*wince*

At the distance of a few weeks, my first posts already make me blanch. Apparently, at some point - probably late at night and not on my best game - I came up with a grand concept for this blog that looked like some kind of misshapen and ill-conceived love child of HL Mencken and Ferdinand de Saussure.

We can do better than this, Hamilton. The posts stay, of course, as a cruel but crucial reminder of the constant need for humility and self-improvement - the same way we all secretly hope that someone still makes Dustin Hoffman watch Ishtar at least once a year. But if you ever catch me abruptly turning pale, steadying myself on my desk, and compulsively making the motion of smoking a phantom cigarette, you'll immediately know that I just scrolled down a little farther than I intended.