Why blog? Why start now?

Both are excellent questions!  This has been something I've been wanting to do for a long time but never had good ideas or a decent concept.  I first started thinking about this many years ago when all my friends started doing their own blogs.  I didn't want to do a "me too" sort of thing, so I let it go for a while.  I then revisited the idea several years ago, but my wife, M, beat me to it.  She has done some amazing things over the past few years chronicling our family's lives.  Anything I could do to copy that would most definitely fall short.  Find out for yourself:  http://comingupcollins.blogspot.com/

So it was just recently that I was thinking to myself that I really should try again, but this time, go a different direction.  I like to tell stories and I like to draw pictures.  Maybe I could combine the two together...but how? 

My friend Jerry says, "Chris likes to spin a yarn..."  I have no idea what that means.  I even tried to Google it once:

But that went nowhere fast.

So instead, I figured I can try to use what skills I have and make the most out of some of the more interesting situations that occur in my life.  After high school and college and college again, I went to art school...two of them actually.  Notice I did not say that I am an artist - I am not.  I went to one school to learn to how to draw and paint and sculpt and do all those amazing things employers love to see on a resume.  The other school was more technical where I learned 2D/3D animation, graphic design, stop motion and video game development.  Again, all the key winners employers love to see on a resume.  Hence, I do not draw, paint sculpt, animate, design, stop motion nor develop video games for a living.  Therefore, I am not an artist...that and I suck at it.

I have had a lot of artistic and narrative influences in my life, but one in particular really stood out for this blog.  I started reading Jhonen Vasquez comics, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee, back in the late 90's while attending art school #1.  Jhonen's dark humor and ability to tell a funny story complimented well the bizarre, but lovable characters he created:

But his true brilliance came in the form of a crudely drawn, often vulgar and misunderstood "doodle" of a character called Happy Noodle Boy:

HNB's "adventures" were always somehow offensive and hilarious in a way that made me hungry for the next story of total chaos...I'm still a huge fan to this day.  Here is a picture of me wearing my HNB shirt during my most recent vacation to the moon:

So what does "Edge of the Lemon" mean and what is its purpose on this whole "interweb" thingy?  Well, the title is a play on words.  Thinking about all the adventure and literary (and lyrical for you Faith No More fans) references to the "edge of the world", I combined that with the saying about "life giving you lemons".  The purpose of this blog is to "spin a yarn", share pieces of my life and hopefully make a few of you laugh in the process.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy posting.

-Cheers!