I am blogging less lately but enjoying it more -- wait, that's not really true. I
am blogging less than I used to, and I suppose my advancing age has something to do with it. I am now somewhere between "beginning to slow down" and being overtaken by the "general malaise" that President Jimmy Carter used to talk about back in the '70s. Since I am also in my 70s now -- halfway through them, in fact -- I cannot claim to be the man I once was. Take my hair, for instance. Too late. Most of it is already gone. And my skin, my skin, the largest organ in my body and also in yours, has morphed into something unrecognizable. I am reminded of the old joke about the old man who decided to streak through his neighborhood and as he passed the bus stop one old woman said, "What was that?" and another old woman said, "I don't know, but it definitely needed ironing."
Where was I?
Oh, yes. Wondering whether I am enjoying things more now that I am doing them less. Some fellow once said, "Burt Reynolds puts his pants on the same way I do, one leg at a time" and some other fellow said, "That may be true, but he gets to do it more often." If you substitute the name of the hunk
du jour for Burt Reynolds you will undoubtedly agree that the second man was a truth-teller.
Digressing seems to be what I do best.
I do think that I enjoy blogging as much as ever, but I just don't seem to get around to doing it as often as when I
was in my prime had more energy could actually remember that a fair amount of time had passed since my last post.
So I'm blogging today, more because it fills up time and space than that I have something scintillating to say.
The truly cruel among my readership will now say, "It has been ever thus."
Until next time, I remain
Yr intrepid reporter,
Rhymes With Plague
“I am blogging less lately but enjoying it more…”
ReplyDeleteThis is very sad news for those of us who value the frequency of your posts immensely, but couldn’t care less about you as a person.
As for Reynolds, he’s not much to look at anymore, you know. He never was to my taste, but I didn’t expect to age so badly either.
P.S. My latest post is about cats, so you can return to commenting on my blog now, as I hope you will because I miss you.
ReplyDeleteI think we all need to sometimes take a break. Blogging is fun an even therapeutic. But it can become a chore to do it on a regular basis. I just finished a period in which I re-posted some of my older posts. The stories were new to most of my online friends and gave me a bit of a vacation. As you are only a few older than I am I refuse to say you are old. You just need a breather.
ReplyDeleteBlog when it suits you. You have a number of faithful readers who will visit each one.
ReplyDeleteEven in his prime Burt Reynolds didn't do anything for me. Probably just as well. I have enough vain hopes already.
I remember a good year, more probably, I reckon two, ago, that you thought you might stop blogging because you felt you had run out of things to write about, I'm so glad you just couldn't shut up. Hahahahaha. I mean that thoug,h and the pleasure you get is so good to hear about, even if you post less, I'm happy to know its the case. x
ReplyDelete"I'm so glad you just couldn't shut up."
ReplyDeleteThe sensitive and sincere depth of feeling with which you express your heartfelt appreciation for those whom you love always brings a tear to my eye. I can but hope that my own humble attempts to follow your sensitive and sincere lead has yielded equal--if not superior--sensitive and sincere fruit.
I must admit that visiting your blog causes me increasing frustration simply because I often come here only to find that nothing new has been added. With regard to your recent question about Adrian Ward, I don't know why he hasn't been blogging. I left a comment expressing my concern but it never appeared and I did not receive a reply from Adrian. I imagine that he is sunning himself on an Hawaiian beach with a thirty year old air hostess called Chelsea or Delores, sipping pina colada and listening to The Bay City Rollers on his i-phone.
ReplyDeleteI share your sentiments, and I'm younger than you, so take heart.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that I should come across Jimmy Carter's 'general malaise' speech twice in one day. The other was in an excerpt from Dr Frank Luntz's book, Words That Work that rightly points out that the former peanut farmer didn't use the word 'malaise' even once in his speech.
I appreciate everyone's comments and I apologize (British, apologise) for not responding to them individually. I shall attempt to do so now.
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush (1), all those guys start to age badly after a while - Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck, Tom Jones, Leonardo DiCaprio, even Channing Tatum, all of them are eventually succeeded by someone younger and more attractive. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Snowbrush (2), I can tolerate cats but I am not overly drawn to most of them. My oldest son's family cat, Gracie, is a love.
Emma Springfield, I am not really looking for a "break" or a "breather" as I am still blogging more or less regularly. It's just that instead of three times a week it is now about once a week or so. I'm still on a schedule of sorts, just a slower one.
Elephant's Child, you have been one of my most faithful readers for a long time now.
All Consuming, I'm glad you're glad I just couldn't shut up. And yes, Hahahahaha.
Snowbrush (3), Is it considered good form for one commenter to grovel before another in a third party's blog?
Yorkshire Pudding, I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam. I also left a comment on Adrian's last post that never appeared. Graham Edwards of New Zealand and the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland is also trying to discover what has become of Adrian.
Shooting Parrots, I never knew that President Carter never said the words "general malaise" until now. I checked it out, and you are right! It reminds me that Humphrey Bogart never said, "Play it again, Sam" in Casablanca either. There's a lesson for us all in there somewhere.
“Snowbrush (1), all those guys start to age badly after a while…”
ReplyDeleteThe women too, many of whom destroy what might have been a dignified old age by having surgeries that leaving them looking as if they had been in a bad car accident. Joan Rivers and Linda Evans immediately come to mind. I can but wonder how they felt about how they looked after all those surgeries. Another mistake that women make even when young are Botox injections that leaves their lips so fat that they look as if they had been hit in the mouth. Men, at least, are usually spared many such desperate measures.
“Snowbrush (2), I can tolerate cats but I am not overly drawn to most of them.”
I’ve wondered about that. It does seem that it’s easier to get what is, for human purposes, a “good dog” as opposed to a “good cat.” The number one thing that makes for “good cats” is an enormous amount of loving attention when they’re still very young because if they don’t get it, there’s nothing that can be done later to overcome the deficiency. All of our cats were in “foster homes” before we got them, and, judging by how loving they are and what I’ve read about such things, I owe a deep depth of gratitude to their “foster parents.” I can’t imagine how hard it must be to take cats home, spend many, many hours caring for them, falling in love with them, and then giving them up. Yet, if I didn’t have cats, that’s exactly what I would do.
“Snowbrush (3), Is it considered good form for one commenter to grovel before another in a third party's blog?”
I’ m flattered by your implication that you consider me an authority whom you can turn to when you don’t know the answer to questions about Internet social relationships. I can but say that it is NOT good form, but that All Consuming demands that I humiliate myself in this way, and that I am delighted to do whatever she demands no matter how costly or embarrassing. Ours has long been what you might call a sick relationship, and I, at least, have no desire to be cured, it being preferable to die young of some ailments than to live to a ripe old age in a state of perfect health and attractiveness.
I know how you feel! I read this post ages ago and have only just got around to making my scintillating observation.
ReplyDeleteGraham Edwards in the Outer Hebrides, perhaps it is just that you live in such a remote place that blogmail takes a long time to get there. Or perhaps time expands to fill a vacuum? After all, it was only ten days ago that I composed this post, not during the Cenezoic period. You have hit upon something I dislike about people's expectations in Blogworld, and that is the unfortunate perception that if it ain't happenin' NOW it ain't happenin'.
ReplyDeleteI accept your chastisement on my metaphorical chin like a man. You are absolutely correct Bob. However the Outer Hebrides may be remote but life is just as full and busy here as anywhere it's just that we spend less time in traffic jams.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping later today to have news of Adrian.
“I accept your chastisement”
ReplyDeleteTime is but a working construct, and I’ve always believed that it takes a man or woman of depth, wisdom, and creativity to occasionally get misplaced—if not utterly discombobulated—within the confines of that construct.
Even when you have "nothing" to say, you still seem to have something to say. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHey there, Kristen!. I miss reading your posts. Surely you still have something to say as well.
ReplyDelete