The Last Post

So I guessed I dragged this out because in some ways I'm not sure I wanted to finish up here. But alas, it is time. I started this blog back in 2007, and have logged in and written from all over the world. You've been to Greece with me. You've been to Laos with me. You've been to Ann Arbor with me. From Summer of Finger, to business school, to the Summer of Finger Part II, to the office. I appreciate you all keeping up with me. If I didn't get such positive feedback I'm sure I would've shut this thing down long ago.

I'm not 100% on this but I feel like I'm stopping this thing as my readership is the highest it's ever been. I'm sure Ashley York has something to do with that, and I'm okay with that. Writing this thing has been enjoyable, sometimes burdensome, but mostly something I'd look forward to every week or every other week. It served as a study break when I was at school, and a creative outlet when all I was doing during the day was going crunch crunch crunch with spreadsheets. In short, it made me happy. Plain and simple. And when you find something that makes you happy you hold onto it. I'm not giving all this up completely. I actually went out and bought Final Draft and have taken a stab at writing a TV show. I can't say I know exactly what I'm doing, but it's been pretty fun writing dialogue and making a story. As you can imagine, I have plenty of material. Does anyone ever say "when I grow up I want to be a corporate financier" anyway?.

When I thought about this post I had writer's block as to what I'd write about. But one night it hit me. It actually hit me pretty hard. I was playing the top of a 2-3 zone in a league playoff game when chasing down a skip pass I ran directly into a player on the opposing team. I didn't even see him. My forehead right into his face. We collided, and I can still hear the horrible sound it made. Like dropping a rock onto another rock. Two heads smacking each other. As I staggered away I looked at the other guy who was gushing blood from his mouth. I then slowly put my hand to my forehead to assess the damage and when I pulled my hand away it was as if I'd stepped into a scene of True Blood. His teeth had gone through the skin on my forehead and I was leaking. I don't like blood, and I was a little concerned, and by "a little" I mean a lot. Truth be told, it was a small cut, but a lot of blood. Once the bleeding stopped I bandaged it up and went back in. I'm not saying I'm Willis Reed or anything, but despite bleeding my own blood it was just fun to be out there playing. It reminded me of the last episode of The Wire when drug kingpin Marlo, clearly uncomfortable at Levy's white collar real estate function sneaks out and starts walking the streets of Baltimore until he encounters two kids and engages them in a fight only to get cut on his arm by one of them during the skirmish. Marlo looks at his bloody arm and smiles because he knows that being on the streets is what makes him happiest.

I'm not advocating going around looking for knife fights. It is pretty simple though. When you can find what makes you happy, do it. Whether it's writing, being a Baltimore drug kingpin, valuing companies, or making artisanal cheese. Maybe I'm writing this for you, or maybe I'm writing this for me so when I come back to this in a few weeks or months, or years or whenever I can remind myself what I said. Either way, it's out there, on the internets.

This isn't an Emmy speech, but I do want to thank you all for reading Finger:TheBlog. It really has been fun writing. After today if you want to get in touch regarding the blog or any of the posts, or anything else, I created fingertheblog@gmail.com, so holler at me. If you're a newbie, go back and read some of the early stuff. If you've been following since my trip to Woodbury Commons, well, hell, go back and read some of the early stuff too. Thanks again. I'm off to bed.