Things You Don’t Know About Me

Considering that Blogs are inherently personal things, it’s perhaps odd that I try to avoid writing anything too personal. Other people blog about life and love and things like that, but I couldn’t bring myself to write about myself like that on the Internet. The weird thing is that if I went to the pub with any of the people who comment here regularly, then I’d probably be more than happy to prattle on about that sort of stuff. I think it’s the fact that it’s available to anyone, whenever I write something there’s the nagging thought of “can this come back to bite me?” which stops me saying anything too obvious.

If you read my blog you can probably make certain inferences about me, and you’d possibly know certain things about me that people that I regularly see don’t know. I can’t think what, but I’m sure theres something. I think that the reasons why people read blogs is interesting. I’ve always tried to avoid posts which are too much about the daily grind because I think that people would find them boring, but then when I read other people’s blogs which are like that I almost always find them pretty interesting. I think people are just naturally nosy, so the opportunity so see a snapshot of someone elses life, even if you don’t know them, is pretty compulsive.

I find it interesting reading back through my old entries, here and elsewhere. Theres a lot of really subtle references to things which reflect where I was at that time. Or maybe they’re not subtle, but no-one commented on them at the time so I think I got away with it. Only a couple of people that read this would know what I’d be referring to anyway, so I suppose that helps.

It’s not as if I’m trying to be mysterious or anything like that. Really I don’t like talking about myself, and to a point I hate it when people talk about themselves too much. You know how some people always have loads of amusing anecdotes which they share at any opportunity? Well I don’t do that, I just don’t think to do it. I could probably think of a few, but really I can’t stand it when other people do that so I don’t do it myself. I also don’t talk about friends too much; my uni friends probably couldnt name three of my home friends, and vice versa, wherease I could probably do so for most of them. Bloody hell, my parents probably don’t know the names of most of my friends! It’s not that I’ve done that on purpose, I just don’t talk about them that much to people who don’t know them.

Drama annoys me. People who live their life constantly going from one crisis to the next really irritate me, because really they just want the attention. I’m not one for showing too much of what’s going on under the surface; I’d be surprised if even the people who are closest to me could tell when I’m feeling particularly down in the dumps (unless I’ve told them as much). So I guess that spills over into my blogging. When I started writing the intention was to keep it more “factual”; for my blog to be a place to write about my opinions and basically rant, but not a sort of “diary” thing. I think it’s gotten more personal over time, but I still wouldn’t feel comfortable with writing about my love life, for instance. Not that there’s anything at all to report on that front (other than the same depressing story as for the last way too long), but whatever.

Anyhow, I was going somewhere with this but I got distracted by Monty Python clips on YouTube. And now I’m tired, so sleep beckons…

Tagged: Blogging about blogging, I should be asleep, Reflection | 5 Comments

Epic Fail

So I’ve just been trying to write a couple of the things off the list in the last entry, but it’s not working. So instead, here’s some drivel.

I sometimes struggle with what to blog about. I’m told that I’m very opinionated, but I don’t like writing stuff like that too much because who wants to read the bollocky opinions of some twat they don’t know on the Internet? The other extreme is to keep a blog that’s basically like a diary, but then I don’t like doing that for a similar reason; who would read it? Both are silly, because I’m fairly sure that theres lots of nosy bastards on the net who do enjoy reading such stuff (I know, I’m one of ‘em :D ).

I guess the main reason for not keeping a diary-esque blog is that I don’t want that sorta thing on the internet…

I used to be able to think of stuff to write down really easily, and once I thought of something I could bash something out pretty well. I think I can still think of stuff I want to write (see the list on the last entry), but for some reason I find it much harder to transfer those thoughts into a well-written blog. I think a big reason is that I’m out of practice, because I don’t blog as often any more. And I don’t blog because I’m out of practice. Yeah, that works well…

Like I said, I tried to write a couple of things this evening, but to be honest what I wrote just seemed to be a bit muddled. Maybe it’s because I’ve been at work and I’m tired, I dunno. I should probably write an essay plan or something. Or even better, write things down when I think about them!

The only thing I really feel motivated to write about regularly is motorsport. But I don’t think anyone who reads this would care, so I don’t really bother. Which is daft really…

Anyway, it’s Thursday now. Which means that the weekend starts tomorrow afternoon. I’m gonna try to write something a bit less shit at the weekend. Dunno what about, but just something. Of course, I say “try”, that doesnt mean it’ll get published. Le sigh.

Just so your time isn’t completely wasted by this entry, listen to this. Tis good.

Tagged: Blogging about blogging, sorry | 7 Comments

Why Don’t You Write Me?

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here, and even longer since I’ve written anything of any real substance. Obviously the main reason for that is work. It’s pretty long hours, and when I finish at the end of the day I’m rarely in the mood to do anything that involves too much thinking. Then the weekend is the only time I’m home, so I generally have other stuff I want/need to do then before I shoot off back to work at 6 o’clock on Monday morning…

I like writing. I especially enjoy it when I have something specific to say, a point to make. I like the whole process of working out what I’m going to say, how to say it, how to structure the thing to make the most sense, etc. It’s the same sort of pleasure I get from doing a decent bit of coursework; if I have a rough idea where I’m going with something, then I like translating that idea onto the page and I the satisfaction of the end result.

Recently there have been quite a few things that I’ve wanted blog about; generally as a result of driving a few hundred miles a week. It kinda gives you time to think. A few times I’ve actually started to write something down, but every time I’ve started to do that I’ve struggled to actually articulate what I was trying to say. A few times I’ve struggled so much with the right way to word something, that I’ve forgotten what exactly the point was that I was going to make! Frustrating, to say the least.

I was gonna write one such thing tonight, but realised that actually it’s way past my bedtime and theres no way I can make my point coherently. The reasons for writing this instead are that at least then I’ve written something, and because it might make me remember to write something better soon…

Tagged: Blogging about blogging | 2 Comments

I Blog, You Blog, Weblog

So yeah, I’ve been pretty lax with the whole blogging thing lately. Not just with my own blog (although I did finally get around to upgrading WordPress the other day. Unfortunately, it was a couple of days before 2.5 was released, so I’ve ended up doing it twice in the space of about a week…), but generally. There have been quite a few posts that I’ve read and wanted to comment on, but I generally thought “meh, do it later”, then forgot. Sorry.

I’d love to say I’ve been too busy doing work, but that’d be a blatent lie. I wrote up a list of things I need to cover on my whiteboard when I got home, and even drew up a revision timetable. It hasn’t happened though; the days have generally been a mix of sleep all morning, get up and watch TV (ESPN classic is running a series of programmes covering each F1 season from 1970…), then browse the net/play games for the rest of the afternoon. And then of course it’s too late to work…

I was talking to my Mum the other day about the internet, as you do, and I let slip that I have this site (she didnt know beforehand). She was pretty surprised, and kept asking what sort of stuff I write about.

It’s something I have trouble with, to be honest. I don’t like recording minutae on here (“today i went to a lecture and it was really boring so we just ended up playing hangman and so-and-so didnt know the alphabet LOL!”), because unless you know me in real life (and are part of a specific friendship group, in that example), I’d imagine too much of that thing would get pretty dull.

I don’t like writing things which are too personal (i.e. if I’m feeling crap, a ranty woe-is-me post about whatever), because I’m well aware that the internet is open to all… I write those sorts of things elsewhere, and when I look back at them, oh they make me squirm. Also, I generally think that no-one would be interested, which probably isn’t true, cos humans are inherently nosy beings…

So when I write a post, I generally have something I want to “say”, and know what I want the thing to be about; whether it’s a rant about religion, my musings about music, or just some random thought I’ve had.

I guess there’s a happy medium to be had; if it was entirely entries of “saying” stuff, addressing issues, then it makes for a pretty dull blog. If it’s entirely “woe is me!” stuff, I guess it’s pretty inaccessible to anyone who doesnt know you, besides the fact that it makes you look like an emo…

The great thing about blogs though is that they’re pretty personal (compared to, say, the print media); by reading my blog, you could probably make a few fair inferences about what I’m like, and about what I’m interested in. And you can immediately respond to posts. I love the communicative aspect of it all; not just in comments, but the spillover between blogs. The fact that theres a number of people who all read each others stuff probably spurs us on to write more frequently (certainly in my case…), and maybe also spurs us on to write better things. I think theres probably a crossover of ideas too, which is rather cool.

The Internet generally at the moment seems to be at an interesting point. I’m fairly sure we’ll see a proper revolution of the music industry in the next few years (especially given the way people like Jonathan Coulton are getting a decent amount of success purely by running things themselves over the net, and embracing the downloads rather than fighting them). Projects such as Wikipedia (flawed as it may be) make it easier than ever to find information, things such as Facebook are making it easier to keep touch with old friends, and things like blogs or YouTube or whatever mean that it’s easier than ever to share ideas.

I think that’s the difference. Traditionally, the Internet has been almost an extension of the real world. Okay BBS and IRC is an exception, but for the mainstream, what has the internet meant? Initially, it was a way of getting cheap CDs from Amazon and to send letters instantaneously to Auntie Bertha in Timbuktu. That stuff still happens, yes, but the whole Web 2.0 (hate that term…) shebang means that theres so much more to it. It’s about ideas, about people. It’s pretty cool.

So there you go. I can’t really be bothered re-reading this, so it’s probably rambly and incoherent (more rambly and incoherent than usual, I’ll say it before anyone else does…), but hey, there was dissent in the ranks on the comment page for the last post, so I thought I should write something… :-P

Closing thought: is it me, or are pretty much all the contestants on the Apprentice this year almost completely useless?

Tagged: Blogging about blogging | 4 Comments