Introduction

So…my name is Andrew J. Rostan. An ordinary man with slightly out-of-the-ordinary hopes and dreams, partially influenced by earning two degrees in subjects which have no immediate useful application to the world. I live in Chicago, Illinois where I have a plethora of amazing friends and a significant other more wonderful than I deserve. And when I'm not either a) working hard or b) curled up with a good book and a glass of wine, I love to write.

 

I kept two different blogs from 2007 to 2009, the ashes of which are still clinging to the silken threads of the World Wide Web. I got a thrill out of producing entries, and only abandoned them because of graduate school (the first because of the application process taking over my life, the second because of the actual studying taking over my life). But now school is over for good (probably), stress relief is a necessity, and my obsession with biography (which is part of the hopes and dreams) has given me a new interest in the art of posterity.

 

Therefore, I am mounting the third, and idiomatically charming, try. "Andrew J. Rostan's 'The Magnificent Seven.'" Why did I name the blog this? Three reasons.

 

1. As my dear friend The Minstrel* has told me on many occasions, while I don't think my life is that magnificent, he does, and he believes the rest of the world does, too.
   
2. I want to make sure I write something EVERY DAY, so sometime after sunset in Chicago, I shall type seven lines, minimum, about something I thought about today or something amazing I did. It will probably go longer most days, but I know that I can write seven lines at the end of the day even if I'm brain-dead or slightly tipsy. And by lines, I mean "full-across-the-page" lines on Microsoft Word's Blog Post feature. The subject matter of those lines? It could be a book I'm reading, a movie I saw, a record I heard, a fun event I went to, a comment on an article from Arts & Letters Daily or The Economist or Vanity Fair (my three big news sources), a meditation on God (I am a devout Episcopalian), or just some random thought blowing across my mind. But I promise I shall always try to make these thoughts interesting…and brief, so you can come for a minute or two, read, enjoy, and move on…but maybe be a little inspired, or with a sudden urge to try a new recipe or cultural artifact. That would be nice.
   
3. It gives me a reason to keep Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen in my background.
   

 

So…come by every day for one new glimpse into my world. It may not always be done well, but I take a little satisfaction that I can do it at all.

 

*Just so you all know, while I shall always take credit for my opinions and occasional idiocy, my friends are so great that I don't want to write anything which will embarrass them for potential employers and career partners. Therefore, with the exception of me, Mommy, and Daddy, everybody will get an appropriate alias…and believe me, coming up with that part will be half the fun ;)