Facebook & Twitter vs blogging

seems to me
that FB & Twitter
are killing the blog empire

that's blog not borg LoL

many people that I've read for years
have given up the fine art of blogging
of telling a story
of expression of self
for the quick gratification
of posting one or two sentence
status updates
for all and sundry

people around the world come off
as wordy and pithy
by simply posting wee tiny tidbits
of prose or profundity

without havin to work
to purvey an original thought
they just post a little
something to whet the appetite
of the masses of "friends"
they have listed

but wait....
maybe that's it!

maybe it's so much work
to come up with a couple of sentences
that look or sound profound

that the very act of blogging
is just way too much like work
for them

maybe it's too hard to create a paragraph
after spending all that time
updating status' from work?

for me
there's plenty afoot in my life
but I've been threatened
more than once
by people that I find unsavory
unethical or just plain mean
people who profess to be
too good to read
but come all the time...
(did ya think I wouldn't notice?)

so I can't (for the moment)
address my important life issues
in here

but when the tide is out
and this wave passes
you watch me go!

and in the meantime
I too will be
one of those
that just sounds profound
one sentence at a time
on FB or Twitter.

in a box

four sides
top and bottom

no beginning
no end

no out
crammed in the corner

all in
no out

boxed

I don't get it...

I've been remiss in my blog reading
and spent some time today
playing catch up...
on the myriad of blogs I read regularly

as a result
there's sommat buggin me
and
here's the dealio...

there's a bunch of blog types
who write great long erudite monoliths
waxing forth philosophical
and being generally pithy
about other blogs
mostly to chastise, ridicule or
otherwise call into question
the basic integrity, sanity
or truth of the people that wrote
the first set

they link back and forth to each other
and they call each other names
for what they've written
and who they've written about

stop here for a moment
and consider the responsibility of
original thought...?

and then forget it.

the dictionary defines the term blog as:
blog

n. A weblog. intr.v. blogged, blog·ging, blogs To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog

so I'm guessing that like myself
lots of bloggers started out
as a place to put their personal thoughts down
with the understanding that
there may be someone eventually read them

there's also some kind of illicit thrill
over the idea that someone
may read what you write

specially for those
who have spent
minutes/hours/weeks/months/years
dreaming of writing
the definitive North American novel
and maybe even makin a buck
pumped up if you will
by the general consensus
of people that keep telling you
"you really ought to write a book"

anyway...
fast forward a couple of years
and there comes the possibility
that a couple of people
who write blogs
get famous for same

low and behold
someone ends up on Oprah
and makes a mint
and then someone else
does the same...

as a result of this phenomena
there becomes a whole genre
of blogs
who specialize in
making money
either by writing and getting published
thereby getting famous
or by setting up charity buttons
on their blogs

for the purpose of assisting others

as a result we end up with
yet another phenomenal genre
specializing in
throwing shit
and judgin other bloggers

bloggers who have done good works
(not all bloggers are liars)
bloggers who have been charitable
(not all bloggers are thieves)
bloggers who have shared more of their lives
than some people can handle

I don't get it myself
cos if someone writes something
I don't think is on the up and up
I don't donate

if someone bares their soul
and I find myself feeling voyeuristic
because I know more about their
personal lives than I wish

I stop reading
(how freakin hard is that?)

and if someone writes something
that is simply mean spirited
I don't read it
cos I got my own devils
and I don't need some pissy bitch
sitting in her lofty seat
castigating one of the bloggers that I read
to make them feel like less than....
and themselves feel better than...

shame on you
"how's the air up there on that perch?"
really?
seriously?
if yer so damn needy
that the only way you can get famous
in the blogsphere
is to slam someone else's writing
or thoughts, or charity works
you got way way bigger problems
than just being insecure and
mean...

Granny used to say:
"opinions are like assholes
everybody's got one"

at the end of the day
I don't write for anyone else's pleasure
I write to sort the chaos out in my head
and I'm well aware of the kind of
challenges that can arise from
sharing things on my blog
it's cost me
I'm well aware...

in the end....
this is all I can say...

don't let them crush what you are doing
continue to do what you need to do
to look yerself in the mirror
and damn the fucking torpedo's
of those less than succubi
trying to make a buck on your back.

let's get back to basics here people.

Have I mentioned lately

that August sux?

Memories of brother's lost....
I think of you all a lot in August...

A Toast to Absent Friends

"to absent friends
to those we have met
to those we have yet to meet
to those who have left us for a while
and to those who have left us forever

let us lift our glasses
and drink a toast
that they may abide in our hearts
forever

to absent friends"

- WyzWmn

Eric "Lucky" Eytcheson
1957 - 2005

Jeff "Muttly" Pritchett
1957 - 2006

James "Bull" Jones
-2008

Here's a little music to stir your memories too....

Impatient

I feel betwixt
and between

I feel like I've been waiting for something
but I don't know what it is

with all the upheaval in my home life
my work life
and my friendships

I feel like I oughta be doin somethin
I just don't know what it is
I got "ants in my pants"
and I ain't even happy LoL

I'm waitin...
for...something new
something different

I am impatient...
but I don't know why
and I don't know what I'm waiting for

I'd be ok if I could just quit thinkin...?

I read a friend's blog today
(Ripper's Realm)
he speaks of how little decisions made
can have huge and lasting effects
on your life
for ever

I quite often think about
how we never know
when one little
inconsequential thing
we can flippantly say can
affect/effect/impact
some one's life forever

case in point
a friend of mine
for close to 35 years
had a hard childhood
raised in a household
of boy
no gentleness
no kindness
no frills

about 30 years ago
the VOD told her
she had nice skin
and as recently
as this week
she mentioned it to me

it had an
everlasting affect...

transversely
all my life
friends and family told me
that I had the most beautiful
hair
the darkest eyes
the prettiest face

I was involved in a car accident
and my face was badly scared
I got sick and lost most of my hair
and I got older and developed an eye disease

so for a long time
I was insecure
and didn't say what I meant
I didn't walk that walk
cos I felt like I was somehow
wrong

when people stopped
telling me that I was beautiful
I believed that meant
that I was less than

I've since learned
that my insecurities
don't make me
I make them....

does this idea make me
refuse to state
my beliefs
or purpose?

no

but it makes me
understand
that to every thing
we say and do
there is a consequence
and sometimes
we have to pay the piper
is all

bits and bobs

I've been getting heat
from some people
about not spending much time
in here lately....
(yes...you know who you are!)

I'm sorry to say

I find that I’m less and less interested
in being on line
there's stuff happening
in my life
that I can't put out there
who knows if I ever will be able to?

and I wonder what that means
to this blog
and the other 2?

I’m in the unenviable situation
of having had
not one
not two
but 3 married friends
“confide” in me
that they are having long term
amorous affairs with people
outside their marriage

it's like a disease out there....

all of these people
are basically good people
and have not as yet told their partners
(why they told me…I can’t comprehend
cos I’ve been pretty public about
my lack of understanding and support
of this kind of mess)

I don’t get it
But I’ve come to understand
That just cos my ethics are seemingly
Black and white
Not too many other people
Feel the same way…

Here's a thing that makes me wonder
how is it that I when I went up to the fadder's
2 weeks ago
gas was priced 102.9
I got to a town 35 min up the Island
it was 97.4
and then further up the Island
it went back to 102.9....
how'zat work?

I have a thing about bicyclists
if you ride a bike in BC
you are considered immediately
to be "green"
being green doesn't necessarily
lend itself to being smart

if you ride a bike on the queen's highway
you need to wear a helmet
and in my opinion
if I have to pay for plates and insurance
to ride on the highway...so should you

if I was on my motorcycle
(that I had to get a special license for)
and chose to ride side by side
with another rider
or 3 or 4 abreast
I'd get fined heavily

in a case where a large group of
Olympic training riders
were riding in a large group
holding up traffic
and a car pulled out to get around them
causing and accident in oncoming traffic
the local constabulary chose
to not fine anyone
cos they were all at fault???
so
apparently 2 or 3 wrongs
do make a right...

and again
if I am in a lane
and there is a bicyclist in the lane too
and I feel the need
to pull into the oncoming lane
to get around them
is it not my responsibility
to do so when the oncoming lane
is empty?

what's with all this...I'm going around
so those of you coming towards me
should head for the rhubarb
to get the hell outta my way?

I'm feeling icky
that's a technical term
my sleep has been disrupted
and I'm having health issues again
I'm trying to stay on top of them
but we'll see....

wish me luck
be back when I can!

One Year Ago...

One year ago today

we lost Bull...

R.I.P.
James "Bull" Jones....I surely miss
the colour
(see 8-15-8)

The Ghost of Tom Joad

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks Goin' someplace there's no goin' back Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge Shelter line stretchin' round the corner Welcome to the new world order Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest No home no job no peace no rest The highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass Got a one-way ticket to the promised land You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock Bathin' in the city aqueduct The highway is alive tonight But where it's headed everybody knows I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air Look for me Mom I'll be there Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand Or decent job or a helpin' hand Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me." The highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light With the ghost of old Tom Joad

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)

strange times

I'm away at the fadder's this weekend
I wanted some quiet time
and it is delightfully
and
definitely quiet here....

I find I'm currently not so interested
in the patter
that comes with day to day life

I'm not interested in finding out
what all "those" people are doing
the forums
and blogs
that used to take up most of my off time
no longer entice me

I'm not interested in the comings
and doings
of others...

after 10 years of the Internet
being a large part of my life
I'm not really interested
in what I'm finding just now

and I don't seem to be that interested
in writing about
what's going on in my life just now

wonder if I ever will be again?