Between the desire, And the spasm Between the potency, And the existence Between the essence, And the descent Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is, Life is, For Thine is the
This is the way the world blog ends This is the way the world blog ends This is the way the world blog ends Not with a bang but a whimper.
—T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men" (1925)
(Adapted by The Delawarean)
It's time for me to do other things. And so this is where I shall paddle off into the sunset...
Thank all of you who have read over the past few years and those of you who have helped me keep my sanity by leaving comments. I wish you all the best.
When I started this little blogging project I intended to follow a few rules.
I would not dedicate too much time to this to allow for other things.
Use the Google philosophy of keeping the page simple.
Possibly extend my network of friends (or imaginary friends).
Remain anonymous so that I could bitch write about whatever I felt like.
Keep it fun.
Reevaluate this project when I arrived at the 10,000 hits mark.
For the most part, I have sort of, kinda, in a round-about way held these statements true.
Coming up within the next week or so this site will most likely hit the 10,000 visitor mark. And now it's time to step back and think.
To continue or not to continue? That is the question.
On one hand, I enjoy blogging - even though I may just be blogging to myself for the most part. I spend a lot of time working on the computer anyway. I will no longer get FIRED if I feel like looking at my blog from work. (I just had to add that.) And it does provide a vehicle for me to vent every now and then.
On the other hand, I am much busier now than when I started this blog. Next month I will be moving and the majority of my free time will focus on that. There are several other hobbies of mine that I'd like to get more involved in, such as photography, biking, kayaking, etc...
I just don't know. There was a time when I looked at posting to this blog as fun, but lately it seems that I look upon it as more of a chore. Something that gets written on a to-do list. But yet, if I stopped, just think of all those Delaware sites that link to me. And I've noticed that I'm on quite a bit of them. (Go me!) It's like I feel obligated to update the blog in case some random person would surf on in via a random link. Such pressure.
I mean come on, I have the top search result for "Delawarean" in Google. Granted most people have their blog titles come up first, but most people don't have a title that represents an entire group of people in the United States of America. Hell, even a Google Image search returns 6 of the first 21 images from my blog! You mean to tell me that in the entire state of Delaware and all that has to do with Delaware being online, countless agencies, organizations, state and local governments, that I get almost 4% of the Google Image results? That IS pressure.
And that violates rule #5.
Whatever the case may be I'm not at 10,000 just yet, so I have a little time to think about it.
Just because I want to prove her wrong, I'm going to do this. And for the record, I hate these things.
1) You have been selected as the next super hero in your city. What power will you choose to have? - The ability to instill respect into ignorant individuals. Dover has enough of them that my job will be cut out for me.
2) Lemon or Lime? - Lemon. I love lemonade.
3) How many speeding tickets have you received? - Technically none. Which is surprising because I generally fly with all the driving I do. I did get pulled over when I was 18 and issued a ticket for "failing to obey a traffic control device - speed limit sign" but the cop was nice and worded it that way so it wasn't speeding and I didn't get any points.
4) It's last call for alcohol what will you order? - No question, Guinness.
5) Which video game character would you want to be? - Sam Fisher, from the Splinter Cell series of games.
6) What event do you think has had the most effect on this country? - Well, duh, obiviously the Revolutionary War! Without that, there'd be no country and Madonna wouldn't have to fake a British accent.
7) What was the street name you lived on the majority of your childhood? - Valley Road.
8) The name of your first pet? - Patches, a black and white cat
9) Your first grade teacher's last name? - Mrs. Roseand
And the final one 10) What color are your current undergarments? - Um, plaid?
So now, I tag...
NO ONE, because as I said before, homey don't play that.
Like most people, I can tell you exactly what I was doing on the morning of 9/11/2001. You never forget things like that. Traumatic things. Things that are so far from the status quo that your brain decides to permanently etch the most miniscule things, that on any normal day, you'd easily forget.
For example, I can tell you that I had two different colored socks on that day - by accident of course. I can tell you what 5 of my coworkers were dressed in because I can see them reacting to the news in unison. The look of disbelief and horror on their faces is stained in to my brain like a monitor that was left on too long that developed a burnt image.
It's things like this that I don't know why I remember. I just do. It's often human nature to block traumatic events in our minds. Our brain knows that we don't ever want to experience them again but yet it records each and every moment like a security camera.
It was on this day, five years ago, that my brain chose to forget about everything else that I thought was important in my life and remind me of the things that truly are.
I Netflixed the movie United 93 and watched it tonight. I'm not one that usually gets choked up over movies. In fact, I've never actually shed a tear over any movie that I can remember. I'm just not like that. Half the theater could be sobbing and it really just never hit me like that.
After United 93, I had tears in my eyes. My heart was beating faster. And I ended up with a headache from the emotions it generated.
Never before have I experienced a movie that pulled me in so much. Every single thing about this movie was absolutely perfect. In a day and age where movies like Million Dollar Baby wins best picture. (seriously, it was just OK) this movie had better win that and everything else it had better be nominated for.
The score was perfect. The cinematography was perfect. The acting was perfect. The script was perfect. The respect that this story needed was there.
This movie is excellence in filmmaking. Hollywood take notes. (I'm looking at you Michael Bay.)
I woke up this morning and flipped on the news like I always do and much to my dismay, learned of something very sad. Steve Irwin, a.k.a the Crocodile Hunter, has died.
Now normally I wouldn't even bother posting about this and I'd leave it up to the news but I think there's something that ought to be said. And convieniently for me, this is my blog and I can do just that right here, so here goes.
In 1985 the Discovery Channel was born. I grew up watching the Discovery Channel in a time when watching the Discovery Channel got you called a nerd or geek. As it aged, new series were developed (like Animal Planet) and the Channel grew stronger and even more interesting to me and attracted the even the "cool" kids who started watching it not so much for the educational value but for the entertainment and thrill seeking value.
How did a network that was once labeled as "nerd fodder" spin itself around to captivate audiences that were too cool for school? Simple. Hire a salesman.
Steve Irwin had the unique charisma, experience and craziness that allowed him to jump in to peoples' living rooms and keep their eyes glued to the TV wondering what he was going to do next. People began watching for the entertainment. The shock factor. They forgot they were watching EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION.
Both Steve and the Discovery Channel knew that this was the way to connect to the youth of today who expected nothing less than watching extreme sports and had little time for traditional documentaries. And in my opinion, if that's what it takes to educate our youth - this concealed and covert learning, then that's what must be done. And Steve did just that, perhaps better than anyone. He may have done some questionable things at times, but I ask you who hasn't? You just don't have a camera pointed at you 24/7 to capture them.
The buzz on the Internet is that Aussies found Steve to be a little embarrassing. Some Americans found him to be too in-your-face and viewed him as a fad that would surely fade over time. In any case, Steve Irwin would rampage his way to becoming a cultural icon for what he did. And it's what he did to our society that I wanted to point out.
He sold education; packaged and marketed for today's culture. He taught us that learning can be fun and extreme at the same time, so long as you don't try this at home. And for that, we will miss him.
At just 44 years young, Steve is survived by his American-born wife Terri and their two children who will no doubt carry on his life's work of helping animals and promoting wildlife education and preservation.
Thank you Steve. Thank you for covertly educating tomorrow's leaders- whether they knew it or not.
I really can't wait to move up north. I've said it before and I'll say it again.
The fact that my ceiling is leaking like a sieve is not helping matters. I'm not surprised. This is about the 18th time. It's fun to have my own little fountain of youth in my 2nd bedroom. The disintegration of plaster, paint and drywall is a beautiful thing to see.
And you know what makes it even better? I have ALL of my stuff packed in cardboard boxes and nicely labeled and stacked in there. And what luck! This damn storm is just going to keep pouring that liquid of life right in to my storage area all weekend!
Not to mention that all I'll hear all night now is water hitting buckets. Wow, how lucky am I? I don't even have to buy one of those babbling brook nature sounds CDs.
Yes folks, all this can be yours in a few months when I move my soggy belongings you can move right in for just the low (ridiculous) price of $825 a month PLUS every friggin one of your utilities! For all that money you get to do fun things like play "cross the mine field". It's a fun game where you try and walk across my courtyard without stepping in dog shit because there are about 500 dog owners here and none of them pick up after their dogs. Not a one. Or perhaps if that's a little too extreme for you, then join in a game of "Fast and Furious: Parking Lot Burnouts." Fun for the whole family.
That's right folks, just shoot me an email if you'd like to have my slum lord put your name on the waiting list for this gem.
The Delawarean is an enigma. He's able to solve a Rubik's Cube but sometimes has trouble spreading jelly on bread. His brain is always thinking, learning, trying to understand the world around him. His personal goals are above and beyond that of mere mortals. He's a happy-go-lucky soul that enjoys seeing the world from a different perspective. He is the voice of reason in a state full of chaos. He is also very frequently bored and blogs like there's no tomorrow.
