Elayne Riggs' Journal (for Leah)

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

On a 'Versary

So, like I said in my previous post, today marks the ninth blogiversary of Pen-Elayne on the Web. I've long since given up trying to boost traffic or increase my posting rate - every time I try to make plans, life happens. But I'm sure some of you are still out there, even if "you" are mostly close friends and relatives.

I think I'm in a slightly better place than I was when Pen-Elayne began. I love my job, for one, even though it (combined with my commute) takes up so much time that I don't often have the wherewithal to blog. Robin and I are still blissful as newlyweds almost 13 years into our marriage, and the kitties are still pretty healthy (Amy's almost 13½, and Datsa's going on 19 next month!). We love where we live, except for a bit of icy madness in the winters, and our landlord is attentive and friendly. I've been through a couple of health scares and am much more conscientious of what happens with my body than I've ever been, with a very positive check-up the last time my doctor ran the usual tests.

Since this blog started I've lost my Dad, my uncle and a couple best friends; I've met then lost touch with a number of local political bloggers; I've gone from strictly PC desktop to Mac laptop, from feature phone to smartphone, and I still feel like technology is passing me by, at least financially. Robin's seen a few highs and lows in his career, but his talent and industry reputation remain justifiably high and we're always optimistic.

I could wish for more mental energy to be more creative. I write a lot for work now, which is nice, but I miss writing for fun, just for me. This blog has been instrumental in at least getting me to sit down and type out new content every day, albeit only a photo or a Silly Site. I'd like to promise I'll redouble my efforts and try to do mini-blogarounds, or even just a focused post here and there on the cultural and political events of the day, but I know myself better than that. Nowadays when given a choice, I often gravitate towards reading and game-playing, consuming rather than producing. I've also seen interest in blogs fade as social networks come to the fore. But hey, I'm still interested. I hope you are too, as I plan on this blog being around for however long the software lasts. Thank you again for reading.

1 comments:

Jill said...

It's really a question of for whom you blog. I don't think people like us can ever express ourselves in 140 characters. The funny thing is that as more and more bloggers have abandoned the medium, my traffic has increased. A lot of the crap has gone away and there are some damn good bloggers out there. Why do we continue to do it? For the same reason we used to collate hand-pasted-up zines...because for us writing is like breathing.