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Bloviating Zeppelin: Blogging Is Tough

Bloviating Zeppelin

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Blogging Is Tough

Quick post this morning, I've got a mandatory class to attend today, my 84-year-old father went back into the hospital unannounced, for surgery, it'll be 101-degrees today and I've got so much to do it isn't funny.

Blogging is tough work. It takes time. I post now whenever I can, primarily on two computers; one at home in the mountains and one at my second "home" in Sacratomato. I've given up blogging at work: the computer is uncooperative and there isn't time.

I see a number of other bloggers taking time off as well; Mahndisa, People Covered In Fish, and others. Texas Fred recently changed his blogging host and can now be found at http://texasfred.net. James Manning felt the heat for a while and felt the need to take a break. Rebecca of Revka's Take had a fabulous blog but just found a huge conflict between blogging and Life in general. Boy, how I know that feeling.
It's all understandable. Blogging is, to me, such fun. But it is a challenge and it does require enormous amounts of time. Right now, I should be in the shower preparing for the commute to the class. But here I am instead, placing myself farther and farther behind in my morning's preparations.
This is my post for the day. No photos. Blogger is still being kludgy, at least for me, with regard to posting photos. Sometimes it'll allow one. Sometimes two. In my other blog, it allowed three and then boom, no more. I cannot predict.
In any event, after class it's a visit to Dad, mow the grass, fix dinner, hit the rack in preparation for tomorrow morning's dental visit. Yeesh. Then I've got to plan for a skilled nursing facility for my Dad to occupy following his recovery in the hospital. This is his 6th major surgery in two years. He is amazing.
Take care people. Blog on.
BZ

posted by Bloviating Zeppelin @ Wednesday, June 21, 2006 

8 Comments:

Blogger James Manning said...

You are correct. I stepped away for a second to just get back into the real world. I've always made it a point not to blog over the weekend.

At some point, it becomes hard to keep up with and there is certain amount of frustration that comes along with dealing with so many different people.

But, then there are those times when you write something so good that you're glad there was a place to share it.

Blog On

Wed Jun 21, 11:26:00 AM PDT  
Blogger A Jacksonian said...

I am spending time putting a somewhat larger post together and dealing with the side-effects of medications and my various ailments... being able to concentrate for an hour or two is a joy... but if I am half-awake and have no energy, then doing something with it is difficult...

Of course I do it for myself and state that clearly. Pure vanity the things I think about...

A better Republic...

Ways to give Us new Freedoms from old ones...

And trying to find ways past this idiotic culture of dichotomy, where there are always *just* two sides to an issue...not three or four or ten or a million...

A Citizen of the Republic.

I am one of them!

Hard to find these folks lately... all off there in the shadow lands arguing about which is lighter or darker and all I can see is the same shade of Grey...

But the Republic is a good friend.

Only to consider it *first* so that I may be made better in the doing...

Pure vanity...

To think a better way can be found so that all may be uplifted so as to give myself just a little bit of satisfaction.

A vanity worth having, I think, even when I do some trivial things for fun.

I always enjoyed the notion that the highest form of doing anything is Play. One man from a Western Religious conference toured a Zen Monastary in Japan...

"Ahhh... they are working at their calligraphy, I see," refering to initiates learning the writing of their kind.

"Oh, no!" said his guide,"They are playing with the shapes and having most fun with them to have them clear and proper."

Passing a group doing a slow workout.

"Ahhh... and there they are exercising to keep themselves fit!" said the Westerner.

"Oh, my, no! They are playing with their bodies to see how well they can emulate the unknowable forms."

And finally they stopped by the grave of the Master who founded the Monastary, and both bowed their heads.

"And here is where your late Master lies in death."

The Guide smiles.

"No such thing. The Master is playing at being dead and doing it quite well these centuries."

When it becomes work... step away until you can find the play within it.

Wed Jun 21, 03:08:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

But in truth, James, I believe that TAKING that time to step away and take a breath is really the best way of ensuring you continue. And sure, dealing with some people can be difficult but -- actually -- the hardest part for me was and is budgeting the time to not only just post, but to attempt to post something of remotely some kind of quality.

Individually, YOU know if what you write is the best product you can offer for the post. And there must be compromises.

The largest compromise is that of time and life. You can only budget X-amount of minutes to visit another blog, to check news sources, to compose what you want to be a quality post.

I'm glad you took a break, and I'm glad you decided to continue. There is room and breadth and depth for us all. Yours is a needed voice in the Blogosphere.

AJ: I would be very much interested in what you've so much as hinted at in your profile. And you have confirmed what I wrote some months ago: though I'd like to think differently, I blog primarily for myself and not for others. I believe that is true of all truthful bloggers. I really enjoy having my own little piece of the Blogosphere as I'm certain you do as well.

"When it becomes work... step away until you can find the play within it."

SO TRUE!!

BZ

Wed Jun 21, 05:32:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Dionne said...

Hang in there!! It is tough to keep up sometimes. I thought I would have more time in the summer but things have been so busy I have less time. I feel like I'm trying to keep my head above water right now with all the stuff I'm juggling. I just post when I can and am okay when I can't. I haven't been able to do any deep posts or conservative profiles since like April.

Wed Jun 21, 10:27:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Mahndisa S. Rigmaiden said...

06 22 06

Hey BZ:
Yeah, this internship is frying my brain, taking every cell possible so I am too burnt out to really post. However, that may change soon:) Anyway, I will be praying for you and your Daddy and family. I think of you and wish you well. Same to James and AJ.

Thu Jun 22, 12:55:00 AM PDT  
Blogger A Jacksonian said...

Mr. Z - Insty said the same thing some years ago and repeats it now and again: When it stops being fun, I will stop doing it.

I will admit to an ulterior motive to my works... it is, however, a minor piece of it, the largest being to truly get the few ideas I consider worthwhile down *now* when I can still think them in part if not in whole...

Underlying them is a challenge to any reader to think about what I have said means to them and to the world.

I look at what this Nation set out to do and the way it chose to do it. We took a path from that start and have worked left and right and in circles and everywhichway... and still try to adhere to it in the doing. But we have forgotten what this Nation means... not as a superpower... not as 'the strongest nation in the world'... not as a 'arsenal of democracy'... not as anything we have given as an appelation to the mission We started out with in 1787.

I see a different Nation as possible.

That Nation recognizes that freedom and security are *not* a zero sum game. And throws that old saw onto the scrap heap.

That Nation recognizes that from the true diversity of viewpoints we can find a commonality between all of Us. And we throw out this thesis/antithesis to synthesis nonsense and get something that does not require a black/white, either/or viewpoint. That concept is killing the public forum and the diversity of views by truly demeaning anyone who does not stand on one side of a wall or another. I stand at a distance and see that this 'wall' is exactly 4' high, 1" thick and 2' wide. I am on no *side* of it.

As with the either/or-ness the Nation I se respects a diversity of the People and has opened its doors of Power as widely to them via the House so that a new harmony may be brought about by diverse squabbling. That is the music of democracy, not this two-toned tuba that is played today and is called the Two Party System.

Free People need challenges.

Challenges to the heart so that we may no loss and joy, suffering and success, and grow better for knowing that we are capable of them, and that every hour does not end happily.

Challenges to the soul, so that a new frontier may be opened and we can remain a single people as we spread out farther from home and yet still know we are part of one diverse voice and thought.

And it starts with challenges to the mind. So we can conceive of a *better* way... as we were told to do in the Preamble.

I can offer much of the last... a bit of the middle and not much of the first.

But it is my responsibility and DUTY as a Citizen of the Republic of the United States to do so.

And it is a *ton* of fun.

Thu Jun 22, 10:07:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

LMC and Mahndisa: you folks both possess wonderful but entirely different blogs -- perfect for the Blogosphere! Mahndisa: thanks for the words on Dad. It's REALLY tough to achieve that true balancing act -- and to keep one's perspective.

AJ: it is my considered opinion that you should be writing books instead of blogs. I remain convinced that your scholarly pen (fingers?) needs a much larger audience. Have you perhaps given this any consideration?

BZ

Thu Jun 22, 01:35:00 PM PDT  
Blogger A Jacksonian said...

Mr. Z - I am hell on editors... I was hell on my superiors wanting to change my presentations to upper management, too. Seems middle management always gets queasy when you actually say what you mean in just a few slides...

As for books... well, I came out of the digital publishing chaos of the '90s and looked with interest into the new, digital self-publishing area. A few services let you charge whatever you liked for what you put up... and a few bookshops actually invested in the *instybook*... which went nowhere.

I gave that up when I had the intelligence to understand it, still... back before 9/11.

If you have read the top of my blog or any by-lines I put out you know that my ideas are absolutely, positively free for thefting with simple attribution to 'A Jacksonian' or 'A Citizen of the Republic'.

I want *no* money nor recompense for any of them beyond that simple and graceful acknowledgement.

I have precious few minutes or, if I am lucky, hours when I am coherent during the day. Editors and overhead I have no need nor want of.

Although that does break the rule of my previous part of my life of asking for money for people that want free solutions. Had to tell my brother that he could get my advice, which would take me 30 seconds, or my *solutions* which he would have to pay for at a pretty high hourly rate. He got the clue and took free advice and stopped complaining. He knew that if he had *paid* for it, he would then have to seriously *consider* it.

But that life is over now.

I hope a few ideas I put out can be a 'rescue line' for the Republic when it is in true need.

I didn't expect it to need such this soon...

My gift to the Republic and We the People and anyone else interested.

If I had my old mind left, I would not be here and doing this.

I would be working very hard to turn the few critical bits I could influence around and in the right direction. Misguided? Yes. But at least I could be satisfied with miniscule progress.

Pure vanity, that. But so is this, in its way.

Mr. Z, I am lucky to be able to have these thoughts and get them out. I can make no better of them once out, beyond a spelling change or 5... it is a damn pitiful gift to give back to the Republic.

It is all I have left to give.

Thu Jun 22, 04:04:00 PM PDT  

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