First One Back
Brad Chin
Sometimes an onset creativity, inspiration, and passion doesn’t coincide with “free time.”
And sometimes, there’s illness involved, too… on top of all the normal — more common, rather — incidents and accidents… like automobile breakdowns, bad news about a family member or a friend.
Truthfully, for most people, free time is a myth — and a paradox. Most people claim to “want it,” few people actually have it… and many consider it a badge of honor to “never have any.” Time, the way we commonly measure and refer to it, remains relatively constant for us — the same 24 hours that everyone else has.
But what do we choose to do with it?
Life is a series of choices — sacrifices, really. “Which one of these two things sucks less? That one? Okay, I’ll take it.”
That might be too optimistic of me, actually.
But how many times have you heard — or even said — “I don’t have time for (insert something),” when you meant (and felt) that you just didn’t want to make time for… whatever it is (was)?
Time spent, ne’er to return…
Either way, the past is the past. We can learn from it, change or adapt, but can’t change the past. My *first entry back* was going to be about Tuesday, September 11, 2001. However, after writing a chunk of it, the post didn’t feel right. It was too serious, too important, to screw up.
The “art” of writing is important to me; it’s always on my mind, and when I hear something news or noteworthy I think, “What could I write about this?” Then, usually, I do — I write, by hand, in a journal. I have many now, completed end-to-end. The *finished* (is art ever really “finished?”) journals sit on a high shelf, thanks to Stephanie. She embarked on one helluva crazy effort — trying to bring a semblance of order to my chaos.
Blogging… it’s different, right?
When I’m thinking about blogging (now), I think about what I want to say — what I want to share. I don’t want to share everything that I write, but if I blog about something, well, it’s out there. But that’s not the only difference.
Many of the rules outlined in “The Elements of Style” just don’t apply to blogging — they shouldn’t. It’s definitely audience-specific — tailored, I mean — but I figure, most of the people reading this blog in-particular know me (or know of me) directly somehow…
… so, most of you know that I can write, pretty-darned well, if I mean to. But being a reader myself, when things are “well written,” it often feels a bit like work — taking it in… processing the information. And if the writer is poetic, then there are metaphors, potentially leading to ambiguity.
My intentions… maybe.
I enjoy being a student of human nature — all aspects of it, the good and the bad. There are so many fascinating things in this world alone (and galaxies beyond that!) — I don’t have time for a mere-fraction of it, none of us can take in everything. We have to pick and choose what’s important… what’s important enough.
I studied psychology briefly, before honing in on key areas: deception, manipulation, criminology, attraction… NLP and mentalism are delightful. Hypnosis is a complexity to me, mysterious in ways, still… but I haven’t had the same kind of research time that age has afforded to many of the half-century old Professors who claim to have some kind of a grasp on their chosen field.
Maybe I’ll get there someday… maybe I’ll waste some time. Maybe I’ll waste some of yours.
But… I’d bet we’d enjoy the heck out of it!
Do us all one thing, though: tell the people you care about how much they mean to you. I’d bet that they’d appreciate it.
BTW: I’m going to Reno* soon… and I gamble. You do, too… apparently.