Yesterday, my little blog was five years old. As is typical for me lately, I’m a day late and more than a few dollars short writing about it. The five years have been interesting and I’ve learned a lot, both good and bad, about writing and people.
I began this blog out of a sense of frustration responding to a huge personal disappointment in my life; created by nothing but sheer stupidity on the part of other people……..on the part of the “big bad establishment”. My disgust with their simplistic trying to slot people into molds, set me off on the path of blogging to begin with. That particular personal disappointment was a “Y” of sorts in my life-one that the width of which was not readily apparent at the time-but became disappointingly clear to me after I returned to the United States. The sober realization of the malicious damage done to me by one wrong headed decision on their part has, if anything, amplified my “cynicism” about the “establishment” within the US military. The reason I entitled the blog Far East Cynic had , in part, to do with my overwhelming anger at the hypocrisy of people taking a “moral” position on one issue and not looking at a person for what he or she really is-just taking the “cookbook” solution.
However at the same time, I wanted to have a varied outlet to write about whatever interested me. And that, I think I have done-probably to the detriment of my hit counter. Over the years I have noticed attempts by some to “slot” me in to a specific type of blog. Or to catalog me as a particular type of blogger. I hope that those attempts continue to fail in the future.
This blog writes about politics-to be sure. Especially since life in the Shopping Mall USA is so hideously boring and silly, there is little else to write about. To say that I am a “liberal” or “conservative” blogger however, is simply not capturing what I am really. I’m somewhere in between.
It is true that I have parted ways with much of what constitutes orthodoxy in the Republican party. I simply cannot abide what they now consider to be “ground truth”. I blame them for walking away from me-not the other way around.
That said-I am hardly what could be construed as liberal. I still don’t like feminism. I still am not comfortable with the obsession with “gay” issues-nor do I have much use for what supposedly passes for leadership within the Democratic party. I like to think I am still firmly ensconced in the middle of the road. It is just that road has careened off a steep curve and left a lot of us, standing on the curve.
As for other things- I still want to write about what strikes my fancy. My compelling interests in women and sex have not abated-as neither has my desire for international travel and excitement. I am still desperately wanting to get back to Asia-but I need to do so in a way that does not bankrupt me. Regardless of which side of the dateline I am on-the bills are not going to pay themselves you know.
Five years is well into middle age for a blog. And I will agree with those who say there have been “peaks and valleys” in my content. They are right-and I am most definitely in a valley right now. I would submit, that since its an accurate reflection of where I am life wise and otherwise-then it may not be as much of a bad thing as some people may think. I’d also submit that when I was in Japan the adventure factor was a heck of a lot higher however-and that provided me with a wider variety of things to blog about. Now its more like a stuck record-I get up, the S.O. gets up. I go to work and she putters around the house. One of us is happy the other is not. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which person that is. That does not-surprise surprise- make for opportunities to provide unique content.
So why not just quit? Surely there are better uses for my time. Blogs are so passe anyway, right?
Because the simple truth is-I don’t want to. There are still things to say-and that need to be said- by me. It is my sincere hope that I can remain able to package it into a product people will listen to. And there is still adventure out there somewhere in the world for me. That I know-writing about it helps focus me on my goals.
So-just like in life-perseverance needs to be the key. Press on and don’t let the critics get you down. I’ve still got much to do before I sleep and people to see and things to experience. On the grand scale of things-I’ve been very lucky on that score and I hope my luck continues.
I am grateful for my audience-from the commenters and the lurkers and I hope that you will keep coming back. I’m most appreciative of the expressions of support that came from out of nowhere during some pretty bad times in the past couple of years. They meant a lot to me at the time and they still mean a lot to me now. I’ll try to repay the favor in the coming year(s).
In the meantime-its my hope you will keep coming here and reading my thoughts.
Here’s to me!
