I am about to endeavor a relatively pretentious project. One that’s not exactly creative in its conception – it’s been done (hell, even blogged about) before, by many others far more learned than I. I don’t exactly expect an audience, as the subject of this project doesn’t interest many people I know. So why write about it? Well, for a long time now, then only writing I got to do centered on emails regarding benefits packages and performance reviews. Now I’m just looking for a subject to help get my juices flowing, mostly, but also to actually have something concrete to show, a project with an ending that I can actually reach. Perhaps I’m just looking to commit to something semi-creative.

Adult life certainly is all about commitments, right? Mine isn’t any exception. Marriage to my all-around solid and sexy best friend. The decision to release our insanely intelligent and charming spawn into the world. Laying down a huge chunk of life savings in order to lay claim to a massive loan that we inchingly pay back while we reside in a house that we (but mostly the bank) own. Purchasing West Elm furnishings from non-refundable sales. Doggedly pursuing two separate careers that were always more stressful than fulfilling or interesting.

I am a project lover. I have great amounts of enthusiasm for a great many things. I have copious lists of things I wanted to write about, explore, plan, or learn. And for the past five years or so, there have been a great many things that have been shelved. Life – all those beautiful commitments – they take up a lot of time. But it’s time to stop making excuses for myself, and to actually attempt…something. Something that has interested me for a very long time, and something that can have a concrete beginning, middle, and end. Which leads us back to the aforementioned “pretentious project.”

I’mma read Shakespeare, y’all. The whole canon within a year. Any masochists out there can follow me chronicling the entire experience here. Feel free to comment, engage, share, or just dabble. My self-imposed guidelines for the reading and writing can be found under The Rules.