Hello World...

        My name is Thomas, but from here out and for this purpose, I will post as Mad Daft (or MadDaft). That tag name has a bit of history from my travels and could possibly use some explanation. Think Mad as an adverb meaning very or extremely, or also as a person displaying thinking or behavior considered to be irrational. Not angry, mad. And Daft, well, think of it as a lighthearted way of saying goofy or not thinking straight. So very irrationally goofy and maybe not always thinking straight. I always enjoyed both words growing up. As a youth, I would often say things like "That's mad cool," or "Are you daft?" When I first heard Daft Punk, I loved their music and the name. And I am sure that the Mad Hatter influenced the name as well. It's likely a mush of all of those factors and sprang from a period in my life where I truly was going crazy and making some very irrational choices. I was not thinking straight.

        Which brings me to the background of the first usage of the tag name. Graffiti and street art have always been a big interest of mine. When I was a kid, I would go to work with my grandfather, and his shop was on Dixie Highway in Pompano Beach, Florida. The railroad tracks ran right in front of the bays of the warehouse he worked out of. I remember watching the trains go by, and as I was counting the railroad cars, I would notice the graffiti. This was likely also part of the origin of my fascination with train hoppers and "hobo" culture. Fast forward to my adult life, mid-thirties, and I fell into substance misuse and alcoholism pretty hard. My life completely crumbled around me. I failed out of FAU, where I had been majoring in Chemistry. I went through a divorce and ended up homeless on the streets of Palm Beach and Broward Counties in South Florida. There were some rather prolific graffiti artists in both counties, and I enjoyed seeing and recognizing their tags as I traveled about. While bouncing here and there and lost in the madness of drug addiction, I got the bright idea to start spray painting stuff. And out of the insanity of this period of my life, I took a liking to the name Mad Daft, and that became my tag. More recently, it was my gamer tag on Xbox, MadDaftFad. 

        Today I feel terrible for the property damage I did by tagging up walls, buildings, streets, and sidewalks all over both counties. As the gamer tag suggests, it was a very irrational, not done with sound thinking, foolish, short-lived craze that showed no true merit and was really just an outward expression of the chaos going on within me. To some degree, it was me trying to participate in an art form that I admired, but nothing I ever painted was of anything near the street art I appreciated. It's highly unlikely that anyone would read this who has ever seen my tag, or even more so, that was impacted by my defacing of their property, but if I ever did paint anything of yours, I would like to make a formal apology. I have not participated in this activity since 2020, and the only place I would ever do it today is in an approved location, such as one of the "graffiti alleys" across the country or in some place like Centralia, Pennsylvania.

        One thing that I did do while I was homeless and backpacking all over was appreciate the truly amazing, beautiful, and diverse country we live in. I stayed in the South Florida area in the beginning, but since then, I have traveled all over. I have been all up and down the East Coast. From the Canadian border in Vermont and New Hampshire (and the far Down East coastal town of Machias, Maine, with Clover) to the southern areas of Miami, Florida. And all in between. I ventured out to San Francisco for a short pass through. Colorado for a week. I spent a good deal of time touring Boston. Weeks hiking the White Mountains National Forrest. I meandered all over, and I met some truly amazing people along the way. Several that I am still in contact with through social media. I also met some amazing fellow travelers out there. People with varied backstories and a variety of reasons for their traveling. I travelled with some for a weekend and some for longer periods. It has been an amazing and beautiful experience getting to know and connect with people from all areas and all walks of life, all on different paths on this journey of life.

        I have visited a number of the graffiti alleys, and I got to appreciate some great street art. Centralia is still on my list of places I would like to see. I really would like to travel and hike in the Pacific Northwest. Hiking in Washington and Oregon are definitely something I would like to do. I have done a lot of urban hiking and short trail hikes, but I would like to do a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I do hope to travel to places outside of this country, but there is so much to see and experience right here in this country. I look forward to my future travels, I look forward to the people I will meet and get to know, I look forward to the foods I have yet to try, I look forward to the new trails and beautiful views I haven't seen before, I look forward to seeing flowers and mushrooms I am not familiar with... I look forward to the rest of this journey. Every new day is a gift that I humbly receive with a great sense of appreciation and gratitude.

-Mad Daft