I take a vacation

I TAKE A VACATION

Working on the idea of getting back to blogging on a daily basis.  Is causing a scheduling conflict, but will cope with that the best I can.  My goal is to write.  Daily.  For the last year my time and energy has gone to writing, but not blog writing.  Have been working on 2 books over the last year.  One is in the completion stage.  The other is just beginning,  with a 100 pages written.

Stating this  as a way to explain the basis of the conflict coming back to blogging on a daily basis presents me.  Conflicted, but will manage in an odd way.  

Blogging as I know it is for the purpose of entertaining.  And for giving me purpose and space to write.  Perfect when this is all the writing one does.  Conflict when you blog and also try to write according to commercial or academic standards.  Difficult to blog and write manuscripts at a high level.  Am finding that to be the case.

Moving forward with the emphasis.  "Keep it Real."  

In the past this was not how I would blog.  Best to say.  "Blogging may be out of style.  Not in vogue.  10-12 years after its' initial exposure on the social media scene, this is just the way it is.  An oddity.   Have talked about this before.  "Not popular now."  So he asks.  "Why bother?   Why blog now?"  There is no one answer.  Entertainment.  creating an audience.  Enjoy the company of others, based on writing.  

Now it is the Selfie Snap A Picture routine.  say something.  Be gone.  Isn't me.  Yet, change is required.  Entertain, but not truthful on a personal level.  Speak in first person format and yet none of it is verifiable, nor personal in the sense, it all comes from real life, or as some say, "A True Story."    Might be an interpretation of what an alternative life might be, done from a writer's perspective, take liberty with time and place and factual detail.  Has to  be a good story.  Must entertain.  That was me in  2006.  Was busy with a writers creation.  Daily blog.  Character seen in print.  Was it me?  Not sure?  Fiction.  Justified it by saying, "Fiction is stranger than real life.  Entertaining."   

Now  years later, am done with that in a marginal way.    So let me tell you what I am doing for blog material.  Is an experiment and a creative challenge.  Found on the Internet a language teaching program that plays   for 8 hours while the student is sleeping.  Sub-conscious entry into the mind.  "Does it work?"  Not sure.  But serves the purpose of providing me with blogging material.

Today I start with the phrase:  I Take A Vacation.  It is spoken and written in 2 different languages, all while I am sleeping.  When you awake it is suppose to mean something that you can recall and use.  Is to be there for your usage and benefit.  Language learning.  "Not sure if it works."

Do know that it provides me with a blog topic.  I TAKE A VACATION.  

Writing a blog and it shouldn't be stressful.  Should be like when you take a vacation and buy a romance novel-summer-light-book.  Read some, but only for pleasure.  Toss it when the vacation is over.  Done.  Done.  Doing this for fun.  What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.  Don't make it work.  Enjoy yourself or just don't do it.  That is the general idea of what a vacation should be.

Interesting take on things.  ' Go on vacation',  or as American slang might indicate:  I take a vacation.   Nobody gives it to me.  If I want it, I take it.  Displays indicators of an aggressive nature and people.   American slant on such a general thing.  "Not going to work.  Take a break.  Refresh.  Avoid burnout.  Be gone."   Want to suggest, 'stop being so aggressive.'  Vacation is not a competitive event.  Drop the posturing .  Stop pretending you are rich and vacation is just another way of saying,  "Have or Have-not.  Posh.  Posh."

We go looking for answers.  But there is no question.  Work tells us we have 2 weeks a year for vacation.  It is mandatory.  Work doesn't say:  "Stay-cation."   Stay home if your can't afford a proper vacation is up to you.  New considerations now that I am forced to say, "I take a vacation.  Can't afford it.  Stay home."  Is what we did.  Had more time for my second job.  Was a timeout, but not really as you would say, "Fun."

Keep it real.  And to further this he says.  "Not a real vacation."

I Take A Vacation.   There is no one way to do it.  Complicated by the fact that I am old now.  Retired.  Waited until now to vacation properly.    Retired.  Maybe I am on vacation 365 days a year.  Not sure.  Am new at this,  being on vacation aspect of life.

In America.  Did you know?  There is no law in the United States that requires an employer to give you paid vacation time.  They do shut down government in America from time to time.  "I Take A Vacation", means  non-essential federal workers are told to stay home.  Others are told to come to work, but you won't be paid.  Yet, its mandatory.  True Story.   Part  of the new way I am presenting this blog material.  

Not sure what is more important.  I take a vacation, implying I will not be going to work.  Not clear at this point if my job will be there when I return.  Interesting.  True Story.  Going on vacation for millions is like being laid off.  "Will let you know if we will be calling you back."  Says the boss in an email or on Twitter, but not to your face.    Separates personal from the collective.  Mass Unemployment.  The I Take A Vacation version.  America.  Today.  

2nd Time Around

2^nd Time Around

You Can’t Tell A Book By It’s Cover

Nor a Blog By It’s Title

Nor a poem just heard, but never read.

Common sense suggests one might invest some time just to keep the ball rolling. Read and decide if this is a blog spot suitable for you. From author’s perspective flows a creative pursuit and you are the readership and invited audience. He wants to please. Meet and give you a reason to return. Simple mission statement. Please you. Please return. Become blog friends. Be yourself. Read and Comment, if you chose to do so.

2^nd Time Around is not a marriage blog, nor about divorce or separation. Instead, is about my 2^nd stop on the blogging circuit. Just saying this requires some backstory and interest-filler. Frosting On The Cake. Has been a year or more since my last blog. Takes time and energy to blog daily. Takes time to invest when reading a blog. And energy, too. Two-party collaborative. Invest time and energy. In return get something back that has value. Content provider and audience-reader merge. Becomes one.

Not a comeback, nor a reckoning. To see this in print startles Mr. Content Provider. First time around, he went by the name-identifier: Stoney (blogger ). These days he is not sure if he should rename and reinvent himself. Seems like when your first gig was a success and they branded you. THE BAND. Something new in the neighborhood. Digital neighborhood. 2006. Now the gig is over. The Band has broken up. Gone separate ways.

Takes a breath and realizes that disappearance is similar to death. Can’t just stop blogging for a year, and then expect your audience to be there. Has him thinking. Comeback or reckoning or something quite different now. 

 “How to proceed.”

Will begin with reverse-order topic rendering. Mentioned come-back first. Then reckoning. Clarity and detail comes next. Will work on orientation and intention. Take a few moments to relate the backstory and how it was, the first time around. Think. Sear’s Catalog. Wish Book . 1910.

Reverse order. The Reckoning. Is startled to see this in print. Wonders what he intends to say, and if this would be of interest to a reader. Words in print have consequences, intended or accidental. Seems familiar. Act 1 and he sees reckoning as an act or process of calculating or estimating something. Flashback to something he knows about himself. The old version. Stoney blogger was very calculating. Thought about what he was doing a 100 times over, prior to writing the first work or sentence or paragraph. Calculated. Meant to be a staged-presentation.

“The Show Must Go On.”

Entertainment. Didn’t matter if it was true or pure-deception, slight-of-hand word magic. Who said it had to be true. Calculated to get your attention, keep you around for the length and duration of the blog/essay. Fact or Fiction was irreverent. Come back tomorrow and repeat. Entertainment Experience and also a writing exercise. In the old days this is how it was. Just a show. Made for your out-of-body excursion. Later, go home. Talk about it. Think about it. Forget it. Unreal. Won’t marry you. Permanence Elusive.

The idea of reckoning comes with multiple meanings that I will consider. Act 1 – the reckoning. It is all calculated. Based on something. For Stoney it was calculated on the idea that a daily blog was for entertaining the reader. There was no thought of it being true. Fragments of truth perhaps sifted thru implied universal personal experience was there. Yet, like an actor taking on a role for the purpose of a story-like entertainment package, once done he moved on. An actor’s life like a content provider/writer is calculated. Is the reader/audience that provides the attachment and seeks truth about that which time is invested and the matter of personal reward and benefits enters into all this.

Part 2. Act 2 He didn’t think about this in 2006 when blogging was in its infancy. Now he thinks about it. Reckoning as the avenging or punishing for past mistakes or misdeeds.

He thinks about it now. 2006 . Social media took the form of blogging. Nobody knew for sure what it should be. For 10 years: 2006 to 2016 stoney blogger entertained those who came to read his blogs. And then things changed. Social media changed. The people went away. Stoney blogger stopped writing. The show was over. Something new took its’ place.

Takes a moment to consider all this. “Take a deep breath.”

“Am I okay with this? Are You?”

Decides to embrace his first stated idea. A Come-Back. Anchors this to the title. 2^nd Time Around. Wonders if his time would be better used somewhere else. Time passed. 10 years of blogging and it doesn’t seem to be what people do in 2019. Stoney blogger no longer. Has become someone different over time. Who will read what he writes? Old school material by an Old Dude.

 “Who will read his blog?”

Come-back seems to reflect the issue of leaving the presentation stage due to failure. Failure to keep an audience like all of a sudden the people were saying, 

“Stoney Blogger. Who? Don’t know that one. Before my time. Old School. Like Mom and Dad.”

Never intended to make blogging a popularity contest. But now see this: The Reckoning as if it were contention for a place among the winners of a contest. Never intended to be thrust into the reckoning.

2^nd Time Around and will revisit my Wish List. What is blogging all about for me in 2019. Not the same as when first introduced to it in 2006. That is a long story I won’t go into now. Wish List. Sear’s catalog in 1905. Ingrained with a material-physical lust, and blogging is words on a screen that disappears with one click of a mouse button. Costs the consumer very little. Almost free, yet we know now. In social media they sell your personal information to regain costs incurred. Almost free is a dubious distinction I won’t go into now.

2^nd Time Around. Will I change? Blogger name and will it remain viable, like a branded item, say: “Kraft Cheese.” Have a blog that has not been used for over a year. Will add to it now and see what transpires. 2019 and 2006 and I bear no illusion about social media and how it benefit or imposed limitations. Write. Post. Might not be daily, but that depends on intervention and inspiration derived from the grand design: Original Creation. A favorite thought of mine.