4/1/04
I have made it to April 2004, which is saying something, because two years ago, my state of mind was so apoplectic that I truly thought I wouldn't make it. I started this blog in earnest on April 11, 2002, and apart from my honeymoon week, I have written every day in here since.
Except, of course, for Sundays, which I started to skip last fall. I had no idea how many readers I had until they lined up to complain that I wasn't providing them with witty bon mots with which to digest their Sabbaths. Now, dear readers, I am going to tell you up front that I can't go on like this. Seven - and then six - days a week for two years has forced me to be far more interesting than any human should have to be.
I'd feel a lot better if some of you took up blog writing. Sure, each member of my family has one, but they're all anal-expulsive dramatic types who learned from early Mormon upbringings the importance of putting on a good show. I have begged all of you to reveal yourselves the way I have, but alas, I mostly stand on stage with my trousers down solo (not you, Canadians - you guys are always hangin' brain with the best of us).
So at some point very soon, I'm going to go from 6 times a week down to three or four. My reasoning is thus: every time we get a good debate going, I start a new blog topic and it feels like we abandon some pretty great stuff. Also, folks like Steven Garrity and dooce write twice a week, and their repartee is endlessly fascinating.
It's a little sad when you find yourself inspecting the seams at the far end of a medium. Usenet absolutely transfixed me for a year or two before I understood how limited it truly was. At the Zap Yer PRAM conference we had up in Canada, it seemed like blogs could become interdependent and feed off each other in a synergistic frenzy. Now I'm not so sure. There aren't enough people willing to expose themselves to pick up the slack, and if you're not revealing yourself in your blog, I'm bored before I begin.
Perhaps I'm just a little shellshocked from life. These pages were originally a diary of my adventures with Celexa, but I've been told that it may be time to swap drugs. My new diagnosis? ADD. Which means lots of Ritalin. And then I'll go back to posting every day, and sixteen times on Thursday.
Posted by irw at April 1, 2004 11:36 PMThat just means it's time to hire a team of writers and start selling space to Toyota (Prius). Just make sure the pictures match the story and that we don't run into you in Atlanta when you are supposed to be having border crossing problems in Canada. We love the original recipe but it's time to franchise baby.
If I ever have a movie poster or "back-of-the-movie-box" for my weblog, it will say:
"His repartee is endlessly fascinating! - Ian Williams, XTCIAN.com"
Is it true that Canadians make better bloggers. [We do have the "Mr. Interesting" complex - think of Alex Trebek...].
I think the circles of blogs are there but they do not match your circle of friends. I am sort of in a Garrity orbit as well as a David Janes one (and a smaller orbit around Ale-Fan.) Both the Garrity and Janes ones tap into the Berkman Thursday bunch at different edges led by Zap-attendee Dave Winer, Berkman Thursday host. Thursday is deputy hosted by Accordion Guy's pal the Redhead. Accordion Guy attends Jane's Toronto blog parties. Accordion Guy is a real pal (rather than orkuaintance) of Cory at Boing Boing. It is a parallel - less real and more real - world. I don't expect one world to really mirror or even mimic the other.
I'd been wondering how I "discovered" this blog. dooce! I don't read many as I have the potential to become addicted to them and there are only so many hours in a day. Since I'm a fairly new reader i've got all those archives to keep me entertained. Your family is incredibly diverse and interesting and I admire those of you who have the courage, energy and talent to write a blog. dooce writes a couple times a week and she does keep us fascinated, I'm sure you'd do the same. There are only 24 hours in a day and you've much to think about lately. Life can be bumpy, give yourself a break and enjoy.
You almost had me there for a moment, Ian. Then I followed your link to dooce.com and read her post about getting fired and deeply offending her family with her bloggings. We're not all freelance artists with liberal and extroverted spouses and relatives. I suppose I'd be prepared to reveal a little about the extreme snow boarding I've been doing in Afghanistan with Cameron Diaz and Desmond Tutu...but you'll be getting all of that in the documentary that's being made. So what's the point?
I suspect that the mere act of writing eloquently comes a little more naturally for you thatn it does for some of the rest of us. I think that even if my life provided as rich a source for blogging as yours that I still wouldn't be able to blog about it consistently in an eloquent or interesting manner. My family would get offended, I would spend even less time with my wife and son and anyone else would just be bored. Every so often I start a new blog entry and inevitably I get sick of the sound of my own voice before I ever post it. I'll stick with therapy and your comments section!
The "Challenge" in the title for some reason triggered memories of the Cosby Show episode where Bill ends up in a tap-dancing competition with a dance instructor. After dancing a little bit the dancer would stop and say "Challenge" in a thick (possibly cajun?) accent. I hope that's what you had in mind!