The first time I ever heard the word "schtick" I was in 6th grade listening to the 8th grade band perform on stage.  Their teacher, a former genius on anything that can be hit with a mallet, was showcasing the promising percussion section with a musical piece called Drum Schtick.   I didn't really understand the humor in this as my brain was too busy processing why in the world they spelled stick wrong.  This episode, and subsequently the word, had been long forgotten until the time blogs started to come into existence.  Funny things blogs. I had often wondered why someone would spill their soliloquies into cyber space and some of them, very successfully I might say, actually caught other readers attention.  Then I realized that they had something that most other blogs didn't, a schtick. I don't mean disrespectfully that they had a bit or a gimmick but more like something that gave their postings collaborated unity. From a journalist who had a Julia Child obsession to a lady who likes to cook and is married to a cowboy, these people knew how to turn a blog into something more than ramblings of a day to day life. And when I decided to start a blog I mulled in my mind as to what my schtick would be.

Aside from the fact that musings of a mad scientist and meditations of a mad scientist were taken on this site, I figured "mullings" would be a better representation (though the Shirley method jury is still out on whether or not I used a proper plural subject form of the verb "to mull").  Quite literally it is the spice of life and I'm not someone that takes a thought and handles it with care.  In my mind the word "musing" means that thoughts are handled as if they are bubbles or butterflies.  They float within your mind, lightly bouncing off synapses until they fly away. I usually take the mortar and pestle approach.  I grind thoughts down until I have used most of its resources and there isn't much left.  Is this a more barbaric way to think?  Probably, but to me thoughts need to be mulled in order to be most advantageous to the thinker.  Now imagine me mulling away as to what my schtick would be.  I kept pushing aside thoughts of whether or not I wanted my schtick to be maple or birch, and really tried to try to find a new angle.  My biggest fear was that I would put myself out on a limb, figure out something spectacular, and have my mom be my only reader.  That is when I started thinking of whether or not this would work out and if I would be okay with that. Would it be okay if I logged on and no one visited my site.  No one ever would leave a comment, no subscriptions, nothing.   After much thought I said that it would. Why would that be, you ask?  Because I want a place where I could write in such a way that it would be okay if I were the only reader.  I want a blog that would appeal to myself.  Now that is a crazy idea and a paradox at that. Blogs aren't meant to appeal to a personal audience. Well I guess I didn't call myself Mad for nothing. That is when I decided that I had found my Schtick, the biggest Schtick of collaborated unity I would ever know...life itself. 

I don't think that I would like to say much about me right away.  My profile is pretty bare because let's face it, if this blog is for me, I don't really need to tell myself about...well...me. If you want to know the person beyond The Mad Scientist then I welcome you to get comfortable and read what I will have to say. And if you think you know The Mad Scientist then I encourage you to keep reading.  Do I have any plans beyond that? The short answer is no.  These posts are about the simplicity of life, my life. And while they may have little meaning now, hopefully they represent pixels of the bigger picture.

My goal is to turn the mundane into a spectacular spectacle that would only hope to rival any great moment in my life. From that I hope that it can stir the senses, provoke thought, and be a joy simultaneously.  At least I hope I can invoke the sense of well being with good humor.  For me, humor is the universal language.  There isn't a culture or race that doesn't know what it is like to smile. In most of the animal kingdom bearing ones teeth is a sign of alarm, but not with us. Perhaps it is because a smile encompass so much more than just the mouth. With a smile you get the twinkling of eyes, laugh lines, a dimple; a glimpse of the soul.  It is a evolutionary gift that we must take advantage of in any way possible. I plan on putting that phenomenon to good use, as it is my duty as part of my species to do so.  

So enter my world and I welcome you to stay.  I can't guarantee you anything other than writings that I deem important at the time.  I wish I could offer more, but sadly that is not the way of things.  You'll just have to sit back and enjoy the journey.