The Chronic Curmudgeon

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February 24, 2007

Going, Going...

I'm getting close to the end of the Best One Hit Wonders countdown. I'm also getting close to the end of this blog.

I alluded a couple of weeks ago to having taken a huge, life-changing, no turning back kind of step. The day of reckoning for that step, as it were, is almost at hand. Its arrival has ramifications for this blog as well as my real life. I've said before here that while, for the first seven of my eight years based in New York I hated it and didn't like my life here and wanted to go somewhere else (even going so far as to chase what Obi-Wan Kenobi might have called a "damnfool idealistic crusade" in warmer climates that, in hindsight, was less of what I thought it was but instead represented the strength of my wish to leave and the extent to which I let that wish cloud my judgment), in the past year I have grown into my skin for a number of reasons and have actually become happy with my life here.

I am acutely aware of the irony of choosing change now that I'm finally content; as my mother is fond of saying, "if there's a path of most resistance, you will find it... you never do anything the easy way." But that's just what I've done: after struggling for years to be happy in this area and finally becoming so, I've chosen to throw a massive monkey wrench into the works just to see what would happen.

I have accepted a new job -- a pretty prominent and visible one -- with a new employer (one of the world's biggest, actually). I start next week... more than 600 miles away from New York. After swearing that I would never again return to the midwest, that's exactly where I'm going -- and to a city that I never would have even ever considered that I might one day live in until very recently. The next week will be a jumble of corporate movers, signing papers, and changing physical locations, before starting the new job and new life in early March.

There are many good things about the move: financially the move vaults me to levels I never thought I'd ever make; professionally it represents not a huge step but a leapfrogging; the visibility and opportunity for me are incredible. This is, in a very real sense, the break I worked my whole career to get -- and at 38, I've now become an executive at one of the biggest companies anywhere in the world. I may have worked hard for this, but I'm also damed lucky -- blessed, some might say -- and I'm hoping to live up to the faith that's been shown in me (by both current and future employers).

It was probably not always appropriate for me to maintain the Mudge blog in the position I've been in for the last couple of years, even as a semi-anonymous personality. (My bosses were great about it, I have to say.) But as my position and reputation have evolved, it's become increasingly easy to connect this blog with the real-life me (witness how easily people at my new job were able to find me here). And if "the Mudge" wasn't really appropriate before, he certainly isn't as I take on this new, even higher-profile gig. And if I tempered the kinds of things I say out here, knowing that people can rather easily find me and in the interest of discretion... well, then I wouldn't really be the Mudge anymore, and that would negate the purpose for being out here. So, it's time.

I know better than to ever say "never." So I'll just say that Mudge is going on indefinite hiatus as soon as the OHW countdown is over. It won't be easy. I have come to really enjoy the "regulars" here and have been writing as much for you as for myself for a while now (or trying to). And shutting the door on the thing that has literally made it possible for my dreams to come true? It's like moving out of a house you lived in for 40 years and raised your kids in. You might be excited to head to Scottsdale or Boca Raton, but you're still terribly saddened when you lock the door for the last time, hand the key to your realtor and drive away.

It's always possible, I guess, that Mudge could be back. I've grown addicted to being him, and the name has crossed into my real life, with my friends calling me "Mudge" as often as using my real name. And there will always be things that make me want to vent or write. But discretion really must now be the better part of my valor. I think that means that I have to retire the persona that brought me to the dance.

I will be starting a new blog, but it won't be like this one. With family on two continents, friends on three, and friends and loved ones in the US scattered from coast to coast, staying in touch with everybody will be challenging -- and a blog seems easier and more personal than those mass e-mails. I'll password-protect it, so that only people I've chosen to let see it can see it... and it'll be more just a series of intermittent updates on how life is going in my new home, adventures I'm having along the way, and so on. It'll be a lot more personal and a lot less political, less oriented toward writing for a (hopefully) broad audience and more toward a "letter to a friend" style.

Regular readers here are now considered friends, so any of you who think of me as such and actually want to keep up with me are welcome to; send me an e-mail at thechroniccurmudgeon@hotmail.com and I'll send you the URL and instructions on how to access it. (Be warned that I won't be writing for at least a week due to the move.)

I'll finish the OHW countdown, and then will be back with one last post to say goodbye. Just wanted to give you a heads up that, as the guy in the sandwich board always said, "The End Is Near." Have a great weekend, all.

Posted by Christopher on February 24, 2007 01:33 PM

Comments

Posted by: Jennifer at February 24, 2007 04:23 PM

Posted by: Steve at February 25, 2007 02:13 PM

Posted by: Linkmeister at February 25, 2007 07:20 PM

Posted by: beav at February 27, 2007 10:36 AM

Posted by: Curmudgeon at February 28, 2007 05:38 AM