Category Archives: Rambling

Moo

Posted on by
Reply

The year of the Ox.

Really? An ox? A stubborn fool-hardy beast of burden? Yeah yeah, they’re responsible hard workers, whatever.

I’m a SHEEP. I want to be left alone to my own creative devices. I want to be late to parties. I want to sleep in. I want to graze in the fields. I don’t want to work hard. That stuff is for THE MAN, man.

Oh, but the economy is bad. Hmm, okay. Oh, but I’m turning 30 this year, and it’s time to step it up in the personal goals department. Okay, that’s another one. Oh, and there’s this really niggling conscience part of me that is telling me to kick it into high gear this year or I could be out hitting the pavement like much of the country. Right, so there’s a really good one.

Okay, ox. You win this time. But six years from now? It’s my turn to shine.

Daily distortion fields

Posted on by
Reply

I dip in and out of distortion fields on a daily basis. Some days I feel as if I’m the happiest and luckiest person in the whole world. Other days I somehow trip and find myself falling into a pit where only my darkest thoughts go. I weave in and out of these zones, pushing up to see the light of day, and pulling in to feel the warmth of despair. Occasionally, I find myself wandering the valleys of nostalgia, laced with melancholy, and I see my past selves stumble their way through tribulations and triumphs. I try to call out to them, and tell them everything will be okay. But I’m never sure if anything’s okay.

Also, I live too much in my head.

Playing catch up

Posted on by
1

I’m at the point in my life right now where I’m constantly playing catch up. I have a list of TV shows to catch up on, I have several books that have yet to be read, and I have these small itty bitty projects that have never got off the ground. For one thing, I’ve wanted to update the design of this blog forever, but just felt too lazy to do so. I have about 2-3 side projects, like that podcast or virtual sketch book, that never quite manifested themselves. It’s just too easy to come home, turn on the computer, and play World of Warcraft for 3-4 hours until I need to go to sleep (For some reason, WoW rarely gets old).

This blog is another venue where I need to play catch up on. What with social networks like Twitter, Pownce, and Facebook grabbing my attention every which way, I’m almost wondering if there’s even a point to keeping a blog. Do I really need yet another venue to waste away my words? Can my thoughts really be summed up in short pithy sentences? As my experiences with the aforementioned social networks show, apparently it can.

Then there’s work. I’m feeling intense pressure right now to step up and be, well, better. Those who keep up with the news will probably understand where that’s coming from. Part of it is just being more organized and all that, but a tiny bit of that is also improving really mundane things like personal appearances and socialization.

And let’s not get started about catching up on one’s finances. Oy.

I think the fact that more people are subscribed to me on Twitter than on my own blog shows that, really, long-form personal blogging is a forgotten art. Everyone else is blogging about work, or pseudo-work, or funny jokey posts, or just succumbing to the short-form style by getting tumblelogs. I still have that personal Vox blog, but I hardly ever check it any more.

Heck, since it seems that only 12 or so people read this blog, maybe I should start writing on here again. Time to escape from all the nanoblogging craziness.

Gadgets as cultural markers

Posted on by
2

At the start of almost every flight, I usually hear this:

“Please turn off all electronic devices.”

In the last few years, I’ve heard this:

“Please turn off your cell phones, iPods, BlackBerries, laptops, and all other electronic devices”

I’d say about five years ago, I also heard “Gameboys” in there. I don’t hear it anymore.

There are a few things I’ve gleaned from this little observation: 1) iPods and BlackBerries are firmly in the cultural lexicon, and this will remain until they fall out of fashion, 2) that few other gadgets have attained such significance, and 3) these cultural markers are indicative of the current state of technology awareness. These named gadgets have also historically been groundbreakers — the Gameboy was THE handheld gaming system, the iPod is THE music player, and the BlackBerry is THE corporate communication tool. I can only think of a few more that have crossed this cultural barrier: Xerox is THE copy machine, and the Tivo is THE digital video recorder. That’s the mark of a truly successful marketing campaign (plus having a quality product helps).

It’ll be interesting to see if any of the gadgets we see at trade shows like CES ever attain that status.

Spilled details

Posted on by
1

Licking mundane inanities one circumstance after another:

  • I’ve been to the dentist three times this year, and am about to visit her two more times (one to fix a problem, another for a follow-up filling). Five dentist visits in a year! That’s a record for me.
  • Working for nothing is great when the nothing becomes something.
  • I love the iPod nano’s form factor, but am frustrated by its storage capacity. Podcasts are currently taking a huge chunk of the space.
  • I was on TiVo for a limited time.
  • I love coming home when there’s still daylight (which is like 7 or 8 pm). It’s cheating my brain into thinking I got off work early.
  • My main WoW guild is the bestest guild evar.
  • I like going out for dinner as much as anyone. But there’s something wonderful about having dinner at home that can’t be beat. Even if it is just take-out.
  • I’m feeling a little odd at my job. Hard to explain without incriminating myself.
  • I really like being in the office alone, late at night. It’s so peaceful and quiet. There are days when I wish I could live here, like Bartleby.

That’s mostly it.

PS. The more I think about it, the more I think Bartleby’s situation applies to me. Scary.