WonL
The random thoughts of an architect-turned- lawyer from the deep south living in Washington, DC...
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Life After Blogging - Samer
[Ed. note: Today's post is the second in a Life After Blogging series. (Be sure to check out the fascinating discussion in the comments to that intro post.)I met Samer through his old website four-ish years ago. For those of you who do not know the story of how we met, you should read it. Or, better yet, just have a few drinks with us and chances are the conversation will turn to our serendipitous meeting over Iceland. I really met Samer through his photography, became his friend, and later found out about his blog. At that time, I didn't even know what a blog was. He would say things like "I should take you to a DC Blogger meet up" and I would respond with "what? There are more of you?"
Samer didn't write about just one thing, he wrote on an array of topics from his frequent travels to Europe or the west coast to latest food preparation techniques to technology. In essence, Samer wrote about everything that encompasses him as a person. He was good at it. He wrote with a creative passion most of us don't even begin to touch. Sadly, when life came at Samer with full force, a wall of writers block was erected that eventually led to him walking away. Luckily, Samer and I have a strong friendship offline, so I still get to hear about his life firsthand over a few beers and chicken wings. Although, I sorely miss his photography and his written elaborations. Samer, my dear, all yours...]
What was the name of your blog?
samer/thoughts. I also had a completely useless photoblog: samer/pictures.
How long did you blog? How long since you left blogging?
May 2003 until May 2005, give or take a post. I have one post in July 2005, when I thought I would return, but I've not posted since.
How did you leave blogging?
Quietly and abruptly. I'd neither meant to leave nor did I want a huge exit when I realized I wasn't coming back. I posted with less and less frequency, until I posted a final entry in May 2005. I didn't expect it to be the final entry (it wasn't, as I posted a very weak attempt to come back in July).
Why did you leave blogging?
I posted an entry on May 1, 2005, lamenting the departure and closing of my unit at work. It had been a difficult time from November until then. The daily travails, not knowing what was going to happen to my job, knowing that my friends were likely to leave the area. It was tumultuous, and for various reasons, I couldn't really write about it on my blog.
I was coming home from work mentally exhausted. I didn't have the energy to sit down and write. And when I did, I just didn't feel like writing about drivel, which is mostly what I'd been writing for a while. It was hollow and empty and didn't reflect my pessimistic and downtrodden mood. Worst of all, it was a pale imitation of how I used to write, with, I liked to think, passion and love and lust.
When I wrote that "last" post, I figured I'd be back to writing soon. But it didn't come. Even the actual last post, that July about Google
Moon, was trite and a rehash of what so many others had already blogged that day. There really was no point in doing it, anymore.
I wasn't writing about me, I wasn't even comfortable writing about me, anymore. I was unoriginal, posting technology related items, hyping new Mac products and so forth. Others do it, and they do it better. The things that made my writing good to begin with were either missing from my life (like loves lost and won -- lost mostly, I'm all about the angst), or were things I couldn't write about (work related).
How do you think you and your blog are remembered?
Apparently quite fondly, as I keep getting asked when I'm going to blog again.
What is the most important thing you got out of or took away from blogging?
I'd have to say it was having the outlet to write on a semi-regular basis.
Do you miss it?
Every now and again I have something I'd like to write and get out of my system. I have other places where I can do that, these days, and so I wouldn't quite say I miss it enough to start up again.
Would you change anything?
The layout. What I wrote about. The back end software. All of it, really. I don't have the time to do that, and that's probably part of
why I don't take it up again.
Name a post or three that you really liked, and still like when you look
back on it.
My last post is right up there. I just read it again for this
"interview" and it choked me up. Still.
My Paper Chef entry, "Eggplant Inquisition", is still a favorite. It's silly, fun, well written, well photographed and shows off my "talent" in the kitchen. What more could one want?
Lastly, I really like this post about despair and friendship.
[Ed. note: Thanks Samer! (I'm still holding on to hope of your return.) Also check out the first in the series: A_Unique_Alias]