Creating Eight: 8th Birthday for My Blog

Photo used via Creative Commons license. Photo by Cobaltfish.

Today my blog celebrates eight years in existence! Happy Birthday, Perspective! Looking back at my first post in 2005, I didn't really know what I was getting into. C'mon, it was 2005 for goodness sake! It was the instant glory of expression; me as sole digital mistress of headlines, typos, photos--all of it. Who was reading or listening wasn't yet relevant, but I have discovered that having an audience really is neat. They just follow along as you heedlessly go there. This blog is never about money for me. It's about attention and awareness (occasionally on behalf of something I care about). In my day job, those are the same thing. See how the world has changed in 8 years? Yeah, I was "younger" then too.

What's With Eight?
For the numerology-inclined or curious, 8 means...it's Karma Time! Here is a basic interpretation of what's behind that Big Ol' Eight Ball. For me 8 is about taming the forces, subduing and tempering our instinctive nature; in other words...full circle from where I started 8 years ago.

Journal via Creative Commons 2.0 license. Photograph by meddygarnet.

Wild Call of the Journal
I've been reading (okay, scanning) some Mom blogs lately and I've discovered that I'm not alone in beating the square peg of "blog" into the round hole known as "journal." They aren't the same thing. Within a few posts, most of us realize this, but if we're creative we're open and quickly tune in to what a blog does bring out. New stuff, new passions, different material than the uber analytical for self, by self and to self meanderings you'd find on a written page.

When Blogging...Isn't Even on the List to Do
I found some awesome words of comfort from a gal I don't know well, but I've witnessed a depth to her because we're connected on social media. Reading what she writes, I recall a correlated post on the concept of "blogships" that I wrote some years ago. Where is this digital reality (overwhelm?) taking us. Stacy writes a nice piece about the call of the journal in her post The Pressure to Document.

I feel the same struggle for balance. This blog always loses out to real life. The culture is obsessed with pressure to document everything in life:  As.It.Happens. That's at least until you step away and wonder why and for whom? In my pixels and packets line of work, I am already far too digital- it's an enormous effort these days to come here to actually have fun anymore. But there is that comforting clack on my wooden keyboard. My daughter says it keeps her awake- thank Goddess I don't do this much anymore!

I'd especially like to thank my pal Amy who encouraged me to join her in this adventure eight great years ago! She writes herself at the Kweskin Report. We had a downtown Oakland photo adventure and it was a grand time. I highly recommend photo dates to experience the joys of your own town!

Oakland's Uptown Art Park Sculpture, Oakland, CA

Your Turn
So tell me what you think.

About You:  Do you blog? How long have you blogged? Are you consistent? Does your blogging get stunted by the demands of parenthood, profession or the content sharing existence on social media?


About This. What drew you here? What did you like most when you got here? Agreed, the template has its positives and negatives. If you're a return visitor, what do you miss most?

Personal blogs are hard because I think I understand that your first mission here is probably just...for voyeurism. Don't be shy, I know you look. Just tell me why.