Skeletons in closets
Ghosts underneath the bed
They hide out in pictures
And words better left unsaid
They hang around like perfume
And haunt me like an ancient melody
When I’m not chasing demons,
There’s demons chasing me
- Kenny Chesney, Demons
Today marks nine years that I’ve been blogging, first at The People’s Republic of Seabrook and now here at WWJD. Yes, things have come a long ways since my day as a contractor at Enron, teaching myself HTML because there was no work for me to do (but I still needed to look busy). I’ve related the story far too many time, so I’ll spare y’all the details, but what I started just before 9.11 bears not even the slightest resemblance to what you see on your computer’s screen now. I hope I make a bit more sense than I did then, and I certainly hope that my writing has improved over the past nine years.
I’ve generally tried, with varying degrees of (something not at all resembling) success to keep my personal life separate from my blog. Being an exceedingly flawed and fallible human being, that line has remained varying degrees of blurry over the years. There have been times when I’ve felt the need to use my writing as therapy. The past nine years has seen the end of my second marriage, a move cross-country, something approaching a complete meltdown, the death of perhaps the most powerful relationship experience I’ve had, the (not really so tragic) implosion of my career, and a diagnosis of ADD. There have been a few other things here and there, but I think that covers most of the “highlights”. My writing has been the one constant in my life through all of this, so when you find yourself wondering why I cling to this so tenaciously…well, there you have it. Like all of us, I’ve changed a lot over the past nine years. I’ve burned more bridges and caused more pain than I would have liked, and I’ve been on the receiving end of more than my share of heartache. Still, I continue to draw breath and every day is a new day. Yes, I’m a pretty lucky boy.
I’ve been fortunate along the way to attract some first-class (and, as this is unfortunately still a non-profit, completely gratis) assistance from some first-class people. To Brian Kane, James Bow, and David Flanders, I owe a debt of gratitude I could never begin to repay. Brian was responsible for initially switching TPRS over to Movable Type (hand-coding in HTML got old VERY quickly), and James has guided TPRS and now WWJD through numerous upgrades. David was kind enough to handle the graphics. The sad reality is that I’m a writer. Period. The technical and creative aspect of setting up and maintaining a weblog frankly escapes me, but thanks to this triumvirate, I haven’t had to worry about it. I know that without them I’d still be hand-coding this monstrosity in HTML…the technological equivalent of stone tablets. I’ve long since forgotten how three talented and capable people, all of whom are three time zones away, came into my life, but I’m very glad they did. This train would never have left the station without them.
It’s been said that all good things must eventually come to an end. (Odd that no one says anything about the longevity of bad things, isn’t it?) I don’t know how long I’ll continue doing this, but the only rule I’ve operated under for the past nine years is that I’ll keep doing it as long as it’s fun and as long as I have something to say. I’m still having fun, and I still have a LOT to get off my chest. I can’t say how long people will want to continue reading my rants, but I remain flattered that people continue to pay attention. It’s not that I have a cast of thousands as a devoted reader base, but could it be that I’m doing something right??
Like each one of us, I have no idea what the future holds, and I can’t change the past. All I have is this moment. Right here. Right now. With any luck, I’ll get through this moment better and more successfully (and with less collateral damage) than I did the last one. If I can manage that, I think I’ll be in pretty good shape. I wish you luck in that quest as well…and thanks for coming along for the ride.
