99.9% Me and .1% William Shatner

I don't know who said it first, but a particularly wise gem of writing advice that's always stuck with me is: "write what you know." This adage greatly appeals to me, not only because writing what you know will yield your most passionate result, but because I am lazy and don't want to research things that don't interest me.

For example, I am mainly driven to write comedic memoirs, because they really happened, I naturally see things from a humorous perspective, and I don't want to invest one nanosecond of precious time digging into some phenomenon deemed "important" by the masses, but about which I couldn't give a rat's filthy, pointy-tailed, hiney. Like sports, for example. I know I'm going out on a limb here and risking the wrath of sports fans, but I really don't give a flying, flaming f*ck about sports unless: 1) there's something interesting about a particular athlete, as in the case of Caster Semenya, 2) a close relative is involved (my niece = volleyball star), 3) it's beautiful and artistic to watch once a year, like Olympic figure skating, or 4) William Shatner is involved, which brings me to the real topic of this post: What the HELL is this blog about, anyway?

As stated in the subtitle of my blog, it's 99.9% about me and .1% about William Shatner. That's because I write what I know. All I know about William Shatner is based on his old TV & film performances, the fact that I posed for a photo with him once in 1987 at the Grand Rapids MI "Autorama," stuff I've read by and about him in various "Star Trek" memoirs, little news snippets I've seen and heard over the years, and his "Negotiator" performances in PriceLine commercials. That is to say: Not Much.

By contrast, I know more about me than anyone--that is, from my perspective. Here's a little poem to illustrate the point...

My life: I hold a PhD
Schooled in every facet
If I gave a test on me
Only I could pass it

(And no one else would care,
so what would be the point?)

When I first started this blog, I felt as if its title locked me into writing about William Shatner, but you know what? Here's what: I appreciate The William, and he's always served as a symbol of strength, success, amusement, and extreme drama in my life, but I know very little about him. Me on the other hand--I've been connected with intimately for what will be 46 years this July. You'd think in all that time, I'd know what I wanted to be when I grew up, or at least what this blog was about, but all I know right now is that I'm really tired and must go to bed.