Random end of year musing

It's the end of another year and I have still tried to keep up with this blog. Granted, it's taken a bit of a hit lately as I've seemingly not had the desire to write here at the same times I've actually had the time to do so (that sounds redundant, doesn't it?). I actually have a blog post that I set aside back in October on something that struck my fancy but it is still sitting in my inbox doing nobody any good at this point. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it up and post it here soon. Fingers crossed, anyway...

For those who actually do read this blog, I should like to point out that I have not abandoned writing altogether at the end of this year. Indeed, I have actually done a fair amount of writing lately, just not here. But for the year (up until the end of October or so), I averaged at least a couple of posts between here and my professional blog - which is kept completely separate from  here for my own reasons. At the end of October, I was able to really kick onto paper the beginning of what I hope to be a decent book idea that I've been pushing around in my head, seeking the best way to open the story. It finally hit me and I was able to finally get it onto paper (thanks, in part, to a wonderful writing class I took around the same time). And when work and home life affords me the opportunity, I take a bit of time to add more to the story. The ideas still bounce around a great deal in my mind but the biggest key is getting them onto paper and, for that, I am most pleased with the progress. It's slow but it's a beginning. Each step simply takes me closer to the end of the story - or at least a decent stopping point.

I will try not to neglect this blog quite so much but we'll see how things progress. The one thing in its favor is my ADD tendencies to switch focus on different subjects at the drop of a hat - so switching gears from book to professional to personal blog will hopefully not be such a challenge. And, let's face it, the only way to ensure that I can improve my writing skills is to continue to use them. So hopefully there will be more here to say in the upcoming year.

I set no goals publicly, though. I have my own thoughts on what I hope to accomplish but I have to accept that life will throw things in the way and I cannot account for them so public goals will simply be subsumed to my personal goals in this regard. Hopefully I will be successful at them. Fingers crossed.

New Year Post - late, as usual

I suppose, depending upon your point of view, we are either quickly approaching the Mayan apocalypse or it's a new year and new resolutions. A time for reflection or a time for resolutions. Or, in my case, a time for both reflection and resolution as well as writing up a new blog entry - a task with which I've been seemingly lax as of late. I average may a post or two a month lately, and sometimes even that is a bit of a stretch. It's not that I lack for any number of topics upon which to write, more often it is the time and the desire to do so (at the same time).


However, part of it has also been some reflection on my part about the purpose of this blog. Unfortunately (or even fortunately, depending upon one's point of view), I have a variety of interests and that means that many of my posts are all across the board in terms of subject matter. Politics, history, China, philosophy, technology, social commentary, international relations, science and anything else in between that happens to catch my eye/ear is potential fodder. But that seems to clog up this blog and render it interesting to only a few people at any given time. To make it worse, I would not classify myself as an expert in any given matter. Instead, I have some knowledge on a great number of subjects that allows me to sometimes see things through a very different perspective than others but one that can occasionally be moot to the subject itself.


So I've been pondering if perhaps I should be more focused in this blog - or to perhaps create an entirely new blog or series of blogs to cover each of my varied interests. The problem with that is that I will likely update those even less frequently than I update this one and that would make me into a rather poor (or, in my case, poorer) blogger. Besides, I already blog occasionally on the technical forum LessThanDot (disclaimer, I am one of the owners of that site) though I've not done anything there in a while (though I have one or two that I am in the midst of putting down on paper in order to post), either. And while that should handle at least one of my passions (technology), I can't go looking for others to do the rest of my various ideas (well, ok, I could do guest posts on SeeingRedInChina - the only blog I read with any real regularity and the best China-related blog in my very humble opinion) so I wonder if anyone can offer suggestions or ideas on how I should approach this conundrum.


And thus ends my reflection for now. As for resolution, writing more is at the top of the list and I guess this post is a good start. So now my new year (well, ok a little over two weeks into it) is off to its proper start and hopefully will continue to roll on at a good clip.

Oh, and just noticed that this is my 100th blog post. Woohoo! Over the course of the last 2 1/2 years I've managed 100 posts. I'm not going to do the math average for that number since I'm pretty sure it's pathetic. But that's what resolutions are for!  :-)

Everyone has an opinion

...but not everyone can offer valid proof and evidence to support their opinions. Or the proof they do offer is of dubious origin, lies or urban legends among other things. And normally this is not a problem as everyone should have the right to openly express their opinions in my opinion. Heck, I know I have ideas and opinions that many other people cannot necessarily understand or agree with but the joy of being able to express them is rare in many parts of the world and should be appreciated by those who have that ability.

In some ways, that is why I have this blog. It offers me an opportunity to express ideas and opinions to a wide range of people who then have the option to read and either agree, disagree or even argue with me over them. However, to paraphrase one of my favorite quotes regarding the internet - well, I saw it on the internet so it *must* be true! That statement is very apropos when discussing blogs in particular as it is usually rather difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to what you read online. In my own case, I tend to read various news sources to get my news - regional, national and international as well as from varying political angles. The great majority of those news sites are reputable (if not always deliberately propagandistic as in the case of certain sources from countries with less than free media) and there is a clear distinction between news and editorial commentary. And I do read the editorial commentary but at least I have the knowledge to distinguish facts from opinions.

I read very little in the way of blogs when it comes to facts. There are a few I read and most of those have very deliberate political opinions but I read them for what they are - opinions with occasional facts thrown in. I have one favorite that I have mentioned here before - Seeing Red in China - by an American living in China who does the best of any I have yet come across at explaining life in everyday China, without undue praise or criticism, to people who may otherwise never get to experience it. But it is still a blog with the opinions of a single individual and his experiences.

I was recently treated to the antithesis of that blog by another China-related blogger posting ideas that minimized responsibility for Mao for things that happened during his time in power. Against my better judgment, I responded asking for more info to support the writer's hypothesis and instead received the sort of conspiracy theory spouting that is, in my experience, far more common to blog writers who can write whatever they want without any sort of vetting prior to publication as would take place at more reputable news media or research outlets. In the end, I stopped responding as it was simply generating troll-like responses from others on the blog and, quite frankly, I have much less patience for that than I have when I was younger. While I was frustrated by the negative power of such ideas, not to mention the power of the internet to spread such bad ideas with no proof to support them, it did serve to remind me that I am still fairly lucky to not be inundated with such tripe and that hopefully the good will still outweigh the bad when it comes to the power of ideas and the internet.

Blog Design Change

While listening to music I haven't heard in a while on Spotify (I absolutely love this!), I decided to make some changes to my blog. Well, more precisely, a simple background change since that is a clicky-clicky change and I'm too lazy at the moment to do anything more significant. But I like this one - lots of books in the background to suit my nerdy personality. I may go make some layout changes later but depends on how I feel. With this music, though, I may feel very inclined to do a bit more. Music is one of my passions (listening, not making, since I have no talent in that arena whatsoever) and I associate a great deal to music. It also serves as my muse in many instances - so maybe I'll feel more focused on that in the near future.

More China-related thoughts

I've actually had a lot of things I wanted to write about over the course of the last month or so but I can't seem to find the time. I think my prioritization could use a bit of help sometimes but I guess that is something I'll just have to work on.

I have become much more enthralled with one of my original passions recently - China and Chinese (language). My own language skills have been languishing at various levels of disuse in recent years as Mini-Me only uses it when speaking to his grandparents (when they're here) and my better half has spent much of her time trying to take care of the various things as they pertain to daily living rather than trying to help me expand my knowledge. Of course, this makes it more incumbent upon me to try to find the time to do so on my own but it's hard to sometimes find that motivation after a long day at work and then trying to take care of other things at night where I'm too tired to do much.

I have come across some very good blogs and have discovered that there is a great deal more China-related material on the net than was there even a few years ago. Reading through many of those blogs has helped to rekindle my passion for the subject and I hope to perhaps be able to add in my own studies and thoughts on various lessons as I can. In the meantime, I'll list here some of my favorites in case others are also interested.

The one that really brought me back into the fold was one written by an American named Tom living in China (actually, many of these blogs are written by foreigners in China) who provides an open-minded point of view on things in the country that he sees or encounters - SeeingRedInChina. I have been very impressed with his blog and even went back to read it from the very beginning when I first found it.

Others that I found through him were Tim Corbin who has his own viewpoints that I find interesting - plus he's living in my wife's hometown. HaoHaoReport is a site that has a compilation of various news stories that relate to all things Chinese and has helped me to find a number of other China-related sites as well as more than the run-of-the-mill news stories that might be found in Western papers.

And my first place to find Chinese language info is ChineseHacks which is how I first found some of the information I relayed in my previous post. There are others that I have also come across via the ChinaBlogNetwork and I hope to go through more of them as time permits.

And truly, therein lies my biggest problem - time. With a full-time job and a family - not to mention finally getting started with the book idea I've had in my head for a while - time is not something I currently possess a great deal of (yes, I know I just ended that sentence with a preposition but I'm too tired to consider it at the moment). But perhaps this will be a good method to move into a new direction - or at least a more familiar and preferred direction.

Random Thoughts

Just dawned on me I had a few other things upon which I wanted to write.  Figures that it would happen after I had already written a mostly useless blog entry already today.  *sigh*

I don't normally follow a lot of blogs.  I obviously pay attention to those from LessThanDot (from a variety of authors - all of whom are very good at what they do and from whom I learn a great deal) and then a few others of friends or the occasional political blog (there is one I still "follow" but I won't list it here because it has become nothing more than a hyper-partisan attack blog from the left - I'll be delisting it soon from my follow list).  However, I have recently come across one blog that actually went back to read from the very beginning.  http://seeingredinchina.wordpress.com/  is written by a Westerner (I'm pretty sure he's American) who is living in China and he offers his experiences there to allow his readers a different view of a nation and people that most Americans (Westerners) may never otherwise see.  I have very much enjoyed reading his point of view because he strives to avoid the common stereotypes of China and instead offers a more nuanced view of the country and its people.  From my own experiences in China, I can easily see the author's point of view and appreciate the ability of someone to see beyond the stereotypes.  It is very enlightening and I highly recommend this blog as an opportunity to learn more about China beyond the news stories that offer little more than generalized stories about the nation and its people.

Over the last couple of days, I've finished two books.  The first was a very positive biography of the Marquis de Lafayette - the hero of the American Revolution.  That is a part of history to which I had heretofore not given a lot of attention and his story has now made me curious to do more learning on that subject.  The second book I found to be very inspiring and is a highly recommended read for those who want a little perspective on their lives.  The Story of My Life by Farah Ahmedi is a wonderful autobiography of a young Afghan girl and the struggles she has gone through - and she is only 17 at the time of the book's publication.  Losing her foot at age 7 as the result of a land mine in her native Afghanistan, she weaves a powerful tale of struggle against incredible odds to not only survive but to move forward with her life.  She talks about her escape from Afghanistan to Pakistan and thence to the United States of America.  Her struggle to deal with her tragic circumstances is both poignant and heart-warming and a reminder of the strength and fragility that we all possess.  The fact that she has triumphed as best she can and yet shares her continued concerns for her future life gives an insight that is rarely found in most stories.  A quick Google search after I finished the book shows that she continues to succeed as she goes to college and presumably has been able to lead a "normal" life that would otherwise have been unavailable to her.  Her story will certainly make me pause and reconsider  the next time I have a bad day at the office or at home.