Call me capricious. Call me irresponsible. Sure, I might vacillate at times--or even frequently--but that is our right if it comes to little things in life...
 |
| I guess I don't care about much these days |
Battle of the Bands Results
First off, let me get to the main point of this post--the results of my most recent Battle of the Bands match up which was between the jazzy duo Jackie and Roy and the psychedelic vocal group Rotary Connection. As is usually the case, I liked both of my selections quite well, but one comes out on top for me. My preferred pick is Rotary Connection. Diedre Knight summed it up well for me:
Jackie and Roy were good, real smooth. I can imagine them smiling as they sing together. But the lyrics suggest an entirely different mood, one I thought was well conveyed in the somewhat cosmic background sounds and fetching vocals of Rotary Connection. A vote for RC from me, please.
A dose of psychedelia is something I welcome in music and a few others seemed to agree. This was another back and forth close race. It was what I needed to rekindle things for me and my blog.
Final Vote Tally
Jackie and Roy 11
Rotary Connection 13
Piece of My Mind
Now as to the point on the periphery of my recent thinking, I had mentioned previously that I was pondering a decision. Part of the clue was in the title of my song choice "Didn't Want to Have to Do It". "Do what?" you might or might not say. Respond to the frustrations and exasperations that I've been feeling of late is my answer.
To expound upon this thought, I was strongly considering taking a blog break until at least September and maybe longer. But then I was seeing where I was not the only one pondering these thoughts. Maybe it's an offshoot of recent events and moods. Maybe some of us have been blogging too long in a social media environment that isn't always very nice and frequently not very receptive to different opinions. I don't know, but so much of the time I just don't feel so much like "tossing it out" anymore.
Then I have a pretty dynamite Battle of the Bands with an excellent response (24 votes isn't too bad) and I get inspired for the next one to come. I do enjoy these Battle posts. Maybe I won't take that break that I was planning--yet, if ever. However I am going to cut back for summer to just one Battle on the first of the month which will continue to be in tandem with my post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group along with my follow-up results post for that Battle. That will keep my monthly posting to just two entries per month unless I get worked up enough to post something else in a month.
I'll see how things go and be flexible. Right now I feel tremendously discouraged about our country. Hopefully things will get better soon. Sometimes hope is all that keeps us going.
Next Battle of the Bands on Wednesday July 1st
This post will also be for Insecure Writer's Support Group. Hope you'll join me then--unless I have something that I feel I must say before that time. I'll try to keep visiting your posts and commenting, Seems like I should have time on my hands since I probably won't be going back East to visit family this summer. That hurts, but I guess it's not as bad as a kick in the head from some irrational mindless idiot protester. As far as I"m concerned, all of the people with their causes can take those causes and shove them where I don't have to see them.
Do you still enjoy blogging as much as you used to? Has producing new blog posts become somewhat of a chore to you at times? Where do you think the world is heading these days?
Summer is a time when a lot of people pull back, so to keep your sanity, it might be a good idea. I decided not to post today and will wait until next Monday, probably taking it to two times a month until September as well.
ReplyDeleteAlex, if I were taking my annual summer trip then I could better justify just taking off for the entire summer, but now if I don't go traveling then I should have some time to post something.
DeleteLee
I'm still diggin' my blogging, mostly because that's about all that I have at this point. It feels a little like a chore at times. For example, I have a colonoscopy tomorrow, and I'm not sure when I'm going to feel up to blogging again, so I prepared blog entries for tomorrow and Wednesday, just in case.
ReplyDeleteIt would be easy to say "to hell in a handbasket" in answer to your last question, but I'm a little more hopeful that things will return to the real normal, and not the "new" normal the media and politicians have taken to talking about.
John H, don't get me wrong: I still enjoy blogging. It's just the tenor of the times I guess that makes blogging feel weird to me. I hope we get back to a reasonable "normal" where I'll feel more in tune with blogging.
DeleteI wouldn't be too concerned about the colonoscopy. Yes, the prep really sucked I thought, but they put me into such a nice sleep that the procedure was over before I realized it and I was soon back to normal and eating a well-deserved restaurant meal. The assembly line nature of going into the procedure was kind of weird, but it was a pretty big hospital setting so there were a lot of other patients.
Lee
Lee,
ReplyDeleteMy favorite pick lost but what a close battle! I get overwhelmed or burned out from time to time with blogging but overall I still enjoy it. I like cutting back in the summers as it gives me what I need to feel refreshed when things kick into gear once more in the fall. I say, give yourself permission to step away anytime you want and you'll be more eager to do each time. I hate all the destruction the rioters have caused in cities across the country. It's ridiculous and I hope the money behind it gets what's coming to their way. Stay safe and well, my friend!
Cathy K, it's difficult for me to stay off the internet--I'm apparently addicted. I need to coerce myself into doing some other things!
DeleteLee
Lee,
DeleteI'm finding it not too hard to walk away from the net right now. I'm still quite active but am able to work in tasks that need my attention right now without guilt. Just relax and take it easy this summer. We all need time away from Blogosphere. I'll see ya on July 1st. I can't believe June is almost gone already!
I've got a list of blog post topics to last for quite some time, including others that come up organically.
ReplyDeleteThere's only so long people can take indefinite lockdown, unless they're so privileged they can comfortably live in their own home forever, without running out of money and necessities, and with a giant piece of land to enjoy the outdoors. I'm also tired of all the virtue-signalling and performative slacktivism from people who only declare their support for whatever cause after it makes headlines and becomes the latest cause du jour.
Carrie-Anne, you are an amazingly prolific blogger and writer!
DeleteI don't mind staying in my house a lot, but certainly not always. My wife gets even stronger bouts of cabin fever.
Irrational responses to causes run rampant, but I think most people are ruled by emotions and the media is reckless in fueling those emotions.
Lee
I still enjoy, but get feeling "rut"-y at times. I'd like to get back to telling stories about life- but life changes, and you lose your equilibrium. I'm not sure the person that started blogging 10 years back would recognize today's writer, on my blog.
ReplyDeleteCW, 10 years ago I definitely had a different idea about blogging and my place in it. If I were making money doing it I might have a better opinion about my own blogging. Yeah, I'm okay with admitting that I have the attitude of a mercenary to some degree.
DeleteLee
Blogging was a God-send for me, starting in 2010. It gave me a source to improve my writing and connecting with people. It still does, but there is a subtle change. Bloggers are feeling the lack of inspiration being quarantined and not interacting with any other person except one's beloved.
ReplyDeleteThere are two events predicted: baby boom and divorces. First one is out, 2nd one is out most of the time. 47 years.
Don't stop blogging. Maybe change what you blog about? Tell stories about your crazy interesting past? Post some photos of yourself doing what you like to do? I don't know. I am trying to vary what I post, but basically I am a story teller. I suspect you are as well.
Don't leave me. Don't leave others who look forward to seeing your name.
Susan K, I'll agree about the God-send nature of blogging for me. It came at a time when I needed it most and it has served me well over the past decade. I still feel inspired with ideas, but too lazy or hesitant to write them down.
DeleteHopefully my marriage will stay safe, but we've had some trying times during these recent months.
I don't plan to stop blogging totally. Just maybe slow down for a bit. I don't want to leave the platform anytime soon, but for a while I need to stay silent in a time of contentious cacophony.
Lee
I will be seriously put out, Lee, if you step off the stage.
DeleteThe quarantine has been hard on many marriages, mine included. John is driving me crazy. Marijuana helps.
Susan K, "Marijuana helps"? Now you're talking. Legalization has been a positive thing in my view and it came just in time for me.
DeleteLee
I actually do love blogging as much as I used to, I just get discouraged because it seems the world at large has moved on to social media platforms and lots of bloggers have ditched their blogs for that, and that makes me sad. So yes, and no. I enjoy blogging, but it seems to be a dying thing and it's easy to get discouraged when there's not as much interaction. Social media makes it where you don't have to think about things like a site, a design/theme, a niche if you're into that, and it's SO easy to interact. But I like the look of a blog, and the ability to make the content and the design unique to your personality.
ReplyDeleteI definitely get the need for a break. I've taken many over the years, though they haven't always been intentional. I have found that it's easy to just let it go if you do take a break, though.
Kim
Kim, I guess I should say I love the medium of blogging, but I'm not too pleased in the environment in which it resides. Maybe blogging is not dying as much as it is transitioning. Hopefully the change will be for the better. I do enjoy my blog though, don't get me wrong about that.
DeleteI've thought about breaks many times before, but then I think of something I've just got to say and there goes my break. It's all okay.
Lee
That was an exceptionally good Battle, LEE!
ReplyDeleteNot only did I enjoy BOTH recordings, but the competitors really slugged it out and made a true "battle" out of it.
Glad to know you'll still be joining us BOTBers on the first of each month. We can't really afford to lose any more participants and have the thing still being worthwhile.
Yak later...
~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS
STMcC, I'd hate to see BOTB go under so I've got to keep supporting it. Besides, I do enjoy it and I have so many more Battles queued up for action.
DeleteLee
Another cold and wet day here but not for me I don't seem to feel the cold.
ReplyDeleteJo-Anne, cold and wet? Today in the 90's here in L.A. I wish we would get some cold and wet.
DeleteLee
As full of the dickens as 2020 has been so far, I'd say our country is primed for a spectacular deep spring cleaning. It's always best to fix the roof while the sun is still shining.
ReplyDeleteWhew, you had me worried for a bit there, Lee! I'd miss you if you quit blogging. I look forward to your music battles as they are so uniquely...you! ;-)
Diedre, I'm always thinking about just pulling away from blogging, but then I get drawn back. I do enjoy it, but I want blogging to become more productive for me personally. My blogging friends like you keep it all worthwhile.
DeleteLee
Hey, Lee!
ReplyDeletePut me in the column for feeling somewhat burnt out and frequently feeling the need to be silent. It's a lot of factors, none of which involve the blogging peeps. A lot of it has to do with responsibilities, life changes, and being away from my home office. I finally just stopped carting a laptop everywhere. It's the ole' desktop or nuttin'.
I keep hoping to get inspired once again (someone play Barry Manilow's "Trying to Get the Feeling Again").
Cherdo, I'm certainly not on my computer as much as I used to be and feel the need to do other things (which I'm still not doing much of). Whatever is in the air in these times also has been putting me in avoidance mode for blogging. I have some wonderful bloggers who still leave comments, but some of my opinionating in the past has caused some alienation which is something I never really wanted to have happen.
DeleteLee
I was off last week Lee, this has been a most strange year and I guess everyone feels restless and a snese of uncertainty. If you need a break take it, you will be missed wiothout doubt, but you have to look after yourself.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Yvonne, I'm still kind of blog watching, but not posting for a while (July 1st will be my next one). This has been the strangest and probably stupidest year of my life so far. The world has gone bonkers I fear.
DeleteLee
I still like blogging, though I'm not alone in noticing many of my blogging friends and acquaintances from my early days have stepped back from blogging altogether, or only do it sporadically now. I've got a bunch of theme months coming up, which I look forward to researching and writing.
ReplyDeleteCarrie-Anne, as I mentioned to you before, I still see you as an epic blogger. It seems that so many people have become so rigidly opinionated that they not only don't want to hear other sides of a conversation but they'd just as well shut down any voices they don't like. Sometimes I get so outraged by what so many people are saying that I just have to state my case hoping someone will listen. I don't think it matters what I say to those people. We have become a country and a world very sharply divided. It takes away any enjoyment of free and open discourse.
ReplyDeleteLee