Like a store owner who decides he's outgrown his location or simply feels it's time to make a change, I realized this morning that the time has come for me to close the book on this diary.

Actually, I realized it two months ago, but I'm even so lazy or lax or whatever it is that I can't decide when to put up a pre-written entry.

Rather than make a big, symbolic deal out of it -- such as ending it on the anniversary of when I started it, or finishing at a nice round or meaningful number of entries -- it's better to do it when it feels right, which it does now. So it comes at entry No. 1,051, roughly five years and almost nine months after I first posted a live entry. I turn 30 a month from today, and I see my life differently now from what it was in the first entries on this site.

So, as one might do with a new leather-bound journal, I feel it's time to start fresh in a new book.