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The Things I Don't Talk About | |
Posted Aug 19, 2008 - 12:56:52
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 Over the last few days, I've been thinking about how, slowly, over the last seven years of this blog*, I've been talking less and less about certain subjects. It came in a moment the other day when I was thinking about how I had nothing to write about... but I used to four to seven entries a week without problem. It occurred to me that my life was no more busy then than it is now, yet I seemed at a loss for words. There are some things I've always been vague about, like when I would start a new relationship (Crysta didn't get mentioned as my girlfriend in this space until we were solidly together for a while), but there are a couple of topics that used to be regular parts of what I talked about...
First off, I don't ever talk about work or my job situation anymore. Back when I started this, large stories from my retail past would fill entries. And while I always avoided naming my Employer, I would feel free to talk about what I was doing. This changed though while I was working for University Housing. Suddenly, I couldn't talk about my job because 90% of it was bound up (or at least the bits what would make entertaining stories) by confidentiality laws... and believe it or not, no matter how much I like writing entertaining stories on my website, I'm not about to break Federal Law to do so.
But that was two years of my life, so I got so far out of the habit of doing it. Effectively, my brain created a "No Work Story" rule in this blog. It's not a bad rule per se, as some bloggers have gotten fired for talking about their jobs online in other industries, but it is a change that is significant. I think that this rule will remain, at least for a little while. It's a difficult thing to strike the balance about how I talk about things without feeling like I'm letting on too much.
Yeah, Work and Job Stuff won't become a regular topic of discussion... ever.
I used to talk about Politics a lot more too. I know that I've mentioned it a little, but for the most part I've been pretty silent on Political issues this last year... which is odd. For those who don't recall, I'm a politically left Democrat, and I've been a fan of Obama's since he spoke at the Democratic Convention in 2004. Somewhere down the line though, I stopped talking about this stuff... and that needs to change.
I think I was trying to be politically neutral, thinking it would offend some of my readers who came here for the geekier parts of my website. But honestly, it's my website, and I'm a lefty.
So people can get over it.
Finally, one thing that used to be a major part of this website, and I've all but made disappear, is my religion. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who read my blog didn't know that I'm a Wiccan. Because I am. Because I used to talk about my faith far more openly in this text. There used to be a major section on this website devoted to Wicca. A section that was mostly removed, and the remaining parts hidden behind a labyrinth of links that are nigh impossible to locate.
That is, in fact, ridiculously stupid of me.
I mean, the damned site is called TRHOnline -- which is a condensed "Traegorn RavenHawk Online." Traegorn RavenHawk is a name I took over a decade ago, and is what "Trae" is short for. So I'm thinking that I need to resurrect the section of this website on Wicca. I'm not going to dig up the old material (and I do mean old -- I wrote some of it in 1997), but instead start from scratch. I plan on posting a series of essays about my experience as a Nerdy Neo-Pagan growing up in Wisconsin. Maybe some will be videos, but in any case... they are going up.
My blog isn't going to become peppered with references or anything, but I'm bringing back the Witch into the Website at least. It's just something that has to happen, or else this site stops being a representation of me... and starts being a representation of someone other people think I am.
On that note, I'm going to have a Diet Coke.
* - Yes - the site has been around since 1996, but I've only been blogging since 2001.
- Traegorn
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