I've kind of needed a bit of space to be able to write this, seeing as having come home things have been a little strange. The programme actually warns you that the re-adjustment is often stranger than the adjustment in America. You aren't expecting to have to re-adjust in coming home. It's a bit of a touchy subject really insofar as I'm not sure of a) how big of a deal I'm making of things, and b) time will tell how well I settle back into the rhythm.
So far I've noticed that the patters of my life at home are totally different to what they were abroad. I write more. I mope more. I watch more TV. And I'm embarrassed how much later I seem to be waking up every day. The fact that I haven't got a job yet is another cause for concern.
Upon returning home, and on my first official UK drive, my car promptly kicked the bucket. I was on my way to re-unite with mates and it died. So, I'm without a car. Which is probably okay for some people but I feel restricted. I don't have wander lust by any stretch of the imagination, I'll go as far as to say that I found the touristy side of visiting America to be tiresome in the extreme. But not having the ability to go wherever I need to be with ease is a real pain in the arse. It was bad enough at camp, trying to negotiate lifts and plan things WELL in advance, but that was understandable - the most exciting thing to do in the middle of nowhere is go to the movies; at home I have friends who live miiiiilllllllleeeeeeeeesssssss away. And now I can't see them as easily and if I do go, I need to pay, which sucks, because I don't have any money.
So. Some news. I'm waiting to hear back from the Camp Director re: an invitiation for next summer (it's an official piece of mumbo jumbo the agency needs), but when that comes through I'll be able to sign up for next summer officially. Oh yes. I have every intention of returning. At the purely mercenary level it's two and a bit months of guaranteed work which doesn't come with the hang up of me spending it all on incidental crap. Also, I want to by a Macbook. But at the moment the lack of income is a serious issue, particularly considering there'll be a flight to pay for in May and rent to pay in the meantime. Things may get better. But three specific words are making me feel a bit five-pence-fifty-pence: Credit. Crunch. Recession.
Long term plans for the blog include filling in the gaps. Several people have mentioned wanting to know more so I'm inviting questions from my small but interested audience. Inquire away.
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
On Blogging
Without this getting a bit too meta I thought it would be interesting to discuss Blogging in general because the topic's been on my mind. For somebody who is only scraping the surface of computer literacy the medium of blogging via websites like Blogger is one of the best ways of getting your point across, ranting or just scratching a whimsical itch. It's a bit like talking to yourself in a crowd, most people aren't going to notice you doing it, some people might and pass comment and a small amount might actually be interested. In terms of readership and attracting interest it's a drop in the ocean, unless you're affiliated with the media in some other way or you're writing something new and exciting which snowballs into a phenomenon. Blogging can be private, intimate or just a day to day account of your life, but if you don't use any specific names or details it remains as anonymous and private as a physical diary/journal.
It's an outlet. The fact that there are so many people who feel the need to contribute suggests to me that we're a species that likes to be heard. I know I do. I have no illusions about my motivations for writing this, firstly I want to think out my opinion on something and secondly I want somebody to read it. Normally I blog stories (does it require a capital letter? I think it does), short fiction, comics, written/drawn doodles and scraps; ideas which normally would have stayed in my head have been expressed in some way and digested. For the last year or so it's been one of the things keeping me sane and I think in a wider sense the Internet and the process of interacting with it is playing a vital role in keeping others sane. In an article I'm going on to talk about in a minute, the writer refers to the hoards of people she imagines sitting at their desks reading her blog on their lunch breaks or cheekily between jobs. Here's a fact that doesn't get stated enough - working in an office is a completely unnatural yet entirely necessary human function. In a day to day, slightly pre-historic sense we're designed to run, live off the land and survive in all manner of environments. Snow, heat, rain, jungles. I think in creating the office space we, as a species, have finally stumped our capacity to adapt. Our bodies turn to mush, leaving us lethargic and prone to obesity and our minds wander like nobody's business. If the Internet collapsed on itself tomorrow you'd hear the collective screams of millions of office workers as they throw themselves from their fifth storey departments.
Anyway, I digress. I was going to talk about an article I read in the Independent Extra on the train earlier about Gawker, a site/Blog I hadn't come across until the article. Gawker in the words of the Indy is "New York's bitchiest, most successful gossip website,". Its author discusses how she came to work for the site, how she became its most popular bitchy commentator and how she ultimately came under the scrutiny of its own standards, was left wanting and collapsed in a pit of misery and prophetic irony. Suffice it to say my sympathy for the woman only extends so far. She gets egg on her face basically, starting off as a proponent of proto-stalking, really bitchy commentary and generally fuelling her own fire, she makes the mistake of going on a chat show to talk about the site, doesn't realise she's there to defend it and ends up making a fool of herself in front of millions. Unfortunately she doesn't realise that this has turned the commentary away from celebrities and onto her, having effectively made herself a celebrity and fair game for attack. (If you're interested - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-avakrRUaU).
What did I take away from this? Well, basically the uncertain and unpredictable nature of such an ephemeral mistress as the web and the billions of minds who lurk there. It made me kind of wonder whether we were on the edge of a new revolution in communication and expression. From messages on cave walls to letters to telephones to SMS to Blogging. There's such a need to contribute and at the same time such a want to consume - you only have to look at the attention seekers on MySpace and Facebook to realise that at some point they aren't going to be as pretty as they were, they're a little bit older and a little bit wiser and suddenly they're all blogging their personal lives. Don't worry, the irony isn't lost on me.
As a species we like secrets, discovering other people's and secretly hoping other people will discover ours. Why do people take their diaries to school if not to be found? If it was that awful you'd leave it under the bed, surely. As the owner of a diary one should, I feel, be responsible enough to expect people to want to look in it. Luckily for me, I don't own a diary but if I did I probably would leave it lying around and then get upset if someone read it. I'm not really judging the hypocrisy, I'm just wondering vaguely whether the diary, for some people, was a stopover medium for the Blog.
It's an outlet. The fact that there are so many people who feel the need to contribute suggests to me that we're a species that likes to be heard. I know I do. I have no illusions about my motivations for writing this, firstly I want to think out my opinion on something and secondly I want somebody to read it. Normally I blog stories (does it require a capital letter? I think it does), short fiction, comics, written/drawn doodles and scraps; ideas which normally would have stayed in my head have been expressed in some way and digested. For the last year or so it's been one of the things keeping me sane and I think in a wider sense the Internet and the process of interacting with it is playing a vital role in keeping others sane. In an article I'm going on to talk about in a minute, the writer refers to the hoards of people she imagines sitting at their desks reading her blog on their lunch breaks or cheekily between jobs. Here's a fact that doesn't get stated enough - working in an office is a completely unnatural yet entirely necessary human function. In a day to day, slightly pre-historic sense we're designed to run, live off the land and survive in all manner of environments. Snow, heat, rain, jungles. I think in creating the office space we, as a species, have finally stumped our capacity to adapt. Our bodies turn to mush, leaving us lethargic and prone to obesity and our minds wander like nobody's business. If the Internet collapsed on itself tomorrow you'd hear the collective screams of millions of office workers as they throw themselves from their fifth storey departments.
Anyway, I digress. I was going to talk about an article I read in the Independent Extra on the train earlier about Gawker, a site/Blog I hadn't come across until the article. Gawker in the words of the Indy is "New York's bitchiest, most successful gossip website,". Its author discusses how she came to work for the site, how she became its most popular bitchy commentator and how she ultimately came under the scrutiny of its own standards, was left wanting and collapsed in a pit of misery and prophetic irony. Suffice it to say my sympathy for the woman only extends so far. She gets egg on her face basically, starting off as a proponent of proto-stalking, really bitchy commentary and generally fuelling her own fire, she makes the mistake of going on a chat show to talk about the site, doesn't realise she's there to defend it and ends up making a fool of herself in front of millions. Unfortunately she doesn't realise that this has turned the commentary away from celebrities and onto her, having effectively made herself a celebrity and fair game for attack. (If you're interested - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-avakrRUaU).
What did I take away from this? Well, basically the uncertain and unpredictable nature of such an ephemeral mistress as the web and the billions of minds who lurk there. It made me kind of wonder whether we were on the edge of a new revolution in communication and expression. From messages on cave walls to letters to telephones to SMS to Blogging. There's such a need to contribute and at the same time such a want to consume - you only have to look at the attention seekers on MySpace and Facebook to realise that at some point they aren't going to be as pretty as they were, they're a little bit older and a little bit wiser and suddenly they're all blogging their personal lives. Don't worry, the irony isn't lost on me.
As a species we like secrets, discovering other people's and secretly hoping other people will discover ours. Why do people take their diaries to school if not to be found? If it was that awful you'd leave it under the bed, surely. As the owner of a diary one should, I feel, be responsible enough to expect people to want to look in it. Luckily for me, I don't own a diary but if I did I probably would leave it lying around and then get upset if someone read it. I'm not really judging the hypocrisy, I'm just wondering vaguely whether the diary, for some people, was a stopover medium for the Blog.
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