Hello.

I was a pioneering blogger back in 1997 and 1998, before these nifty little auto-blog-me sites existed. I blogged before it was called blogging, when online journal-keeping had to be accomplished the old-fashioned way with blood, sweat, tears, and raw HTML. I mastered frames and splash pages and articulated the daily ardors of my young pubescent existence, tastefully garnished with snappy PhotoShop graphics.

Unfortunately, my hosting site revamped their design and, in the process, deleted my years of middle school labor, and so I succumbed to the burgeoning teenopendiary.com and, later, the popular and intensely emo-driven livejournal.

But the time has come for a fresh beginning. For the past six months, I have been overwhelmed by an impending sense of mortality and the desire to come to terms with this beautiful, quirky thing called life. I wanted a place to sort out my thoughts, to center myself, and hopefully, over time, to encounter others who have embarked upon the same sort of journey.

This is that space, appropriately named the Tao of Chelsea, as Taoism is one spiritual philosophy I have found myself closely identifying with and, of course, Chelsea is myself. It must be admitted that the name is somewhat of a take on The Tao of Pooh, a little book I highly recommend for those that would prefer to begin their spiritual exploration with the comfort of having Pooh, Piglet, and all the rest along for the ride (and I freely admit to being one of those people myself!).

That should be a sufficient introduction. I suppose the rest will reveal itself as the days pass by. In the meantime, I really must fold the laundry I've been watching wrinkle for the past hour and prepare myself for the Sunday joys of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and HBO's Big Love.

And with that, I'll depart, with the acknowledgment that I've probably destroyed my credibility before this blogging adventure has even begun.