So, while you weren't looking, Bring Back Sincerity turned four-years-old. Hard to believe, right? My first post on February 18th, 2003 simply said, "Welcome, friend. You are wanted here." It's an incredibly minimal and straightforward opening, and while I've never suffered from a shortage of words, the brevity still feels very appropriate.

Despite the slack I get on a regular basis for the corny name, Bring Back Sincerity began in a response to the overwhelming snarkiness and irony then so very prevalent. Granted, the name could have been perhaps a bit more subtle, but I picked it and alas, I'm stuck with it. Although, if there's someone to blame, it's Liz Jones, a good friend who chided me regularly for my earnestness and sincerity. I would make a heartfelt proclamation and Liz would say something along the lines of, "Arye's bringing back sincerity again." Jokingly, one day she even suggested that that's what I should name my blog if I had ever started one.

Little did she know that I would do just that.

I started BBS in a effort to deal with the incredible and sudden loss of my father. As a typical male in his 20's suffering from an inability to properly express my thoughts and emotions, I needed something to unload on in some way. As retroactively cliche as that probably sounds to you--I mean, what blog isn't about self-expression and self-involvement?--this outlet meant a tremendous deal to me. It was my weekly therapy session, it was my confidante, my virtual diary, and it was surreal and flattering whenever people either wrote me comments or mentioned the blog to me in person. In fact, just last night, a writer and colleague that I respect mentioned that she still reads BBS on occasion. It's an enormous thrill to know that my thoughts, my opinions and my ramblings are worthy enough of wasting her time. It's also a serious thrill to know that I'm not an idiot.

As time passed, BBS became less and less about my father and expression and more about being a creative outlet. Sometimes, I wrote about music, television, culture, morality, heartbreak, and love, and then at other times, I wrote imaginary sequels to popular novels, essays on MTV's Sweet Sixteen and transcriptions between Keanu Reeves and me. And truthfully, I've enjoyed every second of it (which is not necessarily synonymous with pride. In fact, sometimes I look back at old posts and blush with embarrassment).

Currently, I make a living as a writer and sadly I don't have the time for writing on BBS like I used to. And whenever a day goes by and I haven't posted here, I feel like I've skipped out on a basic function. I know the past few weeks have been sporadic at best but I'm trying my damndest to bring back with regularity. BBS has been an invaluabe resource for me and I can't belittle its importance in my life. Using this platform as an outlet has given me the opportunity to verbalize and articulate my innermost thoughts. But most importantly, it has allowed me to wrestle with the strange complexity of the loss of someone so close. Four years is a long time in the Internet world but it's like five seconds in real time. 2003 still feels like yesterday and me...well, I'm still trying to figure out some of the same things that challenged me during that cold and painful winter.

But we're still here and we've got a lot of catching up to do. In the meantime, happy birthday, BBS, and of course, welcome back, friend. You're still wanted here.