time’s relentless melt

I have failed in what I thought was a simple goal: to post weekly. What am I saying? I knew very well I’d never stick to that, and I probably stated that in my very first post.

As an aside, whyever does this blogging software have tags and categories? What’s the difference? There’s no difference at all, as I’m using them.

There’s no point to this post except to show myself that I can be comfortable posting utter crap.

I used to love giving gifts, but the joy has dropped out of it. Giving gifts at big holidays is a chore, with so many gifts to find with limited time and even more limited cash.

Even birthday gift giving has its problems; recipients being inundated, some thoughtful gifts are eclipsed by flashier or more expensive ones.

My alternative, which I will start to implement this year, is to continue giving gifts to all the same family and friends, but instead of concentrating the gifts around a specific holiday, give the gifts randomly throughout the year. I might, for example, budget a certain number of recipients each month, and randomly select them out of a hat.

The benefits of this method:

1. Deadlines completely disappear, so there’s much less pressure and probably more consideration in selecting the gift.
2. The recipient will be more surprised, since it won’t be at an expected time.
3. There is less competition with others’ gifts, so it might be more appreciated.
4. This method is easier to budget, since the gifts can be evenly spread over the year. (It might also be easier to get away with — or feel more comfortable giving — less expensive gifts.
5. Most importantly, this method of gift giving promotes a year-round charitable attitude and a consideration of others’ needs as we go through life.

Some drawbacks:

1. If we aren’t organized about it, we might tend to give multiple gifts to some and none to others. Some friends are just easier to buy gifts for. This might be fitting punishment, however, for those who have peculiar and difficult-to-understand interests. (A little joke, in case it’s not obvious.)
2. This program will be poorly accepted by traditionalists.
3. It will likely be a bit uncomfortable at birthdays and holidays when we’re receiving gifts but not giving them, our gifts having already been given.

• doesn’t think you know what you’re talking about. #

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I will add constraints on my blog posts, constraints starting simply, perhaps adding each one upon the last.

The idea is based on Peter Turchi’s Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, an eye-opening and inspiring book. In particular, Turchi briefly describes the Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle) and the group’s freedom-through-constraint philosophy (on which I have hardly a grasp).

Some possible constraints:

1. no editing. (I was going to follow this constraint in this post, but I’ve already broken it.)
2. no sentences with fewer than 10 words (10 is arbitrarily chosen)
3. no sentences with greater than 3 words
4. no sentences outside of the range 3-10 words
5. no sentences inside of the range 3-10 words
6. no use of a particular letter; ‘E’, for example
7. no use of the letters of a particular word. If I selected my first name, for example, I couldn’t use any of the letters of “Andrew” in the entire post.
8. all words must use at least one letter of a particular word

…and so on. Some of these could be  combined, but obviously some are mutually exclusive.

It would be somewhat amusing (to me alone, most likely) to continue this blog with only metablogging posts, discussing only how the posts will be structured. The amusement would lapse quickly, though, and I’d kill the thing off even faster than my previous blogs.

• doesn’t live here anymore #
• wonders at times why he should bother with music written after 1750. #
• is listening to Andreas Scholl sing Handel. #

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I am seriously considering a return to blogging.

I’ve tried to blog before, but I’ve always be overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy and perfectionism. My postings have also tended toward annoying, overblown rantings against shit customer service. This, however, seems to have dropped from my list of obsessions. I may post instead about shit cleaning supplies and how much time I spend making my own laundry detergent and cleaning imaginary spots from the carpet.

I have promised myself to blog at least once a week, having wisely decided against the idea of a month-long daily blogging challenge.

I have also promised myself that I will allow myself to post utter crap and never attack myself for it.

On no account do I expect to keep these promises.