Bon Voyage!

Here I go. This is my maiden voyage on the Sea of Blog. My fellow sea farer, who will henceforth be known as Mrs. Sparrow, has been inviting me to take this trip for many years. But like many of my life journeys I stalled because I didn't know what to pack. I mean there's many things to consider, like what kind of weather will I encounter? Will the waters be calm or stormy? What should I wear? What if other people laugh at my choice in clothing? What if I don't speak the language? Or I don't like the food? And the most important question - how far will I be from the bathroom? (I have had a chronic case of verbal diaherra for most of my life and I fear it could cross over to the written word as well. Once I start I worry that I may not know how or when to stop!) Anyway, after much encouragment, in the form of prodding, nagging, sarcasm and some actual authentic encouragment, Mrs. Sparrow convinced me to hop on this boat, so here I am.

Setting up the blog was easier than I thought, although I agonized for the longest time over what name I would use to sign it - MaryAnn. Why the agony? Who knows, I mean why would anybody care what name I use? Why did I? Why didn't I just use my given name? It's not as if anybody I didn't want to be able to track me down could do so with just a first name. But then again, you never know. My worst fear - that Bobbie-J finds out where I live, moves in next door, and wants to be my BFFL - could come true if I use my real name (even though the chances are miniscule). So picking a name has been quite the exercise (my doctor will be so happy as he's always badering me to get more exercise). Should I use a nickname? Should I use the name I wished my parents had given me - Michelle? Should I use the name I would have chosen when I was 7 or 8 and wished I was a boy like my big brother (who I worshipped and wanted to be just like) - Marcus? (Hmmmm, I note a theme of names that begin with the letter M - what's up with that?) I thought first I'd use the name Pearl, but then decided that that was better suited for the name of my blog (more about that later). Should I choose a celebrity name or perhaps a fictional character that I identified with? I almost chose the name Rose - after Rose from Titanic - but that wasn't quite right either.

So why MaryAnn? It's simple - because I'm not a Ginger. Oh, sometimes I dress up and act like Ginger, but I'm only pretending. I'm much more a MaryAnn. And besides, my first mate for most of my life's journey has been the Professor (who can fix anything and I believe could literally make a short wave radio out of a coconut if he had to), and everybody knows MaryAnn got it on with the Professor!

So, as previously noted, setting up the blog was easier than I thought, however, wrtiting it has been another thing. It's taken me over an hour just to write the previous 3 paragraphs! Most of that time has been spent spell checking and of course rewriting practically the entire blog because I hit the "Back" key by mistake and lost everything I wrote the first time! (Curse you Mrs. Sparrow, for my addiction has already come to bear! Or should that be "bare?" Good grief, now I'm going to have to spend more time figuring out the proper word to use.) I'm not familar enough yet with this site to find out where my words disappeared to. No doubt they're at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones' Locker! Well, the "Tale of the Naming of the Blog" will have to wait for another time. I have to go to the bathroom. So, hoist the mast, raise the colors, and shiver me timbers! (The Professors says this to me all the time.)