5-month HIATUS

Well. Five months is a long time for a blog to sit idle, I suppose. But, hey! Blogs are apparently very loyal. They sit patiently, unchanged, waiting for their owner's return.

I don't have a bunch of time this evening, but I guess I will take a moment to post a pic that can be reffed to my profile...

Hmmm... I don't actually look too much like this photo any more! I am wearing my hair differently (shorter), my glasses are smaller, and I no longer have a goatee, although I do still have a moustache. Also, I have a Chikotlay tattoo on the left side of my face now. No, not really. No tattoos. No piercings. No unnatural hair colors. No gigantic gold and diamond dollar sign bling. No enhanced grill. or enhanced anything else for that matter.

Anyway. My lovely bride is waiting for me to join her for a few quiet moments of coffee and conversation.

Priorities, ya know.

And the horse you rode in on

I have not yet discovered a law, rule, policy, mandate, edict, agreement, contract, suggestion or any other form of formal, informal, casual, flippant, facetious, tongue-in-cheek or otherwise enforceable or generally accepted proclamation that would force me to make more than one post a month in this blog.

So, there.

I missed the Grammys earlier this week. We stayed out too late eating pancakes at the Black Bear Diner. REALLY GOOD pancakes: 7-grain almond granola pancakes. I just deemed it more important to spend time with friends than to insist on watching the Grammys. I am still as interested as ever in who gets the awards. Pretty stoked that U2 made out so well. Frankly a bit disturbed that the "original" American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, stacked 'em up like she did (if you'll pardon the expression). Then again, I must confess that I have not heard the recording for which she won the awards. It must have some merit, eh? Or not. No guarantees, I'm sure.

So, anyway, "Song of the Year." That, right there, is the ticket. I have compiled a consecutive recording of the Song of the Year going back to the beginning of the Grammy Awards, up through 2000 or 2001, I think. I'll have to check. I know that I have not managed to get Alicia Key's "Fallin'" yet, and was last year John Mayer's "Daughters"? I don't have that, either. Also, I do not yet have U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," which includes this year's Song of the Year "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own." (What happened to that trend a few years ago of songs with one-word titles, like "Bent" "Torn" "Smooth" "Jaded" ?)

Quite a collection of songs, that. Forty-eight songs, from "Nel Blue Dipinto di Blue (Volare)" thru "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own." The only Beatles song on the list: "Michelle."

Of course, there are many new songs every year. A whole lot of great songs did not receive the distinction of being placed on this exclusive list. It would be interesting to go back and look at all of the "nominated" songs to see what got left behind.

OK. I just managed to provide myself enough material for like five hundred future posts - one for each Song of the Year, one for each rejected nominee, and a special post (or series of posts) concerning one-word song titles. There is also the whole "band name" discussion. Not to mention several posts around the general theme of "spending time with friends is better than watching the Grammys."

Cool.

So much to say...

How does one choose what topic upon which to wax eloquent? Not only do I have myriad interests, but also I am concerned that this forum makes it difficult to express fully my thoughts on any given subject. Of course, my biggest problem is that I tend to want to say everything about something all at once, lest I be misunderstood.

As you are reading my words you cannot know all that has gone before to cause me to think the way I was thinking at the moment I was writing what you are reading. In fact, it is highly probable - not to say inevitable - that what you are reading does not adequately express my thoughts. This is due in large part to my inability to discover and properly align the best phrases at the time I am composing, but also to the inability (on anyone's part) to anticipate with any kind of accuracy the range of filters represented by the potential readership.

In other words, what anyone writes can and will be interpreted through such a vast spectrum of sociocultural filters that the original intentions of the author are all but guaranteed to be misinterpreted.

I get very passionate about what I read from others, and I hold my own opinions very dearly. But I often hesitate to open myself up because I am not especially fond of getting "flamed" for expressing my opinion. It is particularly vexing to have someone "go off" on you based on some kind of total misconstruance of what you wrote.

Nevertheless, intellectual exchange is the best and only way to expand one's perspective, ne c'est pas?

The array of concepts surrounding interpretations and sociocultural filters and linguistic nuances and the fine art of attempting to express ideas and opinions fully, honestly and openly... it is all quite fascinating in and of itself; worthy of further exploration. No doubt reams and volumes and tons of tomes have been produced examining this whole area of study. Still, it'll be fun!

What I am pondering at this point is... What is the point? Specifically, what is the point of opening this blog? Why am I doing this? Do I really think I will persist in or develop a new habit that includes checking this blog and adding new posts regularly? Will I be really, really glad I started this blog? Will I ever receive any responses or comments from any passersby? Will I come up with great and prePOSTerous things to record for POSTerity?

Or not?

OK. I have no idea where I am headed with this, my first and possibly last, blogventure. In the spur of the moment as I was deciding to create a blog, then immediately clicking and reading and clicking some more, I quickly imagined the name "PostPonderance" as a completely transparent play on the words "post," "ponder" and "preponderance." I am hoping for a preponderance of ponderous posts, even if only from myownself.

***sigh***