Since arriving at the Sands here in DHS in late December, I’ve taken quite a bit of time off from Blogland. In doing so it has allowed me to return to the ‘actual world’ and afforded me the chance to think about and put into perspective, at least for me, both writing a blog and the state of current blog technology. These are two totally different issues so I hope I can explain my thoughts briefly and precisely.
Blogger
First, let me deal with blog technology. It’s old, it’s staid and it’s antiquated. Blogger hasn’t changed much at all since I began blogging in 2009. A lot of bloggers like this but I detest it. It feels like I’m stuck driving an old 4 cylinder beater when I have a garage full of Ferrari’s (i.e. better technology like Instagram, Twitter etc.) that I could be zipping around in. Heck, out of sheer boredom I’ve even taken a second look at Facebook! Blogger, by design I feel, locks bloggers into a fatal flaw – repetition.
Leaving aside blogger technology which perhaps not too many of you ever care about I then find myself faced with blog content. This is our 8th snowbird season here in Desert Hot Springs. I just can’t bring myself to write the same old posts about going on the same hikes, eating at the same restaurants, golfing and swimming etc. While I thoroughly enjoy each of these activities and the superb weather, writing about them repeatedly makes me feel like I’m in a time warp.
I’ve spent some time over the past month reading a lot of blogs and for those who blog daily I’ve found the exact same pattern that my own blogs have fallen into – repetitiveness. It pretty much goes like this: “I got up at x, the weather was y, we did this and that, took some pics, went here and there, had dinner, went to bed”. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. Some bloggers undershare while others overshare. Some are more negative and glass half-empty while others are awesome and glass-full. That never changes either.
Given that’s the nature of the Blogger format, as I’ve already mentioned, then it’s to be expected and for the overwhelming majority of bloggers it’s perfectly acceptable and completely natural. For me though, I’m finding myself more and more bored with the format and the cycle of repetitiveness that it promotes. The idea of blogging to keep a journal of my day and activities does appeal to me but I can do that while keeping my blog private, available only to me and those I choose to share it with.
I admit, I’ve been struggling with this blogging question for almost a year now and have made a few attempts to kick-start my interest (i.e. abandoning my original blog and starting this new one last May) but it hasn’t worked to my full satisfaction. I may from now on just write a post when I have something interesting to me to say. I’m not going to say I’m quitting because I haven’t reached that point. I will, however, be spending more time on the new “Ferrari’s” of social media because new technology is where my true interests lie.
Blogger-Fest
Now, onto my thoughts about last Saturday’s hugely successful Blogger-Fest at Quartzsite. The organizers are to be congratulated as they pulled off this event with remarkable efficiency and on such short notice even organizing perfect weather. In looking at the photos posted by many of the bloggers who attended, I recognized many folks that I’ve met in our travels and others who I only recognized from their blogs. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so that was great to see.
Prior to the event I received a few emails asking if I was going to go, and then after, how come I didn’t, so that brings me to my thoughts on all this. First, and the main reason I didn’t attend, is that I absolutely hate large groups and the more people I don’t know the more I hate attending the event. That may seem downright unfriendly but that’s just the way I’ve always been and at 70 one doesn’t often change a lifetime habit. When I first read about Blogger-Fest my immediate reaction was it seemed like a great idea but it just wasn’t something I was remotely interested in.
I’m just more comfortable and happy with my family or a get-together with some of my good friends whether at home or here at the Sands RV Resort. Even here, I almost never attend the park-wide organized ‘fun-things’ like dances, happy hours etc. as I much prefer meeting up with a half-dozen or so friends I know at the dog park or going out with them for dinner. School reunions? Fuggeddaboutit – never been to one since I graduated from high school in 1961.
Blogger-Fest also made me think about another thing that has always intrigued me about RV’ing and it’s the idea, prevalent amongst many bloggers, that we are all some kind of big happy family who are somehow different from the general population and so we should get together whenever and wherever possible. I’ve never really bought into that idea either. Even though I’ve made some good friends through RV’ing and blogging (you all know who you are) there are others I’d hope to never cross paths with. RV’ers to me are pretty much like everyone else I’ve run across in my life.
So, what does this make me? Unsocial? Unfriendly? Neither as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never believed in self-serving, self-biased personality labels either. The trouble with labels is people often pick and choose only those attributes that are favourable to them and project the image of themselves they want others to believe. Too often I’ve seen bloggers twist themselves into knots trying to explain away the glaring contradictions between their self-defining words and their actions. Actions always speak louder than words in my experience anyway.
Finally, does anyone really care about my reasons for not attending Blogger-Fest? I really, sincerely hope not as I don’t really care who attended and who didn’t either. But, I’ve always written my posts about what interests me and this whole RV’er getting together thing has always intrigued me a bit so these are my thoughts. In closing, I’ll just say I think next year’s Blogger-Fest will no doubt be even bigger than this year’s as I know mine is a minority opinion. I’m o.k with that too!
Thanks for visiting!
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