Birthday and 1-year anniversary hiatus

Here it is, barely an hour into my 40th birthday and I have to say that it doesn’t feel much different from 39 (Why am I up so early? To watch Stage 1 of the Tour de France, of course! I can’t think of any better birthday present each and every year — and one that lasts for three weeks, no less.)

I started First Forty one year ago and to date have posted 235 episodes. The earlier ones are a little tough to listen to — back before I’d adopted a more positive tone and learned how to suppress vocal pops and clicks — but I hope things have improved a bit since then. As I’ve said before, there’s a mountain of material left to get through; I look at this past year as an easing or breaking-in period.

Now for the announcement: being that July 8, 2007 is the pre-determined end point of this project, I’m using this event to take a time-out and put things on hold for the next five weeks or so. Not only have I got a mountain of work to do before leaving to teach in Japan, I also need the time to get a related project up and running. So stay tuned, and look forward to more episodes in mid-to-late August. See you then!

Happy birthday to me

Here we go. Last month, while sifting through some of the many boxes of documents, photos, and recordings that I keep in storage at my father’s place, it struck me that the time has come to undo the sealing tape and breathe some life into these stories so long packed away. True, I still have a year yet before I turn 40 (the theme here being the personal journals and records I’ve kept during my “first” 40 years), but I have more than enough to get started on in the meantime. And so it begins.

I’m not sure how long I’ll keep this project going — or even what form it may eventually take — but at the moment there is a mountain of material nearby awaiting my review. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some storytelling to do…