Why?

It's been almost a year since I started this blog and I was recently thinking about why I still continue to write in it. Tonight I came across a post by Rawbean which outlined her thoughts and blogs and the denizens of people who author them.

About a year ago I received news that my services were no longer required by my company and that my position was to be filled by someone working in India. During that time I was in the middle of shooting my second film, but with the layoff I considered halting production for monetary reasons. I still wanted a creative outlet, so I decided to create a blog to chronicle my experiences looking for work.

Within a month I was hired back by the same company and I resumed production on my short film. I considered dropping the blog, but instead found the experience cathartic as I got to express my opinions, whether they be PC or not, on any given subject I was feeling at that time. I was having fun writing about world events and my observations about the often mudane consumer lifestyle a lot of us lead. A whole two people read it so I thought I would at least keep my small audience entertained.

One day I started receiving comments on my blog. Most of them were from Matt; however there were a few from spammers. This got annoying real quick so I set up word verification to block them and the problem was solved.

One comment came from City Soul, my first from a stranger. The comment came with a picture of a hot girl in a studio shot so without even looking at the text I figured it was spam. Before I deleted it I glanced at the writing and thought to myself it may not be someone trying to enhance my breasts or sell me porn.

I went to City Soul's blog and realized it was legitimate. How she came across my blog I don't know, but I found her writings, which are themed after her life experience as a New York party girl coping with newly acquired suburban life, interesting enough to keep reading on a regular basis.

Through her I started reading other blogs on her blog roll and found an array of interesting characters, mainly Jinsane, author of Mind Blowing Insanity. After commenting on her blog and browsing through the list of her regular reads I found myself feeling almost insecure about my mildly literate rants. Blogs such as Scott's and Alyssa's dwarf mine as far as prose is concerned and I've never felt the design of Erik's Ramblings was really all that necessary. The main focus should always be on the writing. I happen to keep a job that has a low volume of work and when an idea strikes me I start to write it in here as quickly as possible before something actually important comes up.

Most of the blogs I read have a theme, but I keep mine random as that's who I am. I try to post as I think and do it with little editing. Some days you'll read about movies, other's about politics, love, art, or wacky things that have happened to me.

Autobiographies, like blogs, are mostly fiction whether the author's aware of it or not. While certain dates and events are accurate, the details are often skewed to either a) make the story entertaining b) leave out the points that make us look like lesser people c) try to convince someone that I am hung like a porn star, am fabulously wealthy, have the moral compass of the Dali Lahma, and date Salma Hayek. The filter we use to tell our tales can be subconsciously altered. There are three sides to every story. Your side, my side, and the truth. We don't have anyone fact checking this so none of us will be chewed out by Oprah if the accounts are stretched a bit.

The most interesting thing that happened to me since I entered this world of Blogger is when Time Magazine quoted me a while back which I still find funny. I mean a reputable news source taking a phrase from some over opinionated schlub like me is ripe with humor.

I noticed some bloggers really are admitted comment whores, but I don't really care if you comment or not, just as long as you enjoy it. This blog has mostly been for my benefit as every time I publish something I can't help but to imagine myself ten, twenty, even thirty years from now going back and reading this and thinking 'man what a messed up guy I was'. It is interesting to notice what subjects bring in the comments and what doesn't. If you read Mind Blowing Insanity you'll notice her comments go off the charts when she posts half naked pictures of herself. I do admire her bravery for showing skin on a weekly basis; however, as God as my witness I'll never post half naked pictures of myself to you, unless it's a mug shot or something funny.

Starting tonight I will for the first time ask for feedback from you dear readers. Yes I'm going to be a comment slut on this one. I seek guidance from all four of you who read Erik's Ramblings as to what it is you like to read about. Do you enjoy the political posts? Movies? Strange news stories? Personal insights on daily life? Or do you like the fact that it is random and you never know what topic you'll read about? Should I post more? Less? Longer posts? Shorter posts? More pics of hot women? More pics of hot men?

I appreciate any and all feedback concerning this as I'm interested in what you have to say. That is if I get any. If I don't I suppose I'll just have to go jump off a building naked with a big lip print on my ass.

"Bloggers are a unique breed. It's hard to explain blogs and bloggers to non-bloggers. When I say, "Yea there's this cool girl nonny from Ohio that I met through my blog" non-bloggers get creeped out. It's worse if you talk about someone from the opposite sex. I quickly explain that this isn't a glorified internet dating site (like myspace), but instead a creative outlet for fun people resulting in some good social networking." - Rawbean