"Allow myself to introduce . . . myself!"

I hope that at least some of those who read this will recognize the reference above. For those who do not, it is a reference to an amazing comedy, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. While I realize the quote may be culturally obsolete, the reason I began with it is because it is reflective of my sense of healthy, self-deprecating and often bitingly sarcastic humor as well as because of a past experience I had with the quote.

During my freshman year in college (I realize this story may vaguely date me), I took the mandatory introductory speech-class required by most liberal arts colleges. The first speech we were to deliver was an informal, non-graded speech meant to serve a dual function as an icebreaker to giving speeches in front of the class while also allowing each student to introduce himself to the class at large. We were informed during our first day of class about the speech and had to deliver it on that same day after a few minutes of preparation, which included practicing it in front of one of our fellow students.

I wanted to inject humor into my speech, and was willing to be the butt of the joke, so I immediately thought of the quote above. It played well with the student I was practicing with and I felt confident that it would also be well-received by the class. The movie was, after all, a rather popular movie and a large part of informal college discussion, at least during the time and place of my attendance, involved spouting off movie quotes in response to different, typically humorous situations.

I approached the podium with confidence and began my speech with the quote, "Allow myself to introduce . . . myself!" I even made sure to give the necessary pause and the awkward facial expression that Mike Myers gave in the movie to illustrate that the character, while trying to be suave, had stumbled into an awkward phrase.

I was greeted with laughter from only three people in the crowd of twenty-five (needless to say, I attended a small college for my undergraduate degrees), all of whom were male. The females, thinking I had genuinely stumbled into the accident, looked on at me with pity and at those who laughed reproachingly, while the professor immediately went to chastise the students.

I quickly stopped the professor and explained the quote and that laughter had been the intended consequence, and then managed to save the speech by making a crack about how my horrible failure with the line clearly illustrated why Myers was making so much money for these roles and I never would.

So why, after my horrible failure with the line in the past, start my journey into the blogosphere with it now? First, because I'm somewhat hopeful that the line will play better to this audience. Second, because my sense of humor pervades my life and will certainly come out in my writing here. I will warn people now, I often laugh at situations that others may consider insensitive. Humor, like taste, is a highly subjective field and I apologize in advance to those I offend; however, if you are that incensed by my writings you can always simply avoid the blog.

One example of a situation I laughed at that others may not have: A trailer park was hit by a tornado - who would have thought right? However, that same week another trailer in a trailer park was destroyed, but this time it was by a flaming hot air balloon that fell on it from above. Now, while I feel horrible for the families involved and those that lost their lives in the hot air balloon, I could not help but laugh when I pictured the scene in my head. Now that I have provided an example, you have been properly forewarned and should have no reason to complain.

Finally, I began with the quote because I realize my humor can often be deprecating, even harsh, and while I often aim it at others I want those of you who read this blog to understand I also often aim it at myself. I'm willing to accept criticism and even deprecating humor when offered in a good-natured and equitable manner and hope to learn as much from my readers as I hope they will learn from reading this blog.

I'll address other issues, such as post topics, timing, and frequency, comments and censorship, in another post to be . . . posted later this evening.