Hey! Welcome to Generally Discontent! What the hell is this site all about, you ask? Well, hop up on my lap, little boy and/or girl, and I'll tell you!
I was laid off from Boston University (for the second time in my life...goddamn, I love BU!) this past summer. Coincidentally, I was also due to move out of the place I was living in, as the building management folks had kindly asked us to leave (well, it was sort of like, "There's no way you're living there after your lease is up!") since my shitty roommates had problems paying their rent and whatnot. So I was left with no job and no place to live, though I could have gone back to live at me mum's house if I so desired.
I didn't so desire. In fact, I thought it would be a swell idea if I got the fuck out of Dodge for awhile. See, I've met a bunch of really cool people on the internet over the years, and it just so happens that a whole slew of them live in various spots down the east coast of these here United States of America. And it so happens that they all offered to let me crash at their places! I guess I would have been a moron if I hadn't taken this opportunity to get out and see some new stuff for awhile, so I did!
My journeys will take me from Connecticut to Maryland to Virginia to North Carolina to Florida, with a few possible stops and detours along the way. Around Christmastime, I'll head back to Boston to spend the holiday with friends and family, and also to be around for the birth of my buddy Jeff's first child. After that, who knows? I sure don't!
And there's the thing: I have no clear idea of what I'm doing beyond moving from place to place. No real goals, aside from taking art jobs where I can get them, and getting back to the second draft of the book I've been working on for...well, for far too long. Aside from that, it's Blank Slate Country, and I've got free reign. Gotta say, it feels pretty good.
So, why "Generally Discontent"? Yeah, it might sound angsty, but it's really not. I'm not saying, "Oh, woe! I'm so discontent with life! The world should be special and I should be at the center of it! Look at me! Look at me! I'm gonna go cut myself now!" Nothing like that. The name comes from when my friend Carly and I were at a bar chatting about how neither of us were particular content with our lives, and we later chose Generally Discontent as our team name for bar trivia (we lost). It's not whiney so much as it is identifying that there is more to life than where you are at the moment. So being discontent isn't a bad thing. Hell, it's probably something to be celebrated. To me, it's just saying that I'm still trying to find my place in the world, and I probably always will be. And that's not so bad.
Oh, and one other thing: THIS SITE IS NOT A BLOG! Yeah, it might look like a blog, might smell like a blog, but it sure as fuck is not a goddamn blog. I'm not gonna be talking about how much I hate my math teacher, or telling you how I'm listening to Modest Mouse and being sad about how that cute sk8r boi didn't say hi to me. I've been writing on the internet about sleeping in late and smoking cigarettes and how bad my farts stink since 1995, so I got a grandfather clause that says I can call this site a Journal and not a goddamn Mood: Melancholy-Sad-Face-Fucking-Shitsucking BLOG. So, uh, there.
Umm yeah. So that's that. Welcome. I hope you like what you read, or at least are mildly entertained. As I get the site beat into shape, I'll be adding a photo gallery and an interactive map which shows where each entry takes place! Exciting! And maybe some other stuff down the road. Who knows?