Blogging The Blog

For the last five years I have been accumulating photos and movies. I keep a Journal as I travel around the World.

I tried writing a book but got stuck. I made great little film clips but I didn't have a full movie. Then a couple of years ago I reconnected with my sister in Ontario. Melbah Toasty has been writing Blogs since 1967. I didn't even know what a Blog was until she told me. (Just in case there's someone out there who is wondering, as they read this, the term 'blog' is a short form of the words: 'WEB LOG' or Internet Journal.)
Melbah is showing me how to run a successful Blog site. I love having a Mentor who can save me some of the learning curve. It gives me more time to write and take photos and Movies rather than trying to figure out the thousand and one details needed to create and maintain a blog.

I work as a carpenter in the REAL world, so blogging is a wonderful diversion from the construction business. Besides, in my new lifestyle I am always traveling, whether I'm in Canada building things or in Asia exploring ancient ruins, and I love to write about my adventures.

I phoned my girl friend; Aw, in Thailand to tell her the great news.
"Are you sitting down Aw? I AM BLOGGING."
"Stevie, you still Carpenter, mai kah?"
Hmm. I see I am alone as a visionary here. I try to show her the concept. "Aw, do you realize the people throughout the World I can reach with my stories once I create a solid audience?"

I have to admit I'm one of those glass-half-full kind of guys. It's like the story about the salesman who goes to a tropical Island to sell shoes. After a month he reports back to his company with the News: 'Sales potential here is useless. No one wears shoes on this Island.' But instead of giving up, the company sends it's top Salesperson, who reports back after only being on the Island for a day: "Incredible News. The sales potential on this Island is unlimited. Everyone needs shoes."

So that's me. I love writing these stories about my adventures. And I love showing you my movies and photos. I have a great Mentor (Melbah even made my Heading collage with all the photos and the title).

The biggest thing I had to get through my thick skull was: A blog is a work in progress. It really has no beginning or end. Your readers will come to it many ways and you can't control what they will be drawn to. I just write what I want to write and keep moving. When I first started writing my blogs in Thailand, I would write my sister and Mom and ask them if what I was writing was good. I had no way to gauge it, and I still don't. Fortunately they are my cheerleaders. I was very surprised when I would have people reply with encouragement. I have had a lot of people write to say they feel like they are on the Journey with me. That means a lot to me. I sometimes write the stories so fast that I don't even read them over before publishing. It's just the nature of the beast when I'm at a bus station in Bangkok with only a few minutes to put down my thoughts before heading off to the next location. So it's great to hear that people are enjoying the pictures and stories.

Here's what drives me to write:

• The deep desire to share my Journey with my friends and family.

• The satisfaction I get from recreating the experience in words and pictures. When I write this way and put my photos and movies together, it gives me a wider perspective of the events and enriches the original experience for me.

• Your comments. I love hearing your perspective on what I write. It's the icing on the cake for me. When I'm in a village in Northern Thailand, or in the chaotic cities of India, it's hard to remember that there is someone out there reading this blog. I want you to know, I really appreciate you being here to share my Journey with me.

So please send me your comments. And have a look in the 'labels' section. You may find I've written about you.

Things I'm Not Writing About

My sister sent me a crisp message on Yahoo messenger yesterday;

“Banana Boy, I expect a new Blog entry every day.” End of message.

Fine.
So I started writing.
Do I write?
Yes I write.
I write a lot.
A LOT; really…

So when I wrote my post for yesterday I sent a crisp message on Yahoo messenger to my sister.

“Melbah Toasty, I wrote a great post but I can't publish it.” End of message.

I wrote lots of things yesterday.

I wrote a list of relationship tips. Unfortunately, this list is from me; a guy who has been divorced twice and just had his fiancee call off the wedding. Let's face it, who want's to get relationship tips from a club that would have me as a member?

So then I wrote a stirring post giving advice to my ex sweetie on how she should conduct her life now that I'm no longer a part of it. I have to admit I did include the words 'Convent' and 'short-sighted blunder' in this advice.
I sent that one to my sister. “Steve, why don’t you just tell her these things instead of putting it in the Blog?”
“But Mel, I promised her I wouldn’t write her.”
“Stevie, if she changed her mind, then you can too.” Okay, my sister might have a point.

So then I wrote about my four most important love relationships, and why I chose those women. Now this one had so much promise that it began to sound like a Movie of the week, so I decided to keep writing it until I have a proper screenplay.

Here are things I almost wrote about:

I almost wrote about the blinding snow storm we had yesterday and how my sister trudged four blocks through the minus 30 conditions and slumped into my house exhausted. "Feel my chin" were the only words she spoke until she thawed out. "Oooh cold." I agreed.

I almost wrote about Hummingbirds. I have developed a fan club (well, okay, maybe not a fan club but at least I had one person comment on my Blog more than once). My loyal reader, Somsoc made me curious, so I sneaked back to her Blog where I found she had written a post about my post. "Ah, Eureka" I said to myself. I should write a post about the post she wrote about my post! But I didn't (or maybe I just did).

She wrote about one of my favorite subjects; hummingbirds. I started writing Somsoc a comment about how hummingbirds are an ancient symbol of love because they spread fertility from flower to flower. I was also going to say that the way to treat these birds is the way we should treat a lover. The hummingbird is poetry in motion. You never see a hummingbird perched on a branch, but always at high speed, over a flower, gathering nectar. Just like the best relationships, the beauty comes from giving your partner the freedom to be as they are, not in trying to possess them or hold onto them. I was going to say that if we try to grab this wonderful bird we crush it. But then my comment was starting to get longer than her post so I didn't write it…

I almost wrote about the fact that it's so hard to write when you know your friends can all read what you're writing. And how hard it is to write when you want to keep up a high standard of writing.

But then it occurred to me;
This is MY Blog. I don't have to please anyone. It's here for me to express what I want to say
I need to stop having an agenda and thinking that if I’m a good boy and say the right things and do the right things and make all my friends and family happy every thing will work out right.
It’s time to get on with living. It’s time to find out who I am and stop worrying about how it will effect other people,
I need to live life and write my Blog and go where I go and experience Thailand and be who I am.
Wow, that could be a good Post to write.
Maybe I’ll write it tomorrow…