Secrecy in skill-building

February 18, 2006


I’ve got a lot to say, but I’ve gagged myself about it. It’s rough – as you know, I thrive on spilling my innermost secrets onto your computer. Being without this release has left me a little bottled up. On the bright side, though, Kerrie found out about what I was thinking in person, and not because she read it on my site.

If I can be vague, I’d like to talk about learning a new craft. It’s not easy, but there’s nothing more fulfilling than realizing that you might be successful at something you had never considered before in your life. Imagine a hobby of yours – boating, or skiing, or playing the piano. Now imagine something comes along that forces you to hone your skills in one aspect of that hobby and realizing that you were pretty damned good at it.

That’s how I feel. A little surprised. A little more confident than I probably should be. But rather satisfied.

And that’s all I’m going to say about it. Sorry to keep you all in suspense. It could be nothing, or it could be something.

But don’t worry – if something happens, you’ll be the first to know.

Tags: Career, Writing |

1 Comment

The State of the Blog Address

February 17, 2006


Lately I’ve been feeling my blog has become a little less relevant – a little tired and boring, like I’m running out of ideas and I’m just blathering pointlessly. I know that I’ve discontinued the “Random Links” posts, as those are being sent over to Misc.Asst. (Visit Now! Join the Team!), but something else seems to be missing.

I think a lot of it is that I’ve come back to earth. I started the blog nearly a year ago for my own purposes – to get into the habit of writing daily and to hone whatever natural skills I might have. I didn’t expect people to read, or care, about what I had to say, so I was pretty loose in my definition of a blog. Many people have limits – a theme, of sorts – but me? If it’s on my mind, it’s on my blog.

I was surprised to find I had steady readership after a few months. I was more surprised to find my posts mentioned and referenced around the South Dakota “blogosphere.” It raised my spirits significantly. Now, not only was I writing for my own enjoyment, but for the enjoyment of others. I was suddenly a desired entity on the Internet. The world liked me, to steal a clichéd Oscars quote. They really liked me.

Now, my readers consist of my friends and fellow South Dakota bloggers. The latter have been either dropping off or keeping silent, and so I’ve lost a lot of my free publicity. Gone are the weekly “blog roundups” – both South Dakota BlogWatchMan and Todd Epp of SD Watch routinely presented my stuff to an audience that might not otherwise frequent the site – and gone are the search-worthy topical posts. The once frequent referrals from Dakota War College’s South Dakota blog aggregator have significantly dropped. This summer, my star rose. This winter, while resting on my laurels, it has slowly set.

When I thought about this I was a little melancholy. My sudden drop in relevancy couldn’t be healthy. I had worked my name into the South Dakota Blogosphere only to watch it gradually disappear. Then I came to a conclusion: it doesn’t matter. I didn’t start this blog to become famous. I enjoy the fact that people read it, and I enjoy the fact that I was a blip (even if only a small one) on the SDB’o’sphere, but now I’m content being the nicest looking, though not the easiest to read, site in South Dakota. Sure, I’ll never be featured on CBS News, but at least I might be featured in your NewsGator blog list.

I’m not worried about being relevant anymore. I’ll still try to stay away from politics (that genre’s tapped out by much more accomplished political bloggers) and I’ll still post incessantly about my iPod. I’ll continue to be South Dakota’s book and literature blogging representative. I’ll leave music to Scott Hudson, though I will pop up with additions of my own when I see fit. I will continue to constantly talk about the little things in my life that I think about way too much.

The links need to be updated, and the layout might need to be freshened up, but I’ll still be the same old Black Marks on Wood Pulp.

Simply put, I’ll continue doing what I do best: write about whatever. Whenever. For myself. Oh, and for you, if you like that kind of thing.

Tags: Blogging, Meta, Writing |

4 Comments

Some say stupidity, I say courage

February 14, 2006


I just read a great story on Newsvine by Thomas Beller, a man that jumped onto the subway tracks to save his iPod.

The subway doors were still open. I was listening to a Chopin prelude, and I was moving fast. I took the last few steps in a giant jump, sidestepping a man in a wheelchair who was shaking a cup of change. The sounds of piano filled my head. I was going to make the train.

Then I felt a brief tug on my ears, and silence. The iPod had fallen through a hole in my coat pocket and skidded across the platform like a bright white hockey puck. There was a sharp thwack as it slammed into the side of the subway car and fell into the crack between platform and subway, down to the tracks. The whole moment had the brisk finality of a goal in air hockey.

The horrors of that are unspeakable.

The rest of the article is on the New York Times website.

Tags: Random |

1 Comment

Capturing the essence

February 13, 2006


I know exactly what I want to say.

Penning it — or in my world, keying it — becomes the true difficulty. Forming the thoughts and feelings into patterns of letters and punctuation is what a writer does. I can attest that it’s not as easy as one might think. In fact, to do it well is quite laborious.

It’s not enough to simply throw words together in earnest. The writer also needs to craft the sentences. To write for a public. To stray from using those “quarter words” that make the writer seem very smart, but not completely literate, and instead shape paragraphs with different structures to keep the reader interested. Don’t play down to the crowd, but don’t go over their head.

Find that stalemate in the middle, where neither side can do any better and a draw is called. Try too hard, and you sound pre-packaged. Try too little, and you sound like Fox News, devoid of soul, lacking creativity.

Too many times I saddle up to the keyboard and draw blanks, rattling off a discouraging round of noisy, harmless misses. When I re-read my words, I realize I’ve been defeated – a gunfighter with his pistol dropped, staring up the barrel of a legend’s piece.

I realize there’s no way to become better unless I try, and I can’t try if I don’t stop comparing myself to my idols.

My dream in becoming an author is to “capture an essence,” to be the man that brings memories of your past back to you.

New Orleans’ passion and livelihood may be lost for a few years, but someone has already written chapters on its history. A history that reeks of garbage and beignets. A history that’s bloated from Bourbon, and passed out from it’s own self-indulgence.

The smell of the London Underground isn’t soon to be re-created as an eau du toilette, but some of the senses that have experienced it’s shifting, balance ruining rails have brought the experience to it’s readers, reminding all who love the subway of its horrible enjoyments: the people, the travel, the passion that is both found then lost as passengers board and depart.

Seattle smells like rain. We all know that. But describing the rain, the market, the ocean, is a gift that can rouse a sleeping reminiscence in all that fell in love with it’s streets. Yeah, the Needle is nice, but the city itself is the real landmark.

To write, to travel, to capture the essence; that’s the dream I’m providently inching towards. It could happen tomorrow. Or, it could happen thirty years from now, years after I’m expecting a break but with enough time to still use whatever skill I have. Regardless of the time frame, I’m ready right now. I’m prepared to make the jump.

I just need a ledge to grab for.

Tags: Writing |

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Going postal

February 11, 2006


“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

This phrase was a translation by Prof. George H. Palmer, Harvard University, from an ancient Greek work of Herodotus describing the Persian system of mounted postal carriers c. 500 B.C. The motto so engraved in all of our minds as the Postal Service motto is actually engraved on the outside of the James A. Farley Post Office building at 8th Avenue & 33rd Street in New York, New York.

Wait. Did you know that the Postal Service doesn’t have a motto? The well worn “neither rain, snow, etc.” phraise is just associated with the USPS because of its location on that building in New York. The Postal Service doesn’t subscribe to the notion of “no weather will stop us.”

Trust me. I now know first hand.

We’ve been lucky in the past to have great mail carriers, most specifically, a woman that delivered our mail every afternoon up until about a month ago. She was really very nice – one of those people that would wait for you to put a couple stamps on some mail, or would stop and pet the overanxious and ultra-excited dog in the front yard. She recognized us and delivered a little small talk with the mail whenever I would be outside. It was also nice to get our mail delivered around 3 p.m., especially since I’m a late sleeper when I’m on night hours, and (frankly) I never remember to get the mail until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon anyway.

For the past few months, though, I haven’t seen any part of our new mail carrier. He comes earlier, and even when I’m home he’s in and out without any notice.

I can’t blame him for this – his schedule is obviously different, and it’s been pretty cold out so I can’t imagine he’d be hanging around much. In fact, I had hardly even given this a passing thought.

Until today.

In our mail today, along side the catalogs and bills, was a little note: a copied half-page form note.

The note...

It read: Please help your mail carrier avoid slips and falls by clearing SNOW and ICE from sidewalks, steps and driveways used to get to your mailbox. If SNOW and ICE are not removed your mail will be held at the Post Office until the problem is solved. Thank You for your cooperation.

Are you kidding me?

I understand the concept of this note. There could be nothing more annoying than to have to wade through two feet of snow to get to a mailbox, or to have to navigate a treacherous sheet of ice just to deliver some poor sap’s Sports Illustrated magazine. That’s fine. I’ve got no problem with that.

This, though, was uncalled for.

Why, you ask? Well, we’ve got hardly any snow on the ground. And it’s not slick. At all.

Here are some pictures. First, you’ll notice our front yard. You can still see the front path under the snow. You can also see that it’s still snowing – in fact, it had been snowing off and on for the past 24 hours. I’m not going to shovel when it’s just going to snow again. It’s not that thick – in fact, I’d venture to say that if you can still see the lines of the sidewalk, you’ll be okay walking through it.

The house...

Speaking of walking, here’s a picture of me standing in the snow. It doesn’t look that deep, does it?

The feet...

I know it’s not that deep. I measured it. Here’s the ruler: 0.25 inches.

The ruler...

That’s it – a quarter inch of snow! A quarter inch of snow stopped this poor weather-burdened man from delivering our bills!

Finally, check this out – our neighbor has his walk shoveled already. Notice the difference between the shoveled walk and the snow addled walk. Hardly deep enough to hold our mail back, I’d say.

The walk...

Sorry if I sound upset, but I am. This guy’s pulling strings that he doesn’t have any business pulling.

Maybe our new mail carrier has something against our dog barking at him periodically when he comes up the walk. Maybe he’s been tenured; a 40-year veteran of the Postal Service that’s so cranky about his position that he’s got to take it out on the innocents. Personally, I don’t care. I don’t appreciate it when people take their job a little too seriously. He’s got this power to hold our mail, and he’s using it to get a clearer sidewalk – a sidewalk that was going to be cleared anyway. A sidewalk that wasn’t that snowy to begin with.

Part of me doesn’t want to clear the snow. I know, it’s the male ego in me that wants to stand on the front step as he comes down the walk and see if he’ll deliver the mail, to refuse to shovel the walk because this guy told me to. The other part of me, though, wants the mail. I’ve got a bunch of MP3’s coming from an old St. Cloud friend, and I don’t want this turd to keep a hold of them.

So, forever taking the high, yet passive aggressive, road, we followed up with this note:

...and the response!

Thank you for the note. We apologize – I understood we have 48 hours to clear snow. For your knowledge, this is the first time we didn’t clear the first day. Regards, Vilhauers.

See? We are the victims here.

In one day, the allure of a postal service carrier – the ability to buck up and take on the elements – has been shattered. I know now that some of them can be as temperamental as a tenured college professor, not caring one way or another how things get done as long as their personal needs are still being met.

Nothing can stop their delivery, eh? Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stay a courier?

Not as likely anymore, I guess.

Tags: Vilhauer |

7 Comments

IT’S ALIVE!

February 10, 2006


I just wanted to use my post today to do a little cross promotion:

Misc.Asst. is up and running, and it’s even getting constant submissions by a wide variety of people — my good friend Eric (on television and the Super Bowl), my wife Kerrie (on the “Wakin’ Bacon”), and other friends of BMOWP.

Our site host even had an article, but unfortunately I accidentally deleted it. Now I don’t know where it is.

Oh well.

Anyway, you should be visiting daily — even if the other posters don’t post anything, I’ll be there trying to keep it alive (while waiting for all of the other people who said they would contribute… Andy? Les? Amy? Doug? DOUG!! This idea sprouted up because of your desire to be on BMOWP!)

*sigh*

Go visit. Help us out. Be glad you don’t have to listen to membership drives like the National Public Radio member stations are pushing on us now.

At least, not yet.

Tags: Blogging, Misc. Asst. |

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An Olympic-sized pool of apathy

February 9, 2006


Tornio!

The Winter Olympics start today!

Wait. I don’t care. I really don’t.

Seriously. I’m not sure what it is about the Olympics, but I’ve never been able to get into it – especially the ones in the winter.

Maybe I’m just disillusioned about sports. I’m one of the few people that would rather watch professional players rather than amateur – one of those that actually believe the NBA plays better basketball than the NCAA, and one of those that can’t get into a college football game unless I know some of the stars.

I’m a product of my generation, a sports fan that’s driven more by the names than by the on court/field product. It’s rather embarrassing to say, actually, because it’s supposed to be the opposite. The biggest sports fans follow college football. They follow the NCAA basketball season. They have loyalty to a faceless, ever changing team.

That could be my problem, Olympic-wise. I’m too caught up in the allure of the big star to actually give a damn about some amateur luge champion.

Another concern to me is the sudden devotion, for two weeks every four years, to sports that we would make fun of at any other time. Curling? Usually a joke. During the Olympics, however, it’s one of the top ticketed events. Hockey gains some semblance of respectability during the Olympics, as does figure skating. Likewise during the summer – we usually don’t think twice about soccer, track and field, or swimming, but during those two weeks they’re amazingly relevant.

I can’t do it, though. Everyone else can jump on that Olympic bandwagon and root for our country. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! I’m not patriotic enough to root for our country in a war, let alone root for them in an ultimately meaningless ski jump battle. I can’t switch gears and become a huge fan of these sports that don’t get a second thought at any other time in my life.

I probably save all of my “every-four-year” anticipation for World Cup soccer. I can’t explain it any other way.

Despite all that I say, though, there’s something I have to admit. I’ll probably end up watching at least three hours of Olympic coverage this year. It’s not a lot, but considering my lack of interest in all things Olympic, it’s an anomaly.

I can’t escape it, really. We only get six channels in our house, and only four of them come in clearly enough to watch longer than five minutes. Of course, one of those four channels is NBC, home of the Olympics. At some point, we’ll stop the television and stare at downhill slalom for an hour. We’ll get sucked into the viewing experience. We’ll end up choosing someone to root for. We’ll give up the fight and watch the Olympics.

And we’ll hate ourselves in the morning.

Tags: Sports |

4 Comments

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