Well I’ve been asked to write my first “BLOG” for the new web site, and I’m still not sure why they asked me to do this, as I didn’t even know what the word “Blog” actually meant. I had imagined it some witty acronym for a profoundly succinct method of recording ones thoughts and experiences to the web, to be viewed by interested parties, expanding the knowledge of the chosen subject.
How wrong I was, after some thoroughly extensive investigative work on Google ……for at least 3 minutes, it seems that it’s just a techy nerd lazy arsed pronunciation of the word “web log”!
They suggested I just should write like I speak. Which I think is actually code for, they find my grumpy, cynical and sarcastic take on life…… “Entertaining”. They commented that I should adopt this writing style, documenting my experiences and my thoughts on Architecture and the design process as I apply it in my day-to-day life in the “Trade”. They also stated that I was more than qualified, as I had lectured on these subjects at a tertiary level in the past, while at the same time I was thinking, how I was going to write anything more than 50 words that anyone would actually want to read!
Yes, I had lectured in days gone by, passing on my learned knowledge on this subject to those eager young minds, but was that really my hand on heart design philosophy? Or just some pastiche presentation of an ancient syllabus written by some long forgotten pseudo-creative types, which had no more relevance in today’s world of creating and establishing good design practices, than Donald Trump is to current World Peace! I needed to question why I would do this?
Firstly I also have to admit, I’m not one who spends much of my day on Facebook, or Twitter or Snap Chat or Instagram or any other program I don’t really rate as one of the essentials to life. I don’t think that what I just had for lunch (no matter how healthy I now feel) or what type of coffee I have just chosen (even with the “amazeballs” photo I took of the face of the “Messiah” in the crema), or that “little Johnny” is wetting his pants over the latest “finger spinner” YouTube video going viral around the world (although I admit “Charlie bit me” was quite funny). None of this I believe is actually really information worthy to report, or of any real informative value to anyone but the person who actually posted it, apart from the casual entertainment value and 15 seconds of fame for the poster. So that also got me thinking - Is this “Blogging” thing going to be a really healthy form of self-expression for me that people will really find both interesting and informative, rather than just an inward focused self rewarding exercise. Which by the way is called something entirely different and on “average”, takes two minutes and fifty three seconds, (look it up!).
But with my over-critical, cynical attitude to this current multimedia phenomenon, all recorded and caught in high-def, computer-enhanced, colour corrected, manufactured reality, I guess you knew I was not going to be from the millennial generation. I am proud to be the forgotten generation, Generation X or “GenX” for those Dudes and Dudettes among us!
I have just been instructed that this is a “BLOG” not a “NOVEL”, (told you I’m guessing), so I’ll sign off now, to think about what the hell I going to write about next time and how to tame the prolific digital diarrhea that has poured from my finger tips, into more digestible and precise bytes.
Remember …….Art for living - Grant