A BLOGGING MIRACLE HAS HAPPENED, DECEMBER 2021

A blogging miracle has just happened. After one and a half years I have reached some milestones. Every one of which, I believed, unreachable, when I started. The written content of my blog now exceeds 300,000 words. I told you, I was full of bullshit! At the same time, it has surpassed 10,000 views. You got to be kidding, right? Well I am not! There are indeed many people with nothing better to do, than to read my drivel. Or, perhaps it is just sympathy for my advanced age, and slipping clutch, that makes some people read. Amazingly, this blog has attracted 1000 individual viewers. I do not understand why, because I doubt if I even know 1000 individual people. We have also written over 300, unique articles. Some by my readers, and a “lot” by myself. Geezus!

Now before I go crazy, patting myself on the back. I must say that I understand, in the grand scheme of blogging, that 10,000 views is not that big of a deal. Hell, the good blogs get 10,000 each day, or maybe even more. They might attract 100,000 individual viewers, or even more. So, I do realize, the relative insignificance of my accomplishments! However, when I started spilling my memories onto paper, I did not expect anyone, other than Deysi to read it. Realistically, I did not even know that I had 300,000 words, worth of memories, in this old mind. There were many times, when I read my droppings and thought, “like who cares”? Often I thought about stopping, but something in the family gene pool would not allow me to. I sulked for a few days, but inevitably returned.

Too add a small bit of perspective to my modest achievements, I look at quantity. 300,000 words is roughly the same amount as three full size fiction novels. Or, the equivalent of two, J.R.R. Martin books (like Game of Thrones). Also, I note that, I am only “halfway” thru my married years. Isn’t it staggering to realize, that I could be pounding out this bullshit, for another year and a half. I can only think, “oh you lucky readers!” Those 300,000 words contain more than 300 individual memories (posts). These had been dwelling in the far recesses of my mind, and just needed to be pried out. And to think that anyone, even had the interest to read them, staggers my imagination.

When I look back to the starting point of this literary journey, it was intimidating. I truly had only a vague idea of what a blog was. Armed with my ignorance, an online course from Ron, some good literary advise from Ange, and tonnes of encouragement from Deysi, I plunged in. Oh yeah, the covid lockdown helped. Once we had finished buying all the toilet paper on the island, I found that I had lots of time on my hands. For many days, I stared into this big empty computer, looking for inspiration. My computer, or what I call the “google eye” just stared back. Finally, it struck me like a thunderbolt! “That’s it, I’ll just write my memoirs!” Once Deysi and her cursed cat stopped laughing and wiped away the tears, she said, “that is a good idea”. I could hear her laughter echoing down the hallway as she left.

It all started when I enrolled in the “bloggers for the aged and dumb, 101”. Subsequently, and after many hard hours of study, I graduated with a certificate in building a Word Press website (blog site). I still may not have understood what it was all about, however I had a diploma that said, I did. Wow, that paper made me feel like a nerd, and somewhat superior to those around me, like the cat. Next, I tried a few humble offerings, after which Ange gave her critique to my work. I sulked for a few days, but then decided I would forge on, in the face of negative reviews. I steadfastly refused her advice, with righteous indignation. Then one year later, spent about 100 hours correcting everything that she had tried to warn me about.

When I first sat down and decided to write something, I initially thought of a fiction novel. Soon, I realized that I was not that clever. Nor did I have a vivid enough imagination to dream up something interesting enough to make people want to read it. For a while, I sat like Rodan’s “Thinker”, pondering what it was that I could possibly write about. After eliminating, the subjects that I could not possibly write on, once again, there was nothing left except memories. “That’s it,” I realized, “I’ll just write about myself and what I remember of this adventure, called life”. Finally, I found the one thing I was qualified too write about. So, that is basically, what I have done to this time.

I decided that in a lot of cases, some of our adventures were almost as strange as fiction. Therefore, my mantra for this blog, was “to tell it like it was, even though it might sound like something made up”. Nothing could be as outrageous or silly as some of the experiences I have described, right? But let me assure you, that each and every memory, story, rant or rambling is “100% the truth” as this old memory sees it. The thoughts that flitted thru my mind, are unaltered, and “unfiltered”. I just tried to write them down exactly as they appeared. I tried to use no reference material, other than Deysi’s memory. It is just a “dump” of whatever came too mind. That may lead to some, “factual” inaccuracies, however each time, the memory is exactly as I see it.

As much as I tried not to embellish my stories, I have still been accused by Ron and D2 of “bullshit” in more than one case. They hurt my feelings deeply, but after a few days pouting, I always recovered and carried on. Deysi, always broke up my periods of “writers block” or, times of low self esteem when I couldn’t continue. She would encourage me, nurture me, kick my butt and lock me back in my office, until I produced something for her. Often, her cat walked by my door, and gave me that “shit eating grin”, as if to say, “you are such a loser”. Many a time, I aimed a kick towards that annoying animal. I never connected, for fear of losing my Huevos in my sleep.

A side benefit of my blog is, that I have been able to use more than 4000 of our photos. Over the years we took pictures of everything that we saw. Thousands and thousands of dollars were spent developing roll, after roll of film. At least ten cameras have been burned out or discarded during this time. Of the tens of thousands of photos we took, probably half of them were “duds”. Even then, we ended up with 60,000 photos of our life and times. I have tried to find photos from each different time or place that I wrote about. I hope they have added a small bit of detail to some of our memories. The earlier pictures of my sisters and brother, and of my parents, were saved and then sent to me, by my Sister (S).

The other side benefit of this post, is that I learned how to edit videos and then post them on this blog. Along with the tens of thousands of images we collected, over the years, we also compiled more than 100 family videos. I know, you are thinking, “Geezus spare us please!” The quality of the video from 30 years ago, is no longer good. They have deteriorated a lot. Also, as is obvious, I had no idea how to compose and film a family movie. I basically pointed the camera and pulled the trigger. However, I still managed to rescue some pieces, and attach them to posts, for your viewing pleasure. And there are a lot more, just waiting for me to post. I expect, you can hardly wait.

With that self congratulating post complete, I now forge on. This little interlude was so much fun. I hope it shows you, what I have accomplished to now. Be it ever so humble, it was all I could come up with. Even through those times of low content, thru times of fighting off the naysayers, to times of glorious highs, Deysi has stuck with me. Over 1000 times one (or another) of my readers has made a comment on a post. These comments are a writer’s “life blood”. I live to hear what others may think of my humble offerings. With a tear in my eye, I now carry on blogging. My next milestone is 500,000 words and finishing my memories up to our current life. I might say, that as I get older and after the girls left, I find my memories progressively more boring. What say you?