The sitemeter stands at 994, which means that the world famous blog will probably break the 1000 visitor mark sometime today. I still haven't quite figured out the difference between a visit and a page view, or what it is that site meter actually meters, but getting that 1000th hit should be a milestone, and a cause to celebrate. Maybe I'll eat some ice cream, or take a couple of xanax.
Or something.
I recognize most of the hits from my friends in the coonosphere. Some of the hits come from odd Yahoo or Google searches. Somebody got here a couple weeks ago after searching for cartoon dogs. I hope they weren't too disappointed. The ones that are intriguing are the visits from Europe, or Asia. But those are mostly the result of the toy robot article and pictures, and the links from Robot-Japan, or Toybox DX. I doubt that many folks in Europe or Asia are much concerned with my post-middle aged musings, or observations of life here in Southern California in the final days of the world as we know it.
As I mentioned yesterday I am getting hugely burned out on the news. My contempt for the newspapers, cable networks, and television in general has accelerated into a gut churn of pure loathing. If I hear one more scare story about the environment, or the economy, I'm going to go out and go into massive debt for the sake of hunting down, and killing some endangered creature, and burning it in an SUV so I can help melt the north pole. And the whole of the internet has become a lot like a visit to rotten .com. No I don't want to see a picture of some guy who got his head caught in a punch press, *click* Yaaarrrggghhh, why did I click that? Oh, wait- a guy who couldn't outrun a freight train on his mountain bike, *click*, urp. The latest story on teh prez *click*, oh, holy shit... I should have stayed with rotten .com.
And even when I go over to Walt's place, or Mushroom's, or Gagdad's to get my metaphysical fix, and tune in the faith aerials, I come away vaguely disappointed. Not by the material, but by my static filled reception. Something in me wants a light to go on, but nothing seems to hit the switch. And something in me wants to craft some poignant, moving piece that will hit someone right where they live, and they'll be so moved that they link it, and it'll get picked up by somewhere else, and somewhere else, and then... What? I don't even know.
I went down to the corner a couple of times yesterday. That's a hit, or miss proposition for entertainment. There are some people there whom I really enjoy seeing. And some for whom I can just about rise to indifference. And of course there are a few that I just can't fucking stand. I ran into one of the later group, as luck would have it- a pugnatious little jerk, some years older than myself, whose idea of a conversation consists of baiting people into arguments, and then getting hysterical defending his point. Normally I don't even talk to him. But I had heard that he'd been quite ill- heart trouble and stuff, and when I saw him, he looked as if he'd been quite ill. I said, "Hello", and broke my usual rule to ask how he'd been. I swear it didn't take the guy five minutes before he started slinging ridiculous assertions about the war, and all wars, and how Bush was the idiot who got us into all this mess...
I just left.
Went back home, and clicked on the internet. Another story about teh prez. And so it goes.
JWM
I never got hooked on Rotten.com. Actually, these days in addition to ignoring most of the news, I ignore most of what passes for entertainment online; I've lost my stomach for seeing people at their worst (and always trying to out-bad each other), usually voluntarily. If thoughts matter, and what you read and see can influence how you think, then it seems to follow that being selective about what I casually subject mysoph to might have a beneficial effect on how I see and cope with the world.
ReplyDeleteWhich isn't to say I spend all my time on places like Cute Overload, either. Mostly, I just reached the point where I realized that people will put themselves through the worst degradation and humiliation if they think the world will see it. I've wandered through some pretty nasty places online, taking the shock-value tour, but since OC I just don't anymore. I got tired of seeing people take twisted pleasure in engaging in all things perverse; all it can do, really, is damage your own soul along with theirs.
The ugly may outweigh the beautiful online by an order of magnitude, but that still leaves lots of room for the beautiful. And the funny. And the whole gamut of the human experience - sans the slow strangulation of the soul.
I come away vaguely disappointed ... by my static filled reception. Something in me wants a light to go on, but nothing seems to hit the switch.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, we are probably all a little disappointed with our static-filled reception. If we weren't, we wouldn't feel the need to read all this stuff, and try to make sense of it.
And the switch? You forgot: it's a dimmer switch, and it gets turned up by degrees. All Third Eyes are wired that way. The hell of it is that they can only be turned up -- not off! -- so now that you're on the Way it's too late to go back.
But don't fret: we're all stuck too, like you. And our opinions and actions are superfluous to the "world," pretty much. These are pretty extreme times, and the world doesn't seem to want to be "fixed" by you and me, or anyone wearing a raccoon hat.
The good news, as I see it, is that the things I most value, I can still influence somewhat. For instance, I really value "personal freedom," and that's one I can work on. And another preference is for a "quiet life," and I do have some say regarding external noise. Maybe I'm just "slow," but that sort of thing -- plus the whole "spiritual" challenge -- keeps me from becoming totally frustrated, which I would if I only paid attention to what others are doing.
And to me, the "impact" of your WFB is its informal tone, and conversational approach. For you, it's just "your life," perhaps; but there's no Starbucks around here, no guys, no corner -- so it's kind of fun reading you making your points through the characters in your life. I realize I'm talkin' to someone who rides a Harley, but hey: don't sell yerself short!
As to the "news," I think of 99% of it as ☠Poison☠. I just figure that taking poison in big gulps every day isn't what I want to do.
I think the "No work/ no money" thing would be enough to give me the blues.
ReplyDeleteMy attitude on the blues is So What.
Just got an email from my Louisiana cuz:
Willie Earl King [last of the Mississippi Blues singers] had a heart attack and died about 4:15 this afternoon. It will not be the same on Sunday's without him! Jukin at Betty's!
QP: Thanks. But I didn't mean to give the impression that we are going to be left penniless here. I have a retirement income From State Teachers. It's modest, but certainly adequate for keeping the gas and electric on, and food in the fridge. The part time work from the custodial gig was a great help, but we won't be going hungry without it. Getting the blues frequently is just part of life in the overpopulated space between my ears. Too, I just tend to complain a lot. That doesn't mean the outside stuff isn't a contributing factor- I just let it get to me too easily.
ReplyDeleteJohn M
...and thanks for the links Julie. I love Cake Wrecks. I saw it on your sidebar a while ago, and I check it out every so often.
ReplyDeleteJohn M
I will ditto everything Walt said.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think there is in all of us that wish that somebody would just turn on the light for heaven's sake. The dimmer switch analogy is a good one. How many times have I walked into our kitchen and cursed the day I told the electrician to install a rheostat instead of just a three-way.
I don't think the stuff I post has any value -- how can I say it? -- "in itself" or maybe "by itself". No one who drops in by accident looking for song lyrics is going to be moved by what they read. Unless, they are trying to connect to the Spirit. If what I write were to serve as a catalyst for someone to make a better connection I'd be happy, but I would not think it had much to do with what I said. In fact, I think sometimes it is as much what we don't say that enables the connection.
Our words create a grid or textured template that the reader can fit some things into, that will hold him or her for a moment. The Holy Spirit is hooked to that same grid and the two of them are able to join up there. Rick is especially good at shaping the spaces to give one something to fit in and hold to.
Your symbol art is like that, too. The patterns are really shaping the spaces.
I'll shut up -- wv is already accusing me of being a lootor
Yeah, the news certainly sucks alright. More so because we got Jimmah redux times two (but not as smart).
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the reasons I rarely mention much about politics at my blog, other than the fact that so many others do a far better job at it. I reckon you could say I do, in a sense, but not overtly (and not because I'm worried about pissin' off any possible new readers).
Of course, you know that letting off steam helps, as well as perspective. It's never hopeless no matter how much and how loud others may say so.
I can't think of anything helpful to add that everyone else didn't mention, so I'll just say you're in my prayers and I hope life gets better for you, in every sense, John.
Sounds like we're in a similar financial situation. Reading the gathering storm clouds on the horizon -> my very real concern is that the self-perpetuating stock market decline will wipe out the teacher's retirement system.
ReplyDelete