Thursday, January 6, 2011

An important message from Hurricane Mikey

I'll let my friend Mikey's message speak for itself.  I know I speak for everyone when I say we wish him all the best, from the bottom of our hearts.

Dear Linda Lou fans--

As I'm sure you're aware, for the past 36 hours or so nobody has been able to access my site, hurricanemikey.com. It was not an accident, I purposely blocked access to it on Tuesday afternoon. No, there's nothing wrong at all, and all is well on the home front. But having spent almost eight years now blogging (don't forget the *original* hurricanemikey site), I think it's time to get away for awhile.

First of all, there are the obvious privacy issues--more and more people out there know too much about me, and not all of them are honorable. So they aren't going to be a bother anymore.

Also, since I left Vegas and moved to Nashville, my life is completely different. Out there, I worked about 20 hours a week and made a decent living, giving me tons of free time to goof off. Choosing not to indulge in all the temptations that Vegas had to offer, that gave me even more time to fill, especially since all of my friends worked different shifts at odd hours. So I had lots and lots of time to write about whatever popped into my head--usually Vegas or poker related, although some popular culture and food/restaurant stuff made the occasional appearance. My keyboard was my creative outlet.

But now that I'm here in Tennessee, surrounded by family and friends, I really don't have much free time on my hands anymore--even though I'm still not working full time. My evenings and weekends are full of activities and goofing off with the sibs, and I started to realize that they deserve some privacy too. Nobody needs to track their movements via my website. Besides, when I'm busy with them, which seems like the case almost all of the time, I feel like sitting at the computer is a waste of time. There are plenty of other things I'd much rather be doing.

Also, since my close call in the hospital this past fall, my outlook on life has changed a bit, and I'm honestly not the same arrogant smartass party-animal drunkard that y'all used to know and love (and hate). I have different priorities now, and I'm still trying to find my 'voice', if you will. The things that appealed to me a year ago don't hold nearly the same interest, and I'm doing my best to try and be a better person in all kinds of different ways. And some good friends pointed out a few character flaws that I wasn't even aware of, which give me even more stuff to work on in my daily life. I'm trying to concentrate on the that nowadays.

I still like to write and I still want to maintain a blog, but right now, I think I just want to take some time off. My heart just isn't into it, and as I go back and read some of the stuff I've written lately, I can tell that I'm totally mailing it in on a lot of recent posts. That's no good--better to put out no product at all than to put out a shiatty one.

As the new year progresses, I'm just concentrating on getting myself together--working on my recovery, starting a new career, and enjoying the second chance that I've been given. I appreciate all of the readers who've enjoyed and commented on my stuff over the years, and I also very much appreciate all the people who hit the tip jar, sent stuff from the wishlist, or donated when it was needed--words alone cannot express my gratitude. It is very humbling to me whenever I think about it, and I feel truly blessed for all of the connections I've made and friendships that have been forged.

But I'm gonna go off the grid a little bit and go back to being a mostly-private person again. I'll be back someday--I don't know when, but this isn't a permanent thing.

A few housekeeping items:

*Everyone* been blocked from accessing my site--I will not be making any updates at all, not even super-secret ones for a handpicked inner-circle, which has been suggested. Even Linda Lou and the family are locked out. Basically the site is going into hibernation.

Also, I know some folks have suggested leaving it partially open so they can read the old Vegas trip reports and stuff, but I'm not going to do that either. Sorry, but I'd have to partition stuff and it's kind of a pain with the blogger software. It's just easier to lock it down and hide the key for awhile.

I won't be totally gone. I'll still be commenting on Linda's site on occasion, I may also pop into T2V here and there (although right now, I'm so over Vegas you have no idea...), and who knows where else I might pop up. Those of you who know of my current interests might find me in some of those topic-related forums out there in the wilds of the internet. Also, if anyone wants and/or needs a guest blogger for their own site, you can still reach me at mikey at hurricanemikey dot you-know-where.

For those of you who I've met personally and know personally, I'm on facebook, too. Send me a friend request if you want to still read whatever pops into my head on a daily basis. Other than that, I'm on sabbatical from the internet. I hope y'all understand.

It's been a good time,

Mikey

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to know that nothing happened to Mikey. I enjoyed his writing very much and he made some of my bad days at work...not so bad with his wit and sense of humor.

Good luck Mikey hope to see back on-line some day!

Jamie in PA said...

Good Luck! God Bless you. You will be missed. Thank you for all the laughs and tears. Lots of hugs and love to you. Jamie

Detroiter said...

Gonna miss ya Mikey, but, we all need a break now and then. Seems I recall you took a sabbatical a few years back for a summer or something. Didn't kill us then, and I'm sure it won't this time either. Keep on truckin, ariva derchi, ourivoui, you know what I mean...just can't spell all those foreign sayin's.........good luck till we hear from you again buddy.....God speed Detroiter

Julie D said...

Best of luck, Mikey. I wish I'd gotten to meet you last year when I was in Vegas visiting Linda, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

Enjoy TN and the new life!

Mandy in AZ said...

Mikey,
Sorry to read this news but am happy for you that you have moved on to a new place in life, one that is satisfying for you I hope. I don't know why but for some reason your story about the time you went to the strip club (think third brown eye) and ran out popped into my head the other day. I wish I had gone back and reread it while I had the chance. You are one funny dude and a truly talented writer. Best of luck to you :)

carolcaj said...

Thanks Mikey for all the years of entertaining writing, we will miss your stories. Take care.

Carol in MN

Sous Chef said...

Good Luck Mikey...make the most of your second chance. Thanks for the memories!

AgSweep said...

Mikey, Thank you for everything. I have had many a good laughs over the years starting with those early trip reports and enjoyed reading your Vegas adventures. I wish you the best in all that you do and in all things that come to you. I know that future holds for you a fair wind and following seas. (and rum drinks with umbrellas).

Tara said...

Love ya Mikey :) Take care and good luck! Linda, thanks for hosting Mikey's goodbye message. Love you as well.

Anonymous said...

Good luck to you!

Carol said...

I started reading your blog via Linda's blog. All I can say, is that I wish you all the best Mike. I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

Take care

Carol
Perth WA

leohfebish said...

good luck in the future. will miss your writing.

Anonymous said...

Good luck Mikey! I will miss reading your blog.

Dr. Willie B. Feelgoode said...

Echo on the sentiments here. Your blog will be missed, but your health and your family are number one!

-- FredGarvinMP

(PS If you ever get really bored, maybe you can find a way to put up a "Best Of Hurricane Mikey" site)

Michelle (formely of Ann Arbor) said...

Mikey,
Good Luck to you. I enjoyed your blog over the years. I wish you good health and much success in the future.

par88 said...

Mikey, I'm really glad I found this post on Linda Lou's site. I was worried something might have happened to you. I found your blog a couple years ago and have been reading it since, looking forward to your posts and following your (sometimes mundane, sometimes exciting, sometimes hilarious) adventures. I will surely miss your blog but wish you nothing but the best because you deserve it.

Wondering Woman said...

I expect someday I'll walk into a bookstore and there will be the new bestseller by Hurricane Mikey. Good health to you.

Michael said...

I'm late to the comments Mikey, but I'm glad you are doing well, I will miss your writing but can completely understand the change you needed to do for yourself in your life. Good luck with everything.