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February 28, 2007
Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen
“I realized a long time ago that I am getting old. I realized for the first time last night that this is not such a bad thing.”
I started my first “real” post on this blog with those words. They seem appropriate to end the blog with as well.
How things have changed in the three and a half years since “Christopher’s Take” -- which would eventually become “The Chronic Curmudgeon” -- was born. I did that entry from south Florida, in the middle of a situation borne of rash judgment that would eventually prove a mistake, and working as a speechwriter who was doing good work and attracting some notice inside his company but was still an amoeba on the corporate food chain. I’m doing this entry on my last day in New York before leaving to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, though on a bigger planet (wow, let that be a lesson to anyone trying to make a point with metaphors... they're hard to mix effectively!).
This blog, which as I’ve said ad nauseum I started as writing practice and creative outlet and nothing more, turned into the vehicle that drove my career, drove my personal life, and helped me to greatly enhance my financial status (I‘ll be making more than two and a half times this year what I was making when I started it, God bless America). Not bad for something the Doc had to talk me into doing, huh?
But just as in that first post, I am still getting older. Old enough -- or is it mature enough? -- to recognize that in some cases, it’s not always prudent to have your inner monologue or thoughts about the world out there for anyone to see. I’m old enough -- or is it wise enough? -- to know when it’s time to step aside.
There was a long time where I would have considered any nod to propriety a defeat; I was going to be me and say what I had to say no matter what the stuffier elements of the world thought of it. When I started this blog, I would have argued that the idea of shutting it down -- I mean, going on indefinite hiatus, of course -- because of the professional role I play would represent a sell-out of the most treasonous and self-betraying order.
But today I don’t; today I just feel like I have grown up to the point where I don’t feel the need to stand out in order to stand apart. I’m wise enough to have recognized that sometimes there’s valor in knowing when not to speak my mind. Is that selling out? Am I really the Man in the Grey Flannel Suit now? Perhaps. But I’m thinking of it now more in terms of acting my age.
The way you act when you’re on your way up is different than the way you act when you get there. And I’m honestly looking forward to the less rebellious phase of my life. This move I am making was done in part because I’m looking to take care of my new family -- both its existing members and any who happen to come along in the next few years. And I kind of like that feeling, to be honest with you. I wasn’t ready for it a few years ago, but I am ready for it now. I think I’m ready to leave the Curmudgeon behind, not just in the blogosphere but in life. And I think that’s a good thing, don’t you?
I am incredibly fortunate to have had this blog; few people get to have such a detailed time capsule of the part of their life where everything fell into place for them. Fewer still get to have a personal hobby turn into the rocket that propels them to places and levels they never expected to go. I got lucky. And you, every single one of you who’s been reading along with me, have been part of that for me - in a very real sense, I owe what’s happening to me now to all of you. So thank you.
To all of you who have read or commented since the summer of 2003, I am in your debt. To those who read and as a result decided to elevate and promote my career, I’m even more deeply indebted. To Doc, who today takes great delight in correctly pointing out that he not only got me into blogging but had to talk me into starting this one, I offer this public acknowledgment and a thanks for strapping the Acme Rocket Jet-Pack to my career.
As I said earlier in the week, I’ll have a more personal blog hidden behind a password to keep friends and family up on things in my new home. It’s actually set up already and is just waiting for me to get settled in and start updating. If you want to get the password and be able to keep in touch through that blog, send me a note at thechroniccurmudgeon@hotmail.com and I’ll send you the instructions to access it. Or, if you’d rather do things the old-fashioned way, send me a note to the same e-mail address and I’ll send you a “real” e-mail address and AIM ID to reach me at. If you’d prefer to do neither, I’m tempted to ask if I smell bad or have boogers hanging from my nose or something. (If you’ve already e-mailed and I haven’t yet gotten to you with the password or responded to you, I beg your indulgence while I get moved.)
Maybe Mudge will come back someday… it’s always possible that I’ll get settled into my new gig and figure out that it’s still sometimes okay to air the occasional opinion. Or maybe my fifteen minutes are closer to up than I realized and, kind of like the janitor in Flowers for Algernon, I’ll slide back into my previous levels of simplicity and anonymity and be able to say whatever I want without anyone knowing or caring. But for now, this blog -- and the wonderful run in my life that it represents and helped to generate -- is officially on hiatus. I’ll still be reading all of your blogs and will still be commenting, though -- you’re not rid of me that easily! Please stay in touch; I do consider you my friends and don’t want to lose contact with you all. And once again, thank you for reading for the past three and a half years.
Ladies and gentlemen… the Curmudgeon has left the building.
Comments
Classy exit, my friend. However, I do take issue with one thing you've said - "The way you act when you’re on your way up is different than the way you act when you get there." It doesn't have to be that way. Sure, you need to make compromises, but never forget the essence of what got you there - to do otherwise is to sow the seeds of your own downfall.
I have no worries for you on that score, though. Good luck and goodbye. Oh, and now practice these words - Go Tigers!
Posted by: David at February 28, 2007 08:53 AM
Thanks for the excellent reading material & for being a constant conversation topic here at Chez Piggyhawk. Just yesterday at lunch it was about the Top 2 one-hit wonders (we disagreed w/ your choices but with each other on that point ;)). We need our Mudge fix; I just e-mailed you.
A bittersweet final post. Nicely done :)
Posted by: Eden at February 28, 2007 11:42 AM
Well done - bravo. I'll miss the Mudge both here and in the old corporate haunts, but I'm so happy for you. No need for good luck - I believe you're up to it.
Posted by: NYC Jennifer at February 28, 2007 07:33 PM
The minute you think you made it is the minute you get old. You have reason to celebrate your success but please, my friend, don't look at it as making it. You have much to learn, to grow, to be entrepeneurial and to even make mistakes before you can be comfortable with your station in life. Stay hungry. Be a Tiger. Keep punching.
Posted by: The Alien at February 28, 2007 08:54 PM
*sniff*
*wipes tear*
Bon voyage, my friend.
Posted by: Jennifer at February 28, 2007 09:39 PM
I love you...
Posted by: TG at February 28, 2007 10:26 PM
Wait a minute. You need to name a successor, right? Isn't that the way these things are supposed to work?
Ah well, I've enjoyed reading the snark. Don't be a stranger in the comment sections, 'kay?
Posted by: Linkmeister at March 2, 2007 07:44 PM
