After three years and three months, 518 posts, 8,286 comments, 28 categories, 1603 tags, and over 128,000 views, I come here today with the bittersweet news of the implosion of the Travellinbaen Universe.

If I had only known back in the early summer of 2008 how much fun I would have from writing and from having the readership the blog came to acquire, there is no doubt I would have started maybe as soon as late winter of that year with the grand experiment. My friends, the TBU has been a major part of my life.

I first felt the calling to write as a somewhat-above-average-yet-by-no-means-scholarly-elite fourth grader at Eastlawn Elementary. That was also the year I found out that writing was damn hard, being criticized for it even harder. I’m not blaming my teacher for a well-deserved “B” by any means, understand, simply saying that her lukewarm opinion was a jarring setback for an aspiring writer who thought he had turned in a masterpiece.

Fear of rejection, along with more than a few other distractions in life, some of which have been described in this space, kept me from publishing anything for public consumption for many years. Even then, I was hesitant at first to let many of my old friends in on the news of the TBU’s birth. It was your judgment I feared most of all. From the heart, I say to you now, and only this once, that your acceptance and encouragement has been far more important to me than you can ever know and that I can ever describe. Thank you.

So, what now? Well, I’m glad you asked. The TBU may be put to pasture, but Thursday Pickin’ and blank starin’ and not pigeonholin’ and what not live on. The next part of the journey for me is a new blog–Missing the Ground. Writing and maintaining a blog is a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work. I would like to see if I can make a buck or two in the process. On Missing the Ground, you will see much of the same sort of content from me that I have done here in the TBU. I’m probably going to let my inner rage escape a bit too and dive back in to politics. After all, you can’t blog if you are to ignore Palin and Bachman and all the other loonies providing such excellent fodder day in and day out, right? As for other changes, you can expect to see more content, more often and from more perspectives. In fact, if anyone wants to join the flight crew over at MTG, just let me know–the more the better.

If you have enjoyed Travellinbaen please migrate over to the new site. Update your RSS feeds. Not to put a guilt trip on you, but hey, if it works that’s cool, if you want to continue to support my goal of becoming a “real” writer, keep reading over at MTG. And if you really like me, and you want an acknowledgement in my future masterpiece (guilt, bribery, as I said, whatever it takes), click on an ad that interests you from time to time, buy a t-shirt when I get them ready, or just link some posts on Facebook when you see one you like and tell your friends they ought to come check out the site. You could be a bona fide patron of the arts (guilt, bribery and a title!).

So, it’s farewell. Hope to see you soon. Like real soon. Click this link and we can say hello again in like a second or two.

Bonus Quote of the Day:

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”     –Hunter S. Thompson