Q & A

Some events have transpired over the last few weeks which require that I think up and produce an "About Me" section for this site. I'm sure that regular readers of Syntax of Things have gathered enough from my random ramblings that they could probably do a pretty detailed FBI profile if necessary. While I tend to stay on the safe side of my biography, I think there are a few details that might fill in the gaps while still leaving me free to walk the streets of San Diego a relative unknown.

So in the fashion of many other bloggers, I've decided to interview myself:

Q: What's your story?
A: Well, I'm told that I'm a typical Scorpio, though I wouldn't know. What I do know is that I'm a Southerner living out West, San Diego, California. I've been out here six years. I really like this city, but unlike most people who are interviewed about San Diego, I'm not a fan of the weather. I miss rain and thunderstorms. Sun all of the time tends to make me irritable.

What else? I was born with the evil alcoholism gene, so five years ago I quit drinking. Miss it nearly every day.

Other than that, I watch too much baseball and spend a lot of time with books. Music is a third and nearly equal passion. All of these come out in the blog.

Q: Do you miss anything about the South?
A: The food. Try and find some good fried okra out here. That and afternoon thunderstorms.

Q: Any favorite writers?
A: Ugh, I hate that question. I could list fifty without taking a breath, but I'll stop at five. Kerouac, Denis Johnson, Faulkner, Melville, and, um, Raymond Carver. That's the short list. Moby Dick is my favorite novel.

Q: How about bands?
A: Damn. Depends on what day you ask. I guess REM has been a favorite the longest. Wilco is probably tops right now.

Q: Care to mention a favorite movie?
A: Toto the Hero.

Q: So what's the story of your blog? Why do you do it?
A: You know, I ask myself that question every time I sit in front of a blank template, especially on those days when nothing is clicking, when at best I have a link to a story about Britney receiving "a priceless 12th century Kabbalah book to celebrate her engagement to dancer Kevin Federline" from Madonna. While the world is rich in blogging material, the content editor in me has to decide if I even care enough. Then I remember exactly why I started SoT.

For too long, my wife, Elaine, suffered on a daily basis from my hyper-critical jabs at everything. Nothing was sacred, and some of the things which she holds dear were often at the center of my dart throwing. Madonna, for instance. I don't know what it is about her, but I would rather be subjected to a Tom Cruise movie marathon than listen to a single Madonna song. When one would come on the radio as we would be driving to dinner, I would have to do everything in my limited self-controlling abilities to not toss out some sort of invective. Madonna means a lot to my wife, so I finally figured that I had to do something to keep from exploding.

Q: So why not an anti-Madonna site?
A: Don't think that I didn't consider it. Seriously, though, I'd been reading blogs for a while. I think it started with largehearted boy and my friend Geoff's Ducksnorts. One day, I realized that this could be the medium of release. I would be able to unleash the demons within, criticize the crap I loathed, and my marriage might be better for it. Speaking of crap, I came up with the tagline before the blog title.

Q: When was that?
A: March of 2003. I started out on Blogger. I didn't really know what the blog would be about other than a place of release, so I just started filling in days with posts on subjects that interested me. I also began reading more and more blogs, quickly finding some of the litblogs and other well-written and highly entertaining site.

Q: I notice that there was a pretty long hiatus. In fact, you were absent for most of the Summer and Fall of last year.
A: Work. Real life. I kept trying to get back to it, but couldn't find a way to balance workloads. Finally, last November, I just dove back in. I decided that I would give it one more go and see what would happen. It stuck this time.

Q: How would you best describe your blog now?
A: Time-consuming. But I enjoy it. I need the distraction. Without drink, I've needed something to help me relieve stress. I don't get much exercise and if left up to me would rarely if ever get off of my couch. This is pretty much a commitment I have to myself.

Q: Any future plans for SoT?
A: I'd eventually like to franchise...just kidding. I think I'm just going to keep on trying to improve on the medium. I do use it as a sorta WD40 for the writing. I spent too many years in a rut. Writing would come, but often in unreadable spurts. The blog has helped. I'm hoping that it will help to pull that novel out of me. Either that or therapy.

Q: Parting shot?
A: Not really. The Braves game is on.

Comments

[Booze]

i can vouch for what was said. all of the above is entirely accurate. However, there was no mention of what a compassionate, intellegent and loving person he is. I'm very lucky we have each other in our lives.