I was not a good student.
I had a hard time concentrating to begin with, and I also liked to socialize. Not a good combination at a time when schools weren’t really geared for kids who “learn differently.”
So the Comments section of my report card often contained Comment No. 23: “Talks too much to others.”
I got “the speech” at home plenty of times, but it never made a difference. It’s just how I was wired.
I still like talking to people. But it might be more accurate to say I like listening to people. Everyone has a story to tell or an interesting experience to share — they just want someone to listen.
People are fascinating, and I love hearing their stories. So that’s the plan here. It’s a place for me to put down a few personal stories, and tell stories about people I meet.
Hopefully it won’t have a negative effect on my citizenship score.
The rest of the story
When people say I have a way with words, what they really mean is I have a way with the written word. Because when I speak, things rarely come out the way I intend.
But when I write something I can take time to tweak the words and not stumble all over my stupid self.
I’ve made a living with words for most of my life. I started out as an on-air guy at a handful of radio stations in Illinois and Florida, getting experience writing commercials, public-service announcements and news stories. Oddly, I don’t get tongue-tied when I’m by myself in front of a microphone. Weird.
Then I spent a big chunk of my life working for a newspaper, where I had a chance to improve my chops while I worked on a variety of projects and niche publications. My last years there were spent on a team created to start publishing newspaper content on a service called America Online, and on something known as the “World Wide Web.”
Yes — I was a pioneer of the Interwebs. Oh, the stories I can tell!
Call me one night if you have insomnia.
Now I work for a software company that I joined back when it was an itty-bitty start-up in 2000. I’m Employee No. 10, which means if you come to work for us I’ll always have a better office than you.
Pretty intimidating, eh?
I’ve had eight or 10 different jobs at Software Inc., and written, edited or re-written such inspired pieces as The Sales Presentation, The Marketing Piece, The Web Site Text, The Entry Essay and The Press Release.
Surely you’re familiar with my compositions.
My writing has mostly been for work. But when I write for fun, people seem to enjoy it.
So here I am.
Yer pal,
JT