Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Just Getting Started

I started a blog about four years ago and kept at it for, oh, about four days. I hope this one will survive longer. This is day three for What's New so it's looking good. Even if it does survive past the new year, I have no idea how it will turn out - it will be a work in progress for awhile. The general idea right now is to blog about whatever interests me at that moment. While I do have a lot of interests - music, old movies, politics, history, sports, finance and investing, reading - they tend to rotate in importance day by day. One day I may want to discuss who'll get the nominations for next year's general election, the next day I might want to discuss whether more great movies came out of the 1970s than the 1980s. Another day I might not want to discuss anything, just lie down with a great book and read all day, away from the world. Anyhow, I'm thinking writing about my interests may deepen my understanding of them. Pauline Kael once wrote, in her introduction to Deeper Into Movies, that "I write because I love trying to figure out what I feel and what I think about what I feel, and why." I guess I'm thinking something similar for the blog, though I'd be more comfortable saying "I write because I want to figure out what I think, and why." Never was too comfortable talking about how I feel. Or what the difference is between how I feel and what I think.

(Oh boy, I've just raised a bunch of red flags for some of you. Yup, you say, this guy has problems. The common malady afflicting white, middle-aged, conservative men. Can't get in touch with his feelings. He's repressed, in denial. The world has changed, it's passing him by, and he can't handle it. Get thee to a psychiatrist, post haste. Perhaps some diversity training might help. I hear they have some lovely re-education centers now. To which I say...well, if I could find a You Tube video of Archie Bunker blowing a raspberry, I'd insert it here but I can't. So just use your imagination.)

Okay, I'm back. Another reason I'm thinking this blog might be a good thing is it might help me remember what I read. I read all the time. I always have a book on hand, plus blogs and magazines. I'm a gatherer of information. But, somewhere about ten years or so ago, my brain filled up to capacity and there's no room left to fit anything else in. I went to Best Buy to see if they could add another gig of RAM but they said that technology has yet to be perfected. It was easy when I was young. I read it, I remembered it. Now, I read it and if you ask me about it the following day it's all fuzzy. Two weeks later, it's gone completely. Getting older is not so bad - I think I'm slightly wiser, more reasonable ('yeah, right', I hear my wife saying), a little more well-rounded, as I age. But this part of it stinks.

So I'm thinking as I read a book now, I'll mark passages (well, make side notes referring to passages - I hate marking up my books) that get at the essence of the book, or an interesting aspect of the book. Then when I'm done I can blog about the book and what I thought about it. I'll try it out with my current read, Richard Overy's
Why the Allies Won, which I am enjoying immensely. It's almost as good as another book of his I read a few years back, The Road to War. Great stuff. Anyhow, if you've done your due diligence, you've noticed the sidebars on the blog where I list what I'm reading now, what's on deck, and the list of books I've read this year. Perhaps I'll revisit some of those books as blog entries.

I'm also thinking about adding some regular features, like maybe a Song of the Week. Mark Steyn does this already and it is marvellously entertaining. But saying 'Mark Steyn' and 'marvellously entertaining' in the same sentence is redundant. There's no one like Steyn.

Of course I'll comment now and then on the events of the day, when they interest me enough.

Also, I need to find out more about managing the blog. Who can comment, how to add video, etc. That probably won't take long but I haven't looked into it yet.

My one fear: that writing this blog will take so much of my time it will push out my other interests (and leave me nothing to blog about!) I'm a slow writer, though I think I'll get a little faster as I get more experience at this. But I'm a slow reader also and there are only so many hours in the day. I don't want this to interfere with that.

I'm thinking the best way to handle this will be to blog in the morning, when I rarely read and when I'm freshest. Though that means I'll have less time to work around the house, help with the chores, do the grocery shopping, etc. (Sorry, babe.)

Anyhow, I'm working things out and will be for awhile. Stay tuned, if you're interested.

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