OK so this is my last post ever. I want to personally thank those of you who reached out in the last month or so via email- both of you. I can see where some of my posts in the last month seemed a little a maudlin but I was kind of pulling a goth move. Whatever- I just wanted to personally thank the two of you- your emails were very kind.
So... last post ever... Here we go... If you look at that graph above, it doesn't represent my total weight loss, because I didn't find the graphing program until I had already lost 6 pounds. In July, 2009, I weighed 201 pounds. Today I way 181. How did I do it? One sentence:
"Burn more calories then you consume."
What is so complicated about this sentence? Why do Americans spend billions of dollars on what is termed the "diet industry." Three reasons:
1. People are literally too stupid to figure out the above sentence and how it relates to their lives.
2. People are too weak willed to burn more calories then they consume.
3. People don't mind being fat.
In fact, there are thousands of "diet blogs," people journaling about their diet experiences ("I ate a box of Twinkies today- mooaaannn.") or handing out advice. Now, I'm someone who has successfully achieved my diet goal, Does this mean I'm going to spend the next five years of my life writing about it everyday? Telling other people how I did it? Telling other people how THEY can do it? Um, no- because that would be pathetic.
And that is pretty much how I feel about music blogs. Ideally, music bloggers are people who care more about music then regular folks, they have ideas and opinions about music, they spend a lot of time thinking about music etc. etc. etc. I guess I'm one of those people, even though I never felt like it. But why do I need to share those opinions in public, in writing, on a blog? Isn't that exactly the same as a once fat person, now skinny, who starts a weight loss blog to share his or her insight? Or is it more like the fat person who can't lose the weight, writing about their struggles. Music blogging is probably a little bit of both.
Last month a local journalist wrote me about a post of mine where I'd mentioned his writing. Here's what he said:
On the other hand, you’ve clearly put some thought into the validity of writing about music, but don’t seem to be directing the magnifying glass upon yourself when you say things like “There’s nothing in this world that makes me sad like reading people write about music.” You obviously have other obligations, so why do you do it? It’s a double standard.Now, I had already planned all this out before this correspondence, so it's not like it had a direct impact on what I was doing, but, you know, he's correct. Why do I? I think the correct answer is... that I should stop doing it (writing about music.) Whether bloggers want to admit it or not, blogging is an attempt to gain attention from others. While I don't regret what I wrote in the past, and indeed, am quite happy with what's going on in my life vis a vis music (even though I can't discuss it.) I really can't think of a single reason that I should continue sharing my opinions about anything with the world. The world doesn't need it, I don't need it.
Therefore, I am making this conscious decision to still my own voice. I thank ALL of my readers over the last three years. Before I shut off my Sitemeter I had more then half a million visits to this blog. I met a lot of interesting people who probably never would have given me the time of day if it wasn't for this blog. I guarentee all of you that I learned more from writing this blog then anyone learned from reading it.
My email address for this blog (catdirtecords (@) yahoo (dot) com) will remain active, and in deference to opinion I am going to leave the blog itself up for the time being. I welcome private correspondence and will continue to participate in local music by attending shows.
One final note, I turned the comments back on, because that is part of what this blog was.
GOODBYE!!!! Thanks for reading.
