has been my intention for quite some time to, like so many others, chronicle the mundanities of life with the hope that some small collection of poor souls drifting aimlessly across the shifting wastelands of the internet might take some solace in the non-adventures of another geek; perhaps proving to themselves that theirs are not the only lives touched by purposelessness and ennui.

I like to think of it as an uplifting public service.

My humor runs sardonic, and I apologize if I offend with what I write. But not really.

In all seriousness though, I am currently planning a bit of an international escapade. Soon I will be embarking to places unknown across the globe with every intention of wandering through an unplanned and improvised course through Europe.

My life has become a bit stagnant as of late, and I feel the overwhelming need to turn my world upside-down and shake until an adventure falls out. My only aim will be to find some path, some road in life that promises excitement and education. Perhaps I will find myself tomorrow in the Ukraine, reveling in the morbid absurdity of the Russian military.¹ Perhaps I'll find myself sucked into the Italian underground with stories to tell of mafia shenanigans. Or perhaps I'll be mostly ignored as a tourist wherever I go until I eventually run out of money and have to return home having at least seen some interesting architecture.²

I don't know exactly where this adventure of mine starts or stops, or what I may face along the way, but that is exactly as it should be: a reflection on life. Regardless, it is my intention to maintain a bit of a travel blog along the way. By this mechanism I hope to become a better and more fluid writer over the course of maintaining regular... semi-regular... or honestly sporadic updates, along with using the material I write to help frame in my own mind what needs to happen next for the story to continue. That said, I'm a terrible editor and Evernote is particularly dreadful at pointing out grammar/spelling issues. Bear with me here as I find some semblance of a literary stride.

And so it is here, in this little food joint that my journey begins. Not with a bang, but with a musing. This shop represents to me one of the many that I will likely stop into along the way to write and post chapters of my narrative. I can't wait to get started.

-Nicholas Schoichet