[GIGGLE]

[GIGGLE]

[GIGGLE]

[DANCE]

[HOP]

[BURST WITH GLEE]

I have finally, finally, finally written an opening to my fucking podcast that I feel encapsulates who I am! JESUS! I really think I'm onto something with this one and I cannot even BEGIN to express to you how goddamned happy I am about it!

Holy shit, man! Next to the eulogy for my mother, nothing in my LIFE has been this hard to write! I think I've never used this many exclamation marks in succession in my life!

Heh.

Yeah, it's political but it's not preachy. It's funny, but it's not comical. I think it's revealing enough about who I am, but not pre-fabbed and false like intros tend to sound. I think it's all right. I'm not saying it's brilliant, but it's true, and that's fucking fine by me. I seek nothing more than being honest and open, so if I capture that, then bam. That's all I require.

The thing is, I love revealing who I am. I think we all have that little place inside where there resides a little bit of ego because we know one or two things about ourselves that really make us a cool person. I'm sure I'm not the only person who can make themselves laugh when alone. I'm sure I'm not the only person who loves just being along for the ride, and then soaks in every detail. Why not be open about it? But then there's that weird paradoxical aspect to this world we live in: we're allowed to believe in ourselves but it's somehow absurd to like ourselves.

It's hard to write an intro where I think you reveal enough of yourself while not seeming like you're delivering some bio you wrote for a networking convention, you know? "Hi, I'm Steff, I'm 5'7, she of ample ass, green-eyed, journalism grad, former bookstore junkie, yada, fucking yada," you know? Shoot me now.

And then I realized that I'm always kind of giving greater clues to who I am through my writing, so why not let my writing do my talking for me in this Steff 101 thing I had to cut? A-ha! Edison, meet lightbulb. Lightbulb, meet your maker.

At long last, this seems like it might just be a little more fun. Thank goodness. So, yes, an hour's break, and then I go into solace. Oh, fuck it, the phones are coming unplugged now.

So, knowing I've got a good script, I'm going to enjoy a bit of David Mamet's State and Main to keep my mood chipper and sharp, and in a while I will crack open a Thomas Kemper Vanilla Creme, and begin to record. I am unplugging all my phones and sticking to it today. Finally it feels like I'm not staring up a 70-degree mountain with three gears working on my bike. Holy huge sigh of relief, Batman.

And I'm thinking I need to get a nice ride up the coast in as the leaves start to change colours. Maybe a daytrip to Bowen on my scooter. Me, some leaves, some crisp autumn air. I think I know what my birthday holds this year.

AND FURTHERMORE: I've been gotten in touch with by the good folks at the publishing house for one of my two all-time favourite sex books: The Guide to Getting It On. They're sending me a free copy of the new edition, and providing TWO COPIES for me to give away to reader/listeners! AND the author is making himself available to me for questions and/or resources! I may have a good guest in the makings. How fucking cool is this? All of a sudden, it seems like things are starting to come together for me. Yep. I feel a groove coming on. Giggle. ;)