Is this thing still on? :-)

Well now...it seems the place isn't in as much disarray as I had expected. A good thing actually. I've determined that my leave of absence via Tumblr did not turn out to be the wondrous experience I had hoped for.

Don't get me wrong. The people there are nice enough and I do plan on keeping my page there for the time being. However, Tumblr is more graphically based than anything else. You know the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, that's the law over at Tumblr. As an artist who relies on the written word to paint my pictures upon the minds eye, I'm afraid I was ill equipped to make much of an impact over there.

Here I can write as much or as little as I choose to and not be judged for it. I think I may have forgotten what it was like to have a real blog too. At the very least, I missed it more than I thought I would. Tumblr is an endless circle of people re-posting pictures which other people have posted and I was able to find little purchase for actual creative contribution. Even when I managed to do so, my offering was quickly lost in the colorful tide of cars, houses, models and candy.

Words seem to matter less and less these days. I wonder why. I find it so curious and also frustrating that people can go to see a movie these days and come away from it impressed with the special effects or the acting, but rarely the writing. It's as though the main vehicle used to ferry the content and structure of the film is an errant after thought instead of the foundation upon which the whole thing is built. Eh, probably a product of our 'drive-thru' society. So many of us don't want to have to go to the trouble of thinking about what something means, just tell us and we'll agree to be duly impressed when it suits us. How positively sinful that seems to me.

I hope that I'm not coming off as though I'm complaining here, I'm actually just commenting on observations I've made over the last year or so. In all seriousness, I think I'm happier than I've been in a long while. Not ecstatically so, but I'm working on that. Things are starting to come into a clearer focus and my understanding of the world around me and my place in it is broadening too.

My book is nearing completion and while I may not be as positive about its reception as I have been in the past, I am excited to hopefully be seeing the finished product soon. Perhaps the main reason I am not as excited as I once was is because I think I may have mis-judged people's interest level with regard to poetry in general. I have shared select snippets of my work with various people over the last year and most of them have come away less impressed than I had initially hoped. Of course, very few of these people read poetry on a regular basis, but nevertheless, I anticipated they would have been more excited about the work in general.

I am slowly learning that people (in general) are far more interested in their own relatively mediocre achievement than they are in your expansive dreams of what might be possible. Getting a high score in Gran Turismo 5 seems infinitely more attainable to my friend than supporting my goal of becoming a published author. It is true too that some people just don't wish to see you accomplish your dreams for whatever reason. I want to see us all dream bigger dreams this year than we have ever dared to dream before and while this blog is not what I had hoped it might be at this point in my life, I will persevere.

The magic is percolating and the ink is looking pretty potent.

I'm going someplace good. Follow along if you have a mind to.

Your friend and acquaintance,

Stance