Tag Team, back again. Check it to wreck it, let's begin

Props to the always underappreciated Steve Rollin'. He certainly didn't have a gall to call himself "The Brains Supreme," and then drop the most wack-ass lyrics possibly known to man outside of Soulja Boy.

First of all, massive apologies for the incomparable self-indulgence this morning. I’ve been putting this off for a couple weeks, but it’s in my own best interests I hope.

Anyway, when I started grad school, the plan as stated was that I’d keep writing Bend It through my first year when I was just in class, and then wrap it up before my second year when I’m working in a school every non-weekend day that I’m not at school all day. Yeah, I know. Yikes! I admit I’m more than a bit worried about at least four things: A) If I’m going to be any damn good at actual school psychologist stuff or whether I’ll hate it, thereby possibly leaving me out to dry and not knowing what I should do; B) How the fuck I’ll get my schoolwork done, considering how difficult it was this past spring without the full days in the school; C) Whether I’ll just burn out physically; and D) If I’ll actually see anyone ever. I know that was part of the deal and it’s just for a year, but chances are high that even if I love the in-school part of it, many aspects of this are going to substantially suck.

So I’ve been looking at the little puzzle pieces of my life and trying to figure out what is actually benefiting me and what’s a commitment and nothing more. Which is kinda unfairly stressful since there’s no way of really knowing how things will fit together until the fall. However, one thing I do know, despite the fact that I enjoy it much more than most, is that I just flat out won’t have time to write Bend It as it’s currently constructed. It was much much easier when I had a desk job and could write at lunch and between tasks. When I started back at school and started having assignments perpetually hanging over me, I carved out blocks of time into my schedule in which to write. Which is why most of the last year’s stuff has kinda sucked, at least by my own estimation. It’s just felt kinda rushed and thereby lacked depth and flair. But anyway, those blocks of time I made for myself won’t be there in the fall. It’s not, “OK, I’m gonna not to do schoolwork now and then I’m gonna do schoolwork then.” I won’t be home. I suppose I could write a week’s worth of stuff on Sundays, which I feel like I already kinda do, but that probably won’t help me pass my classes.

Anyway, as times go, this isn’t a bad one. The absolute best thing about writing for me, besides getting random thoughts on “paper” and seeing if I can get anyone to agree with me, is it’s a great way to communicate with friends and family without having to individually email everyone. Plus, how often in your emails do you have a Fashion Corner? Or a Giant Douche Cam? However, just as my own life has exploded a bit, so have the lives of most of Bend It’s correspondents, which is completely understandable. At the moment, it’s usually 8yearoldsdude and I kicking around random references with the occasional contribution from IWasTheWalrus. Hold that thought for a second.

The reason I’d rather wrap Bend It as constructed instead of just writing when I have the time is the structure involved not only works for me, but should work for people reading. I know as a reader of other sites, if I know when stuff’s coming, I’m gonna keep coming back to see it. If people write once every two weeks, then maybe a couple days in a row, I’ll forget about it because of the delays. So that doesn’t feel worth it to me. I could just post a Musing or two every couple of days maybe, but it would feel like a different site to run it completely differently. That’s just a me thing. I wouldn’t rule out after this next year starting another blog with another name in another format. Because it is a fucking blast a lot of the time.

So that said, I know I can’t write it all myself, but I would absolutely be open to some sort of collective over the next year. Which of course is the only reason I’d ever use lyrics from one of the all-time lyrical abominations every written in a title. Lord only knows I’ll have some random thoughts I’d want to express; I just can’t do it regularly and in long-form. But with other people of a similar sensibility, it could work really well. Especially with multiple people to draw readership from. My idea for a while was that if 8yearoldsdude, IWasTheWalrus, and I tried to pull this off, it would work really well. Unfortunately, IWasTheWalrus is going to Lesotho for a year in the fall, and I remember his computer interactions being limited the last time he was there. And who can blame him. There’s donkeys! So anyway, if you know of a possible collective for me, by all means let me know. I would be outstandingly grateful. If not, well, I’d be sincerely bummed, but I’ll still probably throw out some of my random thoughts on Deadspin from time to time, which I already do. Oh, and the best way to get in touch with me when I’m super busy is to text me.

Oh, and Bend It’s last day isn’t today. I would say it’s probably in a little under a month, since my fall gauntlet starts in a month. 8yearoldsdude and I will be on vacation from August 7-17, and I’m not sure whether I’ll have my computer with me or not, though the odds of a story about a cougar bar at pretty substantial. Watch out because any unposted photos I’ve been holding will be making some sort of an appearance. (Kristen Bell filibuster!). And there absolutely will be a Season 4 soundtrack that will come out the last day. While there hasn’t been a ton of good writing, there’s been far too much good music in the past year not to make that happen. Of course, thanks for reading, even for a day, a month, and year, or all four.

So I’m not going to leave on this depressing note. Most depressing for me, trust me. While my brain is pretty fried right now and I’ve been doing a steady regimen of almost absolutely nothing (unsurprisingly, my video store is out of “Batman Begins”) since I turned in my finals last Thursday, how about a six-year-old MP3 of Carbon Leaf performing a quite faithful version of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).”

I assure you Musings will be back next Monday. Today, it seriously would have been like, “Ovaltine? Why don’t they call it Roundtine?”