The Year of Cold Toilet Seats

I've recently realized that I never had truly, original idea until High School.

Not that I'm saying I wasn't creative before that. In Elementary School, Writing was always an artistic outlet for me. I loved filling my flimsy, third world writing tablets with all kinds of stories. Of course, the sad truth is most of those stories were rehashed episodes of the Disney Channel program Kids Incorporated.

A few grades later, and armed with upgraded writing supplies, I was still scribbling my little heart out. But even a spiral bound notebook and colored pens weren't enough to encourage the kind of originality I knew I had inside.

No, it wasn't really until high school that I remember writing something that was undeniably me. It came in response to the inaugural assignment of my creative writing class. Our teacher asked us to write something about ourselves, but promised that he would only be reading our responses not grading them. No sooner had the words left my teacher's lips than I knew exactly what I was going to write. I was thrilled! Free from the pressures of teachers, peers, and television programming, my creative consciousness was finally about to be born! And so with a grown up pen and piece of paper, I sat down and wrote about warm toilet seats.

You see, I had recently realized that I hated the feeling of a warm toilet seat, and upon further investigation, I thought the reason why was a terrific introduction to my psyche. I hate warm toilet seats because it usually means someone else was there right before me. I'm ambitious, and I don't like coming in second. Even if it is for number two…

Now that I look back on that assignment, I kind of wish I'd gotten some feedback from my teacher. Was he shocked that a polo wearing preppie like me wrote something so crude? Who knows. I liked it, though. I thought it was funny, and self-deprecating, and informative. It was, I guess, my first blog.

Of course that was long before blogging. (The speed of technology obviously hadn't caught up with the genius that was my adolescence.) But now that blogging does exist, I'm grateful for it. My "blogs" give me the opportunity to take inventory of my life, laugh at it a little, and then write it down for an audience to read.

Therefore it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to a new year of the JSP blog, and hereby decree that 2012 will be known as "The Year of Cold Toilet Seats."

The reason it will be known as such is because I have decided (in accordance with the semi popular demands of at least three people) that I will be writing on this blog more than once a month. (Cue jubilant applause from at least three people.) I have no doubt this new creative commitment will push my writing to the very brink of the literary "blogosphere," and will subsequently create metaphorical toilet seats that are so cold, I'll be wondering where the penguins are hiding. Either that, or my blogs will just be shorter…

Regardless, it's going to be a great year, and I'd love to have you along for the ride. If you’re already member of Blogger, follow along! If you're not, but still want to be made aware of all my new posts, take a moment to fill out the "follow by email" box at the top right corner of the website, and you'll be made aware of them.

While I can't guarantee that every idea I post will be as ambitious as the feeling of a cold toilet seat, (And, let's be honest, what is?) I can at least guarantee that every idea I post will be my own, and the freedom that comes from that sort of authenticity is ultimately what really matters. It's what makes every new thought, every new blog, and every New Year something to celebrate.

Happy Reading in 2012!