Thursday, September 02, 2004

Busted


Not the band of course. It was my day off and Bec and I went into town, she had an appointment at the hairdressers and we decided to go to the cinema later (Hellboy, good fun, pretty close to the comic but not quite as good), this meant we had about 3 hours to kill so we had a wander around town. There was a book I meant to buy yesterday but forgot so I thought I'd buy it today and we could steal a look at a cookbook to buy some ingredients for food tonight; that’s the problem. Going into work on my day off, it is a sad thing to do. It started when I used to cycle into town to go to the gym, I'd take my bike into the shop because I didn't trust it to be safe chained up outside. Also I used to meet up with a friend for a drink or to go to the cinema occasionally. All these visits built up and there was a bit of mickey taking. I've barely gone into the shop on my days off in months now, the guy I met up with most has left and I don't go to the gym in town any more. Still, when I'm in town I might pop in to buy a book, I could wait until I'm back at work but when I want something I usually like to pick it up then and there. It's lame going into your place of work, I deserve the mocking. I'm sorry. ------------------ Last night I spent far to long writing a post that my computer objected to so it shut down. Frustrating. Rather than try and conjure it up from my memory I'll just give you the abbreviated version. The
  • other Paul
  • wrote an interesting
  • essay
  • on his site about blogging and after telling Jon, who I work with (who, with Ali, another reader of this blog, so cruelly mocked me today), about my blog I'd been thinking about this whole blogging thing myself. Paul pretty much covers it in his article, but there were a couple of things I'd like to add.
    Why I don't just do this in a diary. This blog started and mainly exists as a way to get me working. Over the last year I've drawn and written very little and I thought I'd use a blog as a way of prompting me and also to allow me some sort of writing practice. It's hard to tell if it’s helped but I think might have, mainly because it not a diary. You see, if I wrote in my diary something stunningly offensive no one would know. If I wrote in a diary tonight that I intend to write an novel a week it doesn't mean I'll do a damn thing tomorrow, but if I posted up my novel a week intentions here I'd be open to whatever ridicule and scorn I'd rightly deserve. My rambling innocuous carry a bit more weight because there’s the possibility of people reading them. I like that, it helps me focus.
    What's so great about blogs? Nothing necessarily, but it's like
  • James Kochalka's sketchbook diaries
  • , an individual entry means nothing, read one a day and they still don't mean that much, but read 10 or 20 or 100 in a sitting and they become an amazing representation of living breathing life. Blogs are like that, they can be dull, banal, and mundane but over the course of time they can become fascinating portraits. As Paul says, it's probably more interesting if you already know the person, but there has been the odd blog that's made me feel like I already do know the person. It's not a modern obsession though, reading blogs is just a high tech way of nosing through people’s windows.
    -----------------------
    As I mentioned in the previous post I've finally started sketching again. So far I'm enjoying it, the work's not great and a bit derivative at the moment, but I'm hoping that it'll improve and I'll find a more natural 'voice'. Anyway, I thought I might post some of the sketches, so stay tuned.

    4 comments:

    paul said...

    Hey, look at us and our namechecks! Glad you found the essay interesting. I like your idea of ridicule, certainly a great motivator... shall i start mocking if i don't see some drawings up on here soon?

    also, interstingly, i wrote the essay a couple of weeks back when i started my new blog but since then i have occasionally read some random blogs via the links on blogger... and found some quite interesting stuff. I don't think the more diary-like would hold my attention for long, but even they do present interesting insights. this lack of compulsion to return probably just reflects my personality - i don't like soaps or reality tv either, so i show little desire to peak through the net curtains over the web either.

    Katy said...

    I think I blog because I am an exhibitionist tart.

    Actually, that's not the whole reason but my brain is too fried right now to think about anything other than monkeys.

    And I also hate popping into the shop when I am not working.

    paulhd said...

    I don't actually like going to work on my day off either, it just happens sometimes. The last couple of times it was to meet Sam, who was visiting, and then Rachel. I think I'm gonna meet up elsewhere from now on.
    Yeah Paul, you can mock me, but I don't know if it's as much fun if you have my permission.

    Danny said...

    I've visited our old Ottakar's twice in 6 months, I think, and it totally creeps me out. It's bad enough living down the road from it. Fucking awful...

    But yeah, I did occasionally go in on days off. Mainly 'cause most of my friends were there...

    As for reasons for blogging, well, it's a chance to spout. I like to write but you know how totally undiciplined I am. Blogging is a low-pressure project. Not to say that it shouldn't be good, or well written or whatever (mine is far from that) but it's a useful form of self expression withjout feeling that I have to try...