the sounds of "nothing"

To digress is to depart or deviate for the main topic or purpose.  I originally picked this as a title to my blog because I tend to wander a bit when I am writing, calling me to use the title phrase fairly often.  But the more I thought about it, it runs deeper than that.

I have a hard time expressing my thoughts and sharing my emotions in the "real" world (often to the consternation of my lovely wife).  But something happens when I am writing.  Veiled in the anonymity of the Internet, I am able to let some barriers down and share the thoughts and feelings that run through my mind but never make it to my lips.

For any of you that know me personally, you know that I tend to be quiet.  My answer to the question "what are you thinking", is often "nothing" or a vague snapshot of what is rattling around inside of my head.  When I first met my wife Julie, she perceived me as a snob, a rugby playing, party guy that was too cool for her.  The truth is that I come off quiet because I am shy and introspective.  In social situations I am quiet often because I am self conscious about how I will sound when contributing to the conversation.  I rehearse my response in my head, then gauge how my comments will play within the group.  Usually by the time I have "perfected" my input, the conversation has moved on to a point that my thoughts would be awkwardly placed, so I just remain quiet.   

This blog is my digression.  A tangent from the noise of everyday life.  A window into how I answer the question, "what are you thinking".  A chance for me to collect my thoughts, and arrange them in a way to start or at least move a conversation forward.  So here we go ...