kool blog, dude!

Kickoff Colophon

Or, The Importance of Being KC

Howdy, amigos.

I'm KC, and these are my cats!

[INSERT CAT PICTURES]

Don't worry, there's an endlessly bubbling fount of images of these precious fluffernutters, which we will dip into regularly for future posts.

So now that we've engaged in the Obligatory Internet Feline Worship Session, let's move on and talk about a subject I hold very near and dear to my heart:

MY RIBS!

[IMAGE/GIF OF SKELETON RIBS?]

Or, no, wait, I meant ME. I want to talk about ME.

Maybe it seems conceited, but I have been assured that being vainglorious and self-centered during your initial blog post is perfectly acceptable and, in fact, highly encouraged. The entire first page of Google search results for "how to write your first blog post" can't be wrong!

[EDITED IMAGE OF GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS ABOUT FIRST BLOG POSTS]

I'll admit, I'm easily distracted and haven't gotten more than the first couple of paragraphs into any of those blog writing guides. I'm not sure whether that says more about the usefulness of their guide or my erratic attention span. But I do know that these guides almost universally suggest that first-time bloggers start by telling their audience more about themsleves, and I'm pretty good at that!

So first, an incomplete infodump of intimate introspection:


  • In case you skipped the opening of this post (who even does that? so rude!), hey there, I'm KC. By way of unnecessary explanation, I go by KC because "KC Kool" is my primary online handle, carefully selected over several dozen other discarded usernames/emails from more than two decades of continuous Internet presence. Fun fact, "KC Kool" is also my oldest self-created Internet alias, circa the early 2000s – wave hello to little Jr. High KC!

  • I've also tried to unite a lot of my logins under the umbrella of "JollyCatDad", for the sake of consistency in my gaming libraries and software purchases. So, don't be too confused if you see permutations of that username crop up as well, such as "JCatDad" or "JCD".

  • I'm not too keen on providing any additional potentially identifying information (I waver between wanting absolute digital anonymity and spewing every personal detail into the ether), but I'm sure I'll let slip at some point that I'm based out of West Texas, so howdy, y'all! And yes, I do say "howdy" and "y'all" in real life, because Texas

  • It's no mere coincidence that I began this article by gushing over pictures of my cats. Cats are the one thing in life that never fail to bring me happiness. To quote Death, in Terry Pratchett's Sourcery, on what exactly makes life worth living: "CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE."

  • Okay, actually, there is a second thing in life that will never fail to bring me happiness, and that is my girlfriend/fiancee, whom I am lucky to call my partner as we travel life's strange and crazy roadways, and initially I wasn't gonna include that here because it's all schmaltzy and stuff but too bad, y'all, IT'S MY BLOG AND I CAN SCHMALTZ IF I WANT TO!

  • Ever since I was a boy, I've loved to read anything I can get my hands on. I have several posts upcoming about books I read as a child, and how they measure up now, as an adult. Overall, though, Sci-Fi and Fantasy are my jam. To be more specific, I like to read books that sit at the semi-sweet intersection of science and fantasy, in subgenres such as Space Opera or Urban Fantasy (e.g. I prefer "Star Wars" over "Star Trek", though I do enjoy both!).

  • My musical preferences vary widely and weirdly, but if I'm not trapped in my car for a considerable length of time with a "Please Stay Awake and Sane" playlist, I'm an indiscriminate listener and will happily open my earholes for just about anything. If someone held a fictional scenario to my back and forced me to select a music genre as my favorite, I'd probably pick classic rock, as in rock from the 60s-70s, though the definition of "classic" rock seems to have expanded to include 80s and 90s at this point (and even early 2000s, depending who you ask!) so that'd be a pretty safe range to select from.

  • Food is good, food is great, please put foodstuff on my plate! I have a hearty fascination with food as both a delicious form of artistic expression, and as an essential nutritious part of our continued existence. No other form of creative expression provides the means to keep us alive, and yet anything beyond basic fruits, meats, and vegetables is more akin to "playing with your food" by the standards of our animal compatriots. Anyway, all this to say I like to eat, and will eat just about anything with the exception of seafood and bologna; traumatic childhood stories to follow.

  • Games of all kinds are fun and I'm really not picky. I enjoy computer and console, board and card, roleplaying and puzzle games alike. Though wherever possible, I'll choose to play a game that gives me the freedom to run around in a chicken suit accompanied by my holiday costumed pet companion while swinging a low-leveled hot dog sword at wide-eyed goblins to unlock new wallpaper choices in my player-owned house that I'll never invite anybody to visit, over a mainstream blockbuster game any day.

  • When it comes to films/tv shows, I tend towards the humorous and bizarre over serious and sensible. A touch of whimsy and self-awareness goes a long way in my book, though it's a very delicate balance; I appreciate a movie that peppers in strategic quips and one-liners, but it's easy to over-season a scene to the point of dulling the emotional zest. However, monster-of-the-week supernatural procedurals are my secret weakness, and I will lose entire days of my existence to binge-watching them.

  • My clumsiness often dissuades me from attempting crafty projects, but sometimes I can get over myself long enough to complete one. I used to draw amateur comics full of puns and goofiness, and surreal sketches in the margins of my school notebooks. I also have made a couple of small needle felted gifts, attended a handful of paint 'n' sip sessions, and dabbled lightly in sewing and embroidery. Perhaps I can be emboldened by a digital podium to create and share more handicrafts, with how to (or how NOT to) tips.

  • One of my favorite hobbies is learning new things. Learning counts as a hobby, right? It's something I enjoy doing for fun – reading and researching and discovering information on all kinds of different subjects. I then try to share what I've learned with anyone who will listen, though my enthusiasm is often greater than my audience's. Passing knowledge and skills on to others is fun to me, and the only way to teach others is if I learn things in the first place!

  • I will admit to having a Bachelor's in English and I love reading and writing, but I am absolutely not one of those English majors who get butthurt about proper grammar and spelling. If you are capable of communicating your ideas effectively, or if breaking linguistic rules will increase your message's creativity or humor, then I have no qualms with eroding the very foundations of the formal English language.

  • As a child, I told everyone around me that I was going to be a super famous author when I grew up. Now I'm an adult who tells everyone around me that I spend my free time reading junior fiction, building LEGO models, and playing Pokémon. Somehow, I don't think Child Me would've been too disappointed.

  • Having grown up in an era of astounding technological innovation, I'm really not afraid of being left behind by the constant march of technological progress. I'll happily adopt skin-grafted nanocomputers with liquid tattoo displays so long as I can find a way to emulate GameBoy Color games on my arm.

  • As a librarian, I dream that one day I'll read every book in the library; as a realist, I dream that one day I'll read all of the books that I've got at home.

  • A bullet point list on "baby's first blog post" is not the format to talk about philosophical intricacies, so to sum it up, the core tenant of my worldview is "DO NO HARM" – this is a vast simplification, but it should be plenty to start with.

  • Lastly, a fun trivial fact: During a family vacation to Minnesota, my siblings and I left the safety and warmth of our hotel's indoor pool to walk out into below freezing weather wearing only our bathing suits because we'd never seen snow before – what a bunch of rubes!

Great, that was fun, wasn't it? Now y'all know everything about me that I want you to know, and can probably infer and interpret even more than that! And I know nothing of you, whatsoever – that's not scary at all!

So what's next on the list for perfect first blogging? After talking about yourself is... detailing the purpose of your blog.

Well, joke's on you: This blog has zero focus! There is no theme. There is no plan. There is no brand identity or social media strategy.

I started this blog so I could talk about things I like, and it turns out that I like quite a lot of things.

So if any of the above topics - such as pop culture, gaming, and creativity with a heaping helping of rambling personal anecdotes - appeal to you, then that's a good indicator of what's to come. I'll be elaborating on most of those subjects and then some, and will probably link to relevant articles and content here as it's created.

If you've read this far into my blog post, it means one of two things:
1) Either my writing has been engaging enough to keep your attention in which case, awww, how touching, you really DO care!, OR
2) You're a spambot attracted to the warmth of human vulnerability, seeking a fertile comment section in which to lay your latest clutch of eggs

Either way I do regret to inform you that, at least for the time being, I will not be implementing a comment section, simply for the sake of keeping my fledgling website clean and easy to maintain. I've undertaken the gratifying-but-frustrating task of coding this site by hand (i.e. fumbling through half-remembered HTLM coding from my high school digital media class) and would like to be confident in my web design before I add a social element.

So, if you'd like to say something about this post, I've hastily registered a Myspace account on which you can leave a comment if you so desire. (Myspace is still cool, right? What happened to Friendster?) I might also add some other social media links and such, as I have time and interest, but I suspect any additional social accounts beyond this space will be prone to occasional fits of quietide and disinterest.