Blog more, Facebook less?

Just going back through my Facebook posts (perhaps a bit egocentric, but it has its place, I think; sort of like Googling oneself), and it occurred to me that there is the fairly frequent posting that really could be nicely posted as a longer blog post.

However, I have this ... well, "philosophy" is too grand a word for it.  Feeling, perhaps.  Anyway, I think the blog should actually be used to say something, something that is hopefully interesting and fairly well written.  Something that you might actually enjoy reading.  Otherwise, a blog is little more than the scrawlings of a self-centered pre-teen in her precious diary.

On the other hand, as I said once before here, I see this as the place to expound on ideas that strike me as worthy of some thought, the sort of thing that strikes you in a quiet moment when a number of seemingly unconnected concepts come together to form something that is maybe not profound, but hopefully intriguing.  And to tell the occasional story.

Nonetheless -- see above -- I want that thought to be fully expressed, and that takes time, as well as some effort to write well.  Whereas Facebook just makes it so easy: link to a clever picture, make a snarky comment, and sit back for your friends' reactions.

Perhaps I need to put more thought, and time, into my life, and fewer quick, easy one-offs...

What Does This Image Mean?

There's a story that when Dadaist artist Jean Arp (if I recall correctly) was asked what one of his works meant, he simply recited the alphabet back to the questioner.  The meaning wasn't for him to tell, but for you to figure out for yourself.

Lately, I've had a real run of interest in surrealist images, just because it amuses me.  This, from work today, struck me as being in that vein ...



Secondary note: It's a digital image (shot on a Nikon D80 with a 17-55mm zoom lens), and it is clearly such.  Electronics look so ... electronic when shot on electronics.  This would have a whole different texture, and perhaps a whole different feeling, shot on film with the Leica.  Is that important?

What I haven't been telling you ...

There's a few things that I've decided not to write about here, despite the occasional agonizing temptation to do so.  First on the list is politics.  There are enough political blogs out there.  We don't need another.

That's not to say I don't have my opinions.  As a matter of fact, those of you who know me in the non-electronic world know that I have rather strongly held opinions that I am not only content but eager to civilly debate.  (I like to test those opinions, and have occasionally changed them; and I have managed to maintain very good friends who oppose me politically in many ways because of these debates.)  However, I don't want to do that here.  The internet is not a civil place for politics.

Secondly, while I'll often talk about my life, I shall rarely if ever get into things overly personal.  Not only is it really none of your business, I think it's boring for you, the reader.

Thirdly, though I'll occasionally wander into the world of religion, especially if I encounter something that strikes me as profound, I'm no evangelist.  I can't take myself that seriously.

Finally, and this is where I'm going in a way, I do read through these things before I hit "Post."  Sadly, this doesn't mean I catch every typo (and sometimes I purposely leave them after I found them, feeling that any ex post facto correction is a form of ... lying?)  Sometimes, I start rather extended posts, and then realize that they're not saying what I want to say, or saying it so poorly it could be misinterpreted.  Lately, I've had two that I've all but finished, then left in the "Draft" bin.  They're rather complicated, in some ways paradoxical, comments on mortality.

I'll keep working on them, and I'm beginning to think they are really one, long, deep, philosophical point ... of a sort.  Maybe not.  Maybe I'm just getting above myself.

After all, let's keep this in perspective: This is a blog with seven followers that gets, at best, 20-some-odd hits a day.