« A Quickie: How long is this delay anyway? | Main | Quickie II: My African American Cousin »

Thanks Steve

This is my 1st. Anniversary as a blogger.

A year ago, I was a frequent commenter at Vodkapundit, so much so that Stephen Green eventually said to me “go get your own blog”; and much to my own surprise, I did. First, I tested myself with a little blogspot site. I wasn’t sure I could write anything of interest for any length of time, so I didn’t want to put too much into it.

But last year was a great year to start as a blogger, because last year we had John F. Kerry. John Kerry was to bloggers what Margaret Dumont was to the Marx Brothers, a constant source of new material who had no visible personality of his own on which to steal the limelight. He really did make it easy, he was Al Gore with an “Omega House” pedigree. At the height of the Hollywood Studio system, you could not have had a better character of an Ivy League east coast elitist snot nose patrician than John Kerry. Ah, those were the days…

At one point I found myself reading Kerry’s book on “what to do about terrorists”, I was so appalled by what I read that I gave a chapter by chapter breakdown of the man and what he said, as a service to those who may actually try to read it themselves. To paraphrase Mark Twain, Kerry’s book was like “chloroform in print”. I think I may have saved thousands of lives by that one act of kindness alone.

Then after watching Kerry in some godawful speech, I decided the man had no chance to win and was the worst candidate of all time, so I said “Farewell John Kerry” and said as much on my fancy new blog-thing and then went to bed.

I woke up to over 300 emails, 297 insisting that I was “tool for the Bush Administration” and that they would have the last laugh when ‘chimpy mcbushhitler’ went down in defeat in November. I had experienced my first insta-lanche. I learned a lot about not posting anything unless it’s fully edited and spellchecked and by lunch I had an additional 300 emails as the insta-lanche became lots and lots of little “lanches”. I could not believe that a simple Friday night rant could fly around the world like that. It was a lesson I would never forget. I also knew nothing about the protocols for feeding trolls. I engaged in debate with people who, to say the least, disagreed with my assessment. What a fool I was. I discovered that when someone calls you a name, it’s not an invitation to change their minds. One email train went on for days; the final one said “ Please don’t respond to this, you are starting to convincing me that I’m wrong”. I think I laughed so hard I wet my pants when I read that line, but I respected their wishes and didn’t write back.

I also was merciful and did not email the hundreds of clever folks who said I would wake up after the election and see George W. Bush defeated and tell them “nyah, nyah, nyah”. I just let it go. They knew and I knew and that was enough. It wasn’t necessary to rub it in. I now had four years to do it every day.

After I was convinced that it was fun enough to go ahead and continue doing, I talked to Sekimori and upgraded from blogspot to moveable type, a decision I have never regretted.

The election came and the election went. And then every blogger in the western world was stuck with the dilemma “ what to blog about next”. That answer came over the week between Christmas and new years; when a Tsunami in Asia killed hundreds of thousands of people. For some people, it was a chance to put politics aside and get to the business of saving lives but for others, it was just one more chance to take a poke at America and George W. Bush. Their mistake was to do it while I was tired and while I was in earshot.

My mistake was to do it at work.

It was my first experience with first person blogging. Names and places were changed, but yes, dear Snopes readers, it really happened, it happened to me, and despite my temporary anger, I still know and even like several of the folks who were there when it happened. You will be happy to know that at least one of them has had a change of heart.

I find myself writing something serious about three times a week. I find myself compiling information for links about one day a week. The time I once spent watching the 3,000th rerun of Gilligans Island is now spent writing my own blog or reading some of the best things I have ever read in my life on of other peoples blogs. I’ve learned to be a better writer, I’ve learned to think more about what I want to say and how I want to say it. On the whole, I think I’ve improved and I think I’ve developed a discipline for this thing called writing.

Blogging, and the discipline it has helped me develop towards my writing has changed my life. Blogging is cheaper and more effective than group therapy and you get to develop a marketable skill, it’s the ultimate win-win.

And I thank you all for giving me the courage to continue to struggle with dyslexia and a lifetime of self doubt to finally start to write what I’ve wanted to say for so long.

So what next?

Well, For starters, the blog stays. The 2005-2006 blogging season in underway. I’ve been in contact with Roger L. Simon and his band of Pajamateers, so the site will have some commercial aspects to it very soon, which will help justify my 'little hobby' in the eyes of the Mrs.Varifrank. David St. Lawrence has also convinced me that its time to go to print, and I’ve got a couple of things that will get published soon. David is another example of a guy saying what Stephen Green said a year ago “ Go get your own blog”.

So what’s stopping you? Go get your own blog. You’ll be surprised what you have to say.

Posted @ August 15, 2005 09:18 PM | Current Affairs

Posted by: VietPundit at August 15, 2005 10:57 PM

Posted by: macbedrock at August 16, 2005 12:10 AM

Posted by: Richmond at August 16, 2005 09:29 AM

Posted by: Sota at August 16, 2005 06:13 PM

Posted by: tmt at August 16, 2005 06:27 PM

Posted by: varifrank at August 16, 2005 07:18 PM

Posted by: Whelk at August 16, 2005 07:44 PM

Posted by: tmt at August 16, 2005 09:29 PM

Posted by: David St Lawrence at August 17, 2005 12:36 AM

Posted by: leelu at August 17, 2005 12:20 PM

Posted by: MerryMadMonk at August 18, 2005 09:13 PM

Posted by: NavySEAL Mom at August 19, 2005 06:52 PM