Greetings. My name is, my name is Michael. Mike to my buds. Common Ills member in da house keeping it real.
I'm 19 years old. College student. Work as well. Like to drink my beer. Miller Genuine Draft.
A beer in the hand and a game on TV and I'm set.
When I was a kid, I got called Mikey. And there was some famous commercial from way back before I was born so I'd always have someone saying, "Mikey likes it!"
Thought that was a good title for this site.
Played sports, first string but not good enough for college. Them's the breaks.
C.I. said the first post was the hardest and I thought "Ha, ha, yeah sure." Thought I'd be sailing through this puppy. Not happening.
Probably need an ice breaker.
The New York Times can kiss my Irish ass.
How's that. You feel me on that?
That's how I found out about The Common Ills. It was coming on St. Patrick's Day and the New York Times was trashing the Irish in Northern Ireland, pushing all this junk. Heard about it from my family. I got six brothers and sisters. I'm the second to the last.
So I'm pissed and angry and wondering why nobody's saying nothing. I mean are big brave voices, where are they?
That's when my aunt Kathleen turns me onto The Common Ills.
Met a lot a righteous people there, made some good buds. Learned a lot.
Wally, Krista, C.I. and Rebecca were all going, "Mike, start your own site."
So here I am.
Saying nothing. Expect plenty more of the same.
I don't know how often I'll post.
I was thinking, "Dude, this will be every day!" But then along comes this entry and it's like I just walked in and found out we're having a pop test.
So who knows how often I'll post.
I got school and work so if it's a problem with you, hey, pay my tuition. Otherwise, shut it.
Put my e-mail address up so it's there if you want to write.
I might answer.
I might not.
Jim of Third Estate Sunday Review spent a couple of hours on the phone with me Friday giving me tips and hints and one thing he said was, "If you're blogging, you're blogging. Somebody e-mails, you don't have to reply. You think it deserves a reply, reply."
So that's my policy.
Krista and Gina are going to plug my blog Friday in their Round Robin so I better do at least one more entry this week.
Gotta tell you though this is already way harder than I thought.
Grew up in the Boston area.
I'm six foot-one.
168 pounds.
Feels like I'm doing a personal here.
I love the White Stripes!
Kat, the way, way cool Kat of Kat's Korner, is someone I really like. She's Irish too. And she writes great reviews. F-ing great reviews. She sent some e-mails my way last week and she's just cool in e-mails.
Her advice was post when you want to say something and don't feel guilty when you have nothing to say or no time to.
I'll talk about my blog roll a bit and then bail.
Any Common Ills member who blogs gets on my blog roll.
I put up Democracy Now! just cause it's the best damn news show on TV, radio or internet.
Liberal Oasis is a cool site and I stand by all the blogs I put up on my roll but the main reason Liberal Oasis got up there right now was cause Jim was telling me on the phone last week that Liberal Oasis was one of the first to link to The Common Ills. That's good enough for me.
But I stand by what's posted.
I'll probably do more later on.
Anyone e-mailing wanting on my blog roll should know one thing about me - I'm a male slut.
You're not up there and you want a link, you better be willing to do a little for the Mike. You want a little of this, gimmie a little of that.
Serious about being a male slut. Not sure if I'll write about it up here. (Might shock my mother.) But if I do, Rebecca and I will be like bookends talking about sex.
Not to sure about talking sports here. I find I'm in the middle of a story or recap and all the sudden, half-way in, somebody wants to stop me to ask a question that tells me they need to know about the game itself, how it's played like, before I can go further.
That really irritates me. I like sports. Doesn't make me more manly. I don't get why so many dudes want to pretend they like sports when they don't even watch 'em and never played them.
Sex we all know about. Right? :D
I'll talk about politics but I'm no expert and don't pretend.
Krista said, "Speak from the heart and you'll be fine."
So that's about it.
I'll thank everyone who offered advice and answered questions. I'll apologize ahead of time for all the mistakes I'm sure I'm going to be making.
I'll thank C.I. who is the best blogger in my opinion even if The Common Ills is a community.
C.I.'s stayed on the phone with me for three hours, close to four really, while I set this up. I spent an hour on templates! I'd pick one and then say, "Wait, I want to change!"
C.I. never said (or yelled), "Dumb ass, just stick with one!"
I know nothing about blogging. C.I. kept saying the same thing but that's not true. Already I've been taught how to do links and how to set up things here and how to do my blog roll and about a hundred other things.
So thank you, C.I. And thank you to anyone who stopped by and read.
