Debating

Random thought:

I've been thinking about ending this little adventure. Not that I don't have a ton of things to say, still, but I'm not certain this is the right venue. I started blogging on a whim, just to see what would happen. I found a group of intelligent, articulate people discussing issues with genuine passion, people whose diverse viewpoints almost simulated the atmosphere of some of my law school classes, as did the generally respectful though sometimes heated conversation. I found connections with people across the country, who I'd love to get together with and discuss life over cocktails of your choice anytime you're out this direction, or I'm out your way.

But . . .

This debate is largely populated by nameless, faceless people who stop by for every reason under the sun - some quite weird, judging by the google search links. And as someone recently pointed out to me, if anyone in the nation has my first name, state, and a few key interests (read: law, theater), they can find this blog on a basic Google search inside of five minutes. A quick plug in of my name into some other common resources would give them my address and phone number. Taking the recent comment dust-up that's apparently caused EBuz to delete her blog as an example, it's a little disconcerting who some of these people might be.

There's also the oddness factor in new acquaintances: in getting to know someone, they'll now every opinion I have on about every subject under the sun inside of a few day's worth of reading (yep, I'm that verbose). But I'll know nothing of them. It's made conversations oddly one-sided, as you might imagine. To get a little personal, I haven't really dated since the divorce, and I'm not too sure how that would play out in such a dynamic if I should ever want to start. I think it would be weird at best, a disaster at worst. And I've mentioned the employment issue earlier: In my current position, it's inevitable that at some point I'll be called into court as a corporate rep. If opposing counsel is worth anything, they'll have the blog as fodder. What a great tool for cross. If I ever want to try something new or go back to the courtroom, well, here's a handy interview outline for you. . .

There's also the time issue. I've got tons of opinions, some of which are based on hard research and others which are more off-the-cuff, knee-jerk reactions. Blogging is a great tool to force you to think about what you're saying, back it up properly, and work to find out the truth before you put it all out online and make a complete ass of yourself in front of, oh, anybody on the entire planet who cares to stop by. I try to be fairly scrupulous in ensuring that the facts behind what I say are accurate, if for no other reason than a healthy aversion to looking like a complete moron. So, to put up a blog post, I must 1) find a current topic that's interesting to post on, if only to me; 2) think about it well enough to come up with an opinion (or "angle" to revive my undergraduate journalism coursework); 3) fact-check to ensure there's no catch that would eviscerate my argument; and 4) write the thing in at least some semblance of coherency and even-handedness. If I'd taken a job in journalism instead of using my undergrad degree as a springboard into law school, I'd actually get paid for doing this, and it wouldn't be a problem. But I didn't. So this is a very expensive little hobby, time-wise, as I'm doing it all on my own on top of a full-time job and basically full-time volunteer work in theater.

So I'm debating ending the thing. I'm going to take a little hiatus and decide. If I do call it quits, I think I've found a good way to do it: I have a certain abhorrence to destroying anything I've written - hence the trunk full of scribbles from grade school on up - but if I delete most of the template that should mean the blog is gone. The posts are still there, but basically inaccessible and eventually they'll find themselves off the radar of the caches.

Anyway, I'm going to take two weeks off to think on it, just in case anybody wondered where I'd gone. So, even though there's no way on earth I could actually take any time off my real job to go anywhere good like I did a couple of years ago(D*mn Missouri tort reform deadline. Why couldn't they just have made it effective immediately???), consider me on a virtual vacation.


(Isla Mujeres, May 2004, taken from my swing at an open-air beach bar at about noon. I set down the margarita first. Then I took a swim and lay in the sun, with a few more fruity drink things. Later, I went shopping and bought some gorgeous silver jewelry, took a brief siesta, then went out to an incredible dinner, had a waiter give me flowers, and danced with some friends from Colorado to a live salsa band until about 3 am. I miss vacation. . . . )