Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Die blog ? No, dying to get out blog !

I've had thoughts about killing my blog again... no, it's not that I'm unsatisfied with blogger. It's just that sometimes I wonder why I even have a blog. I'm pretty sure no one reads the funkin' thing (yeah, that's my new replacement for the bad ol' f-werd). You can tell by the lack of comments. Maybe that's untrue though; most people lurk and don't feed back on the web. Well, if you're reading, this, I funkin' dare you to comment (even if its just to say FUNK)! I shouldn't expect that people read this blog, because I don't really tell people about it. Maybe I'll put it in an e-mail headder.

Anyways, so I wonder: why did I just feel like killing my blog. And then I though, hey, that'd make revealing blog post, "why I wanted to kill my blog" . So here I go.

Lately I've been feeling pretty self-disapointed. I told myself at the end of spring "this is going to be a great summer", and when I look back, it hasn't really been. I didn't get the job with Google Summer of Code, and ended up in the food service business for another summer (albiet one with healthy food for once, The Wild Oat). Also, I haven't been putting consistent efforts on my graphics software project. Plans with friends to set up a stage/area at Evolve festival fell through. No romance for Justin this summer (although I'm nearly numb to these types of disappointments). Various non-coordinated volunteering relationships weakenened (particularly my blogging efforts on Free Culutre Carleton and Creative Commons Canada). Didn't keep up the G-Spot Slice, the radio segment I initiated. That's another story alltogether. Didn't make it out of Ottawa for anything (I was particularly intending to go to Montreal this summer). Even my staff spinning practice has declined over the last month; I was practicing at least a short while every day earlier in the summer. Sure I attended some cool things like the National Community Radio Conference and Om Reunion, but my memories of those exeperiences are tainted with guilt. I didn't do a very good job of following up all the contacts I made at the NCRC, and I went to Om less prepared than I was comfortable with. So, things just funkin' sucked in certain ways.

I guess this is related to me being out of touch. Communication is so difficult for me in ways. Right now I'm not in regular communication with many people. The people that live in the same house as me, certainly not. See, I'm in a rooming house (an "alcoholic with class" told me this morning it used to be a half-way house; I feel like it still is considering ALL of it residents). I don't really hang out with any of the roomers regularly, but I favor one of them and we speak occasionally. There's no common space in here except for the kitchen, which doesn't even have room for a table we can all sit at.

It's like, unless I live with them, the reason why I see a person regularly is mostly incidental on some sort of other activity, liking going to a school/academy or doing some sort of work, paid or volunteer. I've met lots of great people like this, but I find our relationships are always flavored by that activity, or even limited to it. There are some friends that I've met through going out dancing that live maybe a 10 minute walk from here that I've been visiting regularly, but frankly it's disappointing for me to recognize that there's a lot of wonderful people that I know and love, I know how to contact/visit them, and I don't.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just not cut out for the city. When I did some WWOOFing in Nova Scotia, I got to live with a bunch of other folk who all had some common interest and we were meeting our needs together. I got to see and talk with all of those people every day. We didn't ever e-mail each other. We didn't ever call each other. We were just there sharing our presences. Yet alas, I'll be in Ottawa till I finish my degree says me, so I best forget about living on a farm intentionally, though eventually...

That brings me to a bit more positive note: I can still live intentionally in the city, and I will. I'm moving out of this place in September with 3 other ... what I would call "socially conscious computer geeks". I'm really looking forward to this. But at the same time I'm a bit frightened. I mostly fear that either I will drive my room mates crazy or that they will drive me (more) crazy. But I feel living with them will be psychologically healing. I don't want to get my hopes up considering all of my disappointments. It would make a good subject of meditation to just to imagine how I would have a healthy home relationship with these people, to visualize my actions that would facilitate that instead of just being like "WEE, it's going to be so fun !".

Well, to come full circle, I would like for people to get to know me through my blog (as scary as that is sometimes...for us both ). I'm going to write a sketch of my new headder as an act of intention toward communication

---------------------------------------------------
GET WIKIFIED
by Justin Wikinator
touchmewithsynchronicpulses @ gmail.com
http://wikinator.blogspot.com

Wikify my life, add to it,
Edit the story that is it
Link to me, and link me to you
So we can get to know our paths through and ...
Through expressions in an open way,
We open up the ground for the word play
We can dialog,
Or you can check my blog
If I forget about you give my memory a jog
Welcome are you to send pulses synchronic
Of your presence they will be mnemonic
--------------------------------------------------

Well, I didn't mean for this to be such a whoping blog post (even that headder turned into a poem). I have difficulty opening up, but I find myself with a lot to say, so when I do open open up I tend to explode. BOOM !

5 comments:

Spud Mack said...

Here is comment for you mate. I know your pain!

Peter said...

I dunno your interaction hungry? My interaction hunger drives my providing content to the web and previously for years to usenet. My blog hosted at a number one google hit for some topic generates say 20 hits on the hit counter a day but very few comments. Then I started a job and posted a series of daily updates that first week. They were simple posts too with little detail, but I moved up to about three coments yesterday in one day. Your someone with out much to talk about perhaps. Meaning check out a first year English creative writing book for your answer. Basically blogs are writing. In my computer blog I explore what I am going to do with computers. By writing it down I find answers and although I hunger for people to notice it doens't matter if I have discovered something for myself in writing about it I don't need to hear from others on that. For others I can always email people. Writing is discovery of ideas as well as self expression. Blogs more public self expression. Oh and bye the way stop swearing on line.

GreenJoe said...

Many blogs go without comments. Only one of my posts on my new blog has more than 1 comment, and another post as 1. The rest have no comments.

cafers said...

you know its funny, i literally just started a new blog on here (myspace blog wasnt working so well since i covered the thing with div code stolen from some geezer somewhere else) and i put up a post with a pic of me lighting up my fire staff and checked back 2 mins later and it had been commented...

i dont know why or how, but in that really small space of time someone found it and wrote about it...

i think a lot of the time a blog can be as much for your self as it is for other people...after all it is simply an online diary, it seems like a logical progression what with computers and internet and what not, people dont need the old fashioned book with a lock any more. Whats more is people like to be heard more these days - inner most thoughts are still saved for ones self, but expression of ideas accumulated and amalgamated throughout our experiences, mistakes and tiumphs are often treated as gold - particularly by the author of those thoughts but also by other people, especially those that find it inspiring to read something that they can identify or agree with.

i just like finding fellow spinners (i guess i can call them fellow spinners now since i have lit up a few times since i started)

maybe you have this blog because you need to have your thoughts on paper to better understand them yourself. Maybe the world makes more sense to you when you dispence a little bit of cognitive matter into a keyboard.

i hope your friend ends up alright man, staying positive is important.

you dont need me to tell you that! all the best.

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