If you've been directed to this page, someone who knows and loves you is trying to tell you something. Here it is:
You're not a grown-up.
Oh, you've probably reached the legal age of majority, you may be able to drive, date and drink, you may even hold down a full-time job or be going to college. But none of those things make you a grown-up. To do that, you need to develop the knowledge, habits and maturity of a full-fledged adult.
That's what this blog is for. If for some reason you've reached this stage in your life without learning -- or, more importantly, internalizing -- the ways of adulthood, you can learn them here, a post at a time.
In many cultures, there's a process of initiation involved in becoming an adult -- some type of rite wherein the young person receives the distilled knowledge of generations, learns and practices crucial skills, and is otherwise carefully prepared for the move to adulthood. But it's frighteningly common for people in the Western world over the age of 21 to have little or no solid information about how to be an adult. Sometimes it's because they had no good adult role models to follow; sometimes it's because they lack patience or the ability to observe carefully; sometimes it's just because they still want someone else to feed and dress them and be in complete control of their lives. But from now on it's time to put the excuses aside, put on your big-kid trousers and face the world as someone who acts, rather than being acted upon -- someone who takes control of his or her own destiny -- someone who realizes, "This is my life, and it's up to me to get the most and best out of it." In other words, a grown-up.
WARNING: This blog is not politically correct. I talk about the stuff that your family, friends, classmates, lovers and co-workers don't dare say to you because they're too polite. Since I'm a total stranger, I'm just going to be blunt. Some of the things I write will offend you. Suck it up. You can either put aside your pride and make your life better, or storm off in a huff and spend years wondering why you seem destined to be alone. (Hint: BATHE.)
