If you’ve visited Blast Off! lately, you may have noticed that you were greeted with this message:

Regrettably, it’s true. While it’s not the stereotypical “goodbye, cruel world” (“GBCW” in blog parlance) departure, Blast Off! officially ended its nearly five-and-a-half-year run in the blogosphere last week … and I imagine its sudden demise probably warrants an explanation.

It’s probably pretty obvious, if you’ve been reading that crappy blog for a while now, that I had been kind of losing my blogging mojo for much of the latter half of 2009. Because of my ongoing job search, preparing for (and passing) the Florida Bar exam, moving across the state, then the holidays and, frankly, just an increasing lack of interest on my part, blogging became a lower and lower priority in my life. Because I value(d) the blog and its readers so highly, though, I had vowed to myself to carry on, and indeed I had collected a modest batch of material that I’d planned to begin posting last week.

But then I abruptly learned that some of my posts were hurtful to people close to me, people whom I love and care about despite their right-wing Republican proclivities. (I should note this does not refer to Miss July, who always has supported my blog and my blogging since we’ve been together, even though our political viewpoints occasionally – okay, frequently – diverge.) And my criticisms of their political views – written in my “character” as “Sinfonian,” not as myself – were taken very seriously (perhaps too seriously), and as long as they stayed on the Internet, they would continue to cause pain and consternation, even though that was neither my wish nor my intent.

Finally, I had grown more and more concerned about the negative impact, if any, of Blast Off! on my job search. I don’t mean to sound conceited or prideful, but the fact is that I have had several interviews over my nearly 16-month period of unemployment thus far that I thought were “slam dunks,” that it was just a matter of time until I was offered the job. But invariably, “something” happened, and while I have no idea what exactly led to my rejection in each case, the plain fact is that since I was outed by a right-wing blogger last year, my words as “Sinfonian” have been very easy to tie to my actual identity, and it’s entirely possible that some of those employers found what I wrote at Blast Off! to be offensive, or they feared that it might offend my potential clientele if they were to hire me. Now, I’ve always said that if someone didn’t want to hire me because of my political views, I wouldn’t want to work for them anyway. But reality has forced me to reassess my commitment to that principle: I wouldn’t say I’ve sacrificed or abandoned my principles, but perhaps my fellow liberals can forgive me if I’ve found it necessary to put those deeply held principles on the back burner for the time being.

I think it’s important to point out that nearly every word on Blast Off! – or at least every snarky word – was written from the perspective of a character, a persona, known as “Sinfonian,” and that while I certainly share opinions and viewpoints with my blog’s alter ego, I often expressed outrage or other such emotions in a far more caustic and perhaps even somewhat exaggerated way than I would in my real-life encounters with people. I definitely intended to draw attention to the wrongdoing and craven opportunism, selfishness, and hypocrisy of the Right, and I think my barbs hit the mark more often than not. I do not apologize for anything I’ve said or written about any public figures, but to the extent that anything I’ve written has caused pain for any private citizens, I’m sorry.

So, Blast Off! finally has played out the string, and with it Blast Off! Radio will go away as well. It’s time to retire the brand altogether. While I’m job-searching and trying to provide for my children and keep a roof over my head and food on the table, it’s best, I think, to keep my snark more or less to myself.

Perhaps Blast Off! will return – I haven’t completely ruled that out, and Blogger provides a 90-day grace period for resurrecting a defunct blog. I’ve downloaded the complete contents of the blog and can restore them anytime through early April if I want. Or perhaps I will start a new blog … maybe even a new persona, retiring “Sinfonian” altogether (that probably would be the fairest alternative for the sake of my fraternity, whose name I innocently appropriated for my pseudonym, never realizing how ubiquitous it would become). I might even keep posting occasionally here at the FPC Blog, and I do intend to remain active in the Florida Netroots Coalition.

One thing I do know: if I start a new blog with a new nym someday, very, very few people in real life will know about it … if any. But I hope you’ll still read it, whether you know it’s mine or not. And you can still find me on Twitter and you’ll see me around the state – hopefully, before long, working hard and earning a salary yet again.

Thank you so much, progressives – in America’s Wang™ and beyond – for everything. See ya around ….