Apocalypse.

If you're reading this, you've probably jumped over from that OTHER web site.

Well, welcome to this one. Because as tonight, I will no longer be a member of the MySpace community. This has been a long-time coming - I've been thinking about it since my big trip, after my account got hacked - and I've finally come to the decision to unshackle my online social life from that site and maintain a lower-profile site here.

I'll probably keep my Facebook account, just for people (like the guys in ATO) to be able to get ahold of me if they need to. But MySpace? I just don't think I need it anymore.

I have a feeling I'm one of the rats leaving a sinking ship. And my resentment toward MySpace's garrish personality and crass commercialism has been a itch that won't go away.

There are practical reasons, too, of course. Potential job interviewers, gun-toting Marxist guerrillas, and looney exes - not to mention all the fake porn profiles - all know MySpace as a potential spying tool.

Sure, I'll miss the ability to monitor my friends' lives from one simple site. I'll miss the picture comments and the blog discussions and the stalking. All of that will be hard to recreate. But I have recreated it, in some form or another, and I don't have to worry about the newest movie release from Fox blocking my log-in abilities.

And frankly, I talk to 10-20 people on here regularly. The rest are mere school or work or random acquaintances. My life is too busy to keep tabs on every one of my 300+ "friends," and I've got too much to do to even attempt it.

Believe it or not, the Internet offers other ways to keep in contact; if you need me, you know how to reach me.

Who knows: with the freedom and the openness of my Blogger page, maybe more things in life will be forthcoming. Maybe I'll post more often, maybe not. Maybe people will read it, maybe not. Does it matter? Is my life affected in any way? Will I shed a tear when I don't have a MySpace sign-in name?

Until that August 1 deadline hits, I'll maintain some sort of phantom presence (think "Sixth Sense," not "Ghost Dad") and close any open engagements that remain. In the meantime, I'll leave enough Internet ectoplasm for you to find where I've gone.

Let me just say that this whole thing - since 2005 - has been a great experience. I like to think I was one of the middle adopters, before MySpace really took off last year, and have enjoyed seeing all my friends and coworkers pour into this site and set up their own profiles. I loved posting "Welcome to the cult of MySpace..." comments on newly-acquired friends' pages. And having "MySpace friends" and "MySpace conversations" (those that start out with, "So I saw on MySpace how you've...") is a cultural thing other generations just don't get.

Well I got it. Now I'm getting out while the getting's good.