As I said in my last post, it's nice to be back. I'd like to thank Adam for letting me jump back on board. True, he and I have no idea what this vessel is or where it's headed, but we're back on the open sea, and that's the important thing. Well, that and hoisting the sail on all these boating metaphors.

So I suppose I should get to the perfunctory bring-you-up-to-speed update. Last we spoke, it was July of 2006. The heyday of this blog. The money was rolling in. The champagne was ever-flowing. I sat on the back porch of my apartment in a bathrobe and I was somehow making money. Yes, it seemed like nothing could stop us. But there's really only so much champagne and bathrobe-wearing one can handle. I felt like it was time to pack up and move on. I was ostensibly homeless, anyway, since the abundance of my wealth was such that, whenever I'd open the door to leave my house, piles of gold coins would comically trickle out, much like a junk closet hastily filled to the brim right before a girl comes over to check out the ever-flowing champagne, only for her to curiously open the closet door and be avalanched by the packed contents inside that were heretofore making the door physically buckle outward, sparking me to wonder why, exactly, she'd even attempt to open such a comically-shaped door. My point: I was filthy rich and there were comical non-sequiturs occurring in my life. That had to stop.

So I left. Without a word. I couldn't re-enter my apartment since the entire living-quarters were filled, floor to ceiling, with regenerating gold coins. There was no way for me to access my computer and type out a farewell. So that was that.

I felt like my life had been empty up until then. I wanted to do something that, while perhaps not as lucrative, wouldn't destroy my soul (or liver. All that champagne probably wasn't good on the ol' liver.) Thus, I became an SAT-prep teacher for a year and a half. Then I decided I wanted to help even more kids. So I became a substitute teacher. Which brings us to today. The end.

Moving on. I believe in transparency. So, in an effort to keep you, the reader, in the loop, here are some excerpts from the email I sent Adam about rejoining the blog. It starts with a classy title: "Well, holy shit." Then it jumps right into the message, no salutation necessary: "That's pretty much what was going through my mind when I found out that you resurrected the Irreverent Times blog. It's one of those things that I totally didn't expect. And the only reason I checked was because I was sitting here, thinking over what CDs I should add to my list (explanation forthcoming), and I was like, 'Adam would have a similar list. Speaking of Adam, I should check out that old blog we used to do.' And then I saw that you'd written in there as recently as three days ago and I thought, 'Well, holy shit.'"

This is part of a real correspondence, folks! You're getting raw, unedited, uncut (and uncensored!) email. I mean, seriously, where else can you find shit like this?

"Now to backtrack and explain about the list. So you know that '25 random things about me' list that's like a virus on Facebook? I really don't want to do one of those. Mostly because everyone's doing it, but also because it's too... I don't know. The supposed 'random' aspect makes me suspect. People either A) don't seem to put things that are truly 'random' or B) don't put things that are altogether unsurprising. I was thinking about it and I thought, 'If I'm gonna do this, I'm at least going to make it have a point.' So I thought that picking 25 forms of media that have influenced me would be a good list. I've got the TV shows, I have most -- if not all -- of the books, I have most -- if not all -- of the movies... That left music. And when I saw that your blog posts have all been about music -- nice selections, by the way -- it was a second 'holy shit' moment."

Which brings me to the announcement all of this has been leading up to: expect daily installments in a four-part series entitled Brian's Wildly Indulgent List of 25 Forms of Media that have Influenced Him. Check your local listings.