Primus.

Or, an introduction.

This is my first blog. Once upon a time, I sneered at blogs as a symptom of an increasingly privacy-free world. Have a blog? Then you want attention too badly.

Then I realized that they are, in fact, convenient. Rather than elbowing my way into your email inbox every few days with a new update from Over There, I can simply let these pearls of wit and wisdom accumulate here for you to admire at leisure. In other words, you no longer have to feel guilty about not reading everything, because hey! it's a blog. Either way: goodbye, mass emails.

Though I expect most of my readership will be family and friends (hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.) I feel I should still say a few words about who I am for the new readers. At the supposedly grown-up age of 31, I sold most of my possessions, packed up the rest, and flew from my former home in California across the Pacific Ocean to Vietnam.

I had no job, no place to live, no contacts in country save for my cousin Dave, and limited funds. I speak no Vietnamese--I can order coffee and tell people to shut up--and my ignorance of culture and custom cannot be overstated. What I had was a plan, and--let's be frank, here--unbridled courage, confidence, charm, intelligence, resourcefulness, good looks, and modesty. Also, my touch cures rickets, and I just might be made of Love.

In short, I was well prepared to upend my life and start a new one. I urge you to sit back and read away, because these pages are about to blow up. It's performance art, it's history in the making; it'll make you laugh, cry, and think...all at the same time; it'll teach you about sharing, living, and loving; it will set up totally unrealistic expectations and have you on a plane to visit in no time flat.

Whoever you are.