The 'Difficult' Second Post

Mike: One post in, and already I'm driving to work in the morning with thoughts of blog topics. I can see how some find this addictive, others merely therapeutic. I am personally aquainted with one newspaper journalist who spends at least 3 hours on his blog first thing in the morning when things are quiet. Read through his archives and it's like strolling round some vast, marble-halled library - book titles jumping off the shelves, random topics screaming for attention... a swirling mist of disassociated memes. It's truly wonderful to walk those halls, seeing, perhaps for the first time, the true breadth and depth of this man's knowledge.

I wish I could tell you his name, but he's also a top-level MI5 agent, and I'd have to kill you afterwards...

It's humbling to have to admit that what we write defines us in some way. When I sit with a blank screen in front of me, willing the words to flow, I have to filter out so much mind-junk before I settle on a topic that I think might be slightly less... inconsequential... than the others. For instance, I could write page after page on the Legend of Zelda, aspect ratios, the West Wing, the Buffy phenomenon... but would anyone actually be interested? Or is that even the point? Perhaps those who find blogging therapeutic have long since learned to disregard the opinions of others and write purely for their own entertainment? Perhaps the true purpose of a blog is to write that which you personally would want to read - an exercise in self-indulgence...

I have come to a decision of sorts, then... actually, I came to this decision when I decided to write this blog: What I find fascinating, others will too - what makes me tick will interest others also. If what I write about isn't generally considered to be edifying or of general artistic significance, I will elevate it, through my writing, to such a lofty position that it will be difficult to ignore. If that sounds a little pretensious and gradiose, so be it. If, as I have said, this blog is really, at heart, for me and for me alone, then what's wrong with a little indulgence now and again..?

Good night, and good luck