Blogging is having to say you're sorry for not blogging 


What do you say when there's a lot you could say, but you're not sure what to say? 

It doesn't appear that this blog is widely read now, and perhaps it will never be read by more than an occasional few. So why blog at all? Actually there are many reasons, some of which I propose to articulate now.

Somebody has to have written about this already, but blogging puts you in a different frame of mind. Normally, I go about my day either following more or less vague plans or just letting thoughts come to me as they will. That's ok. When I'm writing a blog entry, it's different. I am selectively structuring my thinking in a number of ways. I structure them around a topic. I'm "talking" to an imaginary audience, including myself. Hopefully, at the end of the entry, I feel as though I've made a point or two. More than this, blogging is actually a process of creating thoughts and ideas, too. I can be putting down thoughts that I thought were perfectly clear, and discover that I'm not nearly as clear as I thought I was. A contradiction has to be resolved, or maybe the topic shifts slightly. Like just now, I started this in the category "Riding the Bicycle" but moved it to "The Write Stuff."

I've discovered several things in the few months that I've been blogging. My original list of interests—technology, religion, friends and family, music, genealogy—was pretty accurate. But I apparently spend a lot of time on the first two, not so much on the last two, and I've added writing, health, and personal definition to the list. I also keep pondering how to handle politics. I do think a lot about that topic, but I have no interest in assuming one side of the current liberal/Democrat-conservative/Republican war and nuking the other side. It must be clear that if I had to pick one of the two, it would be liberal. Many democrats, however, infuriate me, not the least for a) being of questionable conviction and b) hating all Republicans with a vengeance without exception.

I've discovered a range of reaction to my blog. Some of the readers are not technologically inclined, and are plainly irritated, for example, when the long link I've sent them doesn't actually go right to the site. They haven't yet learned to problem-solve their way out of this very minor technical problem. Others ignore me. Is that because they don't check their email, because they read it and thought it was shit, because they're too busy, or because they did read it, but didn't respond? Probably all of the above. Others gush about how wonderful my website is. I even got contacted by a man in Singapore who had spent 40 minutes at the blogsite. (I can tell because I track some statistics about website visitors through the free service at www.sitemeter.com.)

I'm actually in a fairly incredible period of growth and reorganization, and I feel I'm not quite ready to write about some things yet. I'm in about the middle of this Education for Ministry course. I've studied the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. I'm just starting church history, which will take another year to complete. I'm soon going to have lots to say on this topic. I'm also in a steep learning curve about podcasting, blogging, av chatting, wireless and networking. I recognize that in a way my tech pieces are really probably too advanced for beginners and too simple for the technoscendi, so they are really just records of my achievement. In my own personal life, I've managed to reorganize my filing cabinet and get things out of piles and into findable files. This is a major accomplishment. I've even considered going back to work, but they don't want me at my proposed salary. I'm actively pursuing a healthy life while living with two serious chronic conditions.

So what is the conclusion to this piece? I guess it's apparent that I'm alive and well for a guy of 67. The operative phrase of the early '70s was keep on trucking. In the 80's it was keep on meditating, and in the 90's (a la "Sex and the City") it was keep on fucking. Robert Crumm, Ram Dass, and Carrie Bradshaw are very much a part of my heart and soul. Ditto Martin Luther King, the Everly Brothers and even GI Joe. Maybe a good motto for the double otts is keep on blogging. Hey, this is not only a new decade, it's also a new century and a new millenium. 

Posted: Tue - January 24, 2006 at 02:14 PM          

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