Apparently, I am bad at remembering anniversaries. Probably another reason I should stay single, huh?
Turns out that the two-year anniversary of this blog just passed… last weekend.
I thought about doing a run down of the significant events of the last year, similar to what I did on the first anniversary. Somehow, I find I just can’t get up the energy to tackle that task.
I think, perhaps, it’s because it doesn’t feel like my life has changed all that much in the past year. My job, my hobbies, my social situation, my love life have all remained essentially the same.
As for me personally, the ways in which I sense I’ve changed over the past year are decidedly a mix of good and bad. Yes, I’ve started looking forward more than looking back. But at the same time I’m no longer surprised when things go wrong or I’m given the short shrift by people.
A mixed bag for sure.
Either way, it doesn’t really warrant a bullet-point list, and maybe it’s because of what I talked about in this post. It leads me to think more about the blog looking forward than what it’s been.
(Which does not, of course, dismiss the fact that so many of you have been faithfully reading my drivel over the past year, and continue to do so. I appreciate it more than you can know. I suppose it’s simply the nature of blogs that they are transient things.)
What do I find myself thinking as I ponder the future? I find myself wondering if I’ve become boring. Or, even worse, predictable.
I mean, is it always the same thing? “Oh, look, GH went on a hike.” “Oh, look, GH felt uncomfortable in a social situation.” “Oh, look, GH took a halfway decent picture.” “Oh, look, GH got rejected by another woman.”
Heck, on that last example, I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even always bother to even write about it anymore. Yes, there was the situation last weekend. But only a week or so before that I was spurned in a different way. (Short story: met online (via dating site), agreed to first date, she called me 1 ½ hours before the date to call it off because she felt uncomfortable about dating someone from… online. Bleh.)
Perhaps I could have turned that into an interesting post, but I felt like it was just the same thing again. Who wants to read the same sorry story over and over again? No one, that’s who.
I do wonder, sometimes, though, if it isn’t time that I took the parentheses out of the title.
By the same token I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t split the blog in two. One dedicated to hiking and the like, the other of a more personal nature (and possibly password-locked). Certainly it would allow me to open up about a couple of things that I haven’t been able to feel comfortable doing in a public forum.
Yet I find I’m not inclined to go down that path. After all, hiking and who I am as a person are pretty intertwined.
That, and I’m lazy. 😉
So I suppose I will continue with things as they are. And some secrets will remain so.
And who knows? With any luck my luck might change, that things might stop repeating and things become actually, you know, interesting.
After all, good blogging material is hard to find.
On to year three.
🙂
The GeekHiker 
Happy Blogiversary, my dear ~ here’s to many more years of awesome hiking stories and photos 🙂
And you are not boring – far from it. Your blog is one of my favorites!
By: East Coast Teacher on February 26, 2009
at 1:29 pm
I get very involved in your stories in all forms and about all things.
I’m glad to have you as a friend.
By: just a girl on February 26, 2009
at 1:44 pm
Well, I think, very personally that blogging material shouldn’t even exist. One blogs about whatever one wants, if you are blogging about your life and there is one theme that you have to blog about often, then, whatever. That’s the way it is. If someone wants to skip a post? That’s the reader’s choice. But if we are going to blog thinking only about what people might want/not want to read about, blogging looses all purpose.
This is the cheapest therapy ever. And we should do it FOR US.
Of course if you don’t want to ever remember again about those girls that blew you off? Then you don’t write about them, you apply selective amnesia to good use and all is cool.
Otherwise, that story about how you met someone online through a dating site and then she calls it off because SHE DOESN’T want to meet someone she met online?! Freaking awesome if you ask me.
& also, what would be the advantage in opening ANOTHER blog to lock when you can password all the posts you want here? Confusing.
By: narami on February 26, 2009
at 2:15 pm
I know what you mean about life not changing sometimes, but you could be around the corner from BIG changes. Two years ago, I was feeling EXACTLY like you! What I didn’t know was that I was about to experience a tragic event (my father died), then within six months, buy a home, move, and start a new job. Life is completely different (except: I am still single, too.) Sometimes, I wonder if we focus on the single stuff too much and not on where else life could take us.
Happy Anniversary!
By: Michelle on February 26, 2009
at 2:19 pm
Oh, and I almost forgot..keep writing!
By: Michelle on February 26, 2009
at 2:42 pm
Happy anniversary! I’m on my third year as well and I actually forgot my last anniversary completely.
Your hiking posts, and the pictures that go with them, are what attracted me to your little corner of the intertubes in the first place. The other posts keep me coming back.
You are a good writer, especially when you are writing for yourself. Keep it up.
By: Homer-Dog on February 26, 2009
at 4:36 pm
Aren’t anniversaries a bit arbitrary in the way of milestones? I prefer to celebrate blog entries that are prime numbers. Or something equally geeky. Same arbitrariness, less random. Sort of.
Anyway, a very good friend of mine recently told me that he has decided to stop doing the things that make him feel comfortable and start doing things that make him feel uncomfortable. He’s 28 and still growing but it’s really exciting to see him taking responsibility for his personal growth that way. He seems a lot happier now. I’m not sure if it’s real or sustainable but it makes me happy to see him so fulfilled.
By: Mrs Chuck Bartowski on February 26, 2009
at 8:40 pm
Your blog is endearing because of your candor and sincerity, but if you really feel uncomfortable about putting everything out there and need some private catharsis, there is “private post” option on WordPress. Plus, a personal blog is… personal, and it’s YOUR blog so people’s judgement is irrelevant.
By: k on February 26, 2009
at 10:33 pm
I like how your personal and hiking blogs are mixed together. See – there’s all kinds of crazy shake up happening on this blog!
I’ve felt the same concern about being redundant or boring in my posts. But we don’t blog to entertain our readers do we? Maybe to some degree. But really, we blog because WE like to write. So keep writing whatever you want or need to write about. We’ll keep reading.
Don’t start misbehaving now that you’re in your terrible twos. 😉
By: Mel Heth on February 26, 2009
at 10:53 pm
Happy Blogiversary! I like your posts — hiking, personal, and everything in between. Write whatever you want to write about and password protect those posts that you don’t want to share with everyone.
By: Dingo on February 26, 2009
at 11:04 pm
what dingo said, except you should spill the beans on everything – mwahahaa
By: blakspring on February 27, 2009
at 10:27 am
I love your blog. Don’t stop writing.
Look, just because things are rhythmic doesn’t mean they are predictable. If that were the case, there’d only be one love story movie or book instead of 10 billion, because what’s the need for anyone else to write about their story when one’s already been written? Because it’s still different, love is not the same, hikes are not all the same.
I have a quote I’m going to share in a min.
Happy Anniversary!
btw I have a private blog where I write about the really personal stuff. I understand…
By: spleeness on February 27, 2009
at 1:50 pm
quote on predictability:
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.
“Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you
take things from — it’s where you take them to.””
— Jim Jermusch
By: spleeness on February 27, 2009
at 1:52 pm
Don’t feel bad. If Pat and I don’t have something actually planned we forget our wedding anniversary. And as far as the blog?well, I have no idea when I started mine and I don’t feel bad about it.
Just write. Write because you love it. Write because you are moved to. Write because you have a voice and want to share. Or don’t. That’s the beauty of a blog. It’s all yours and only YOU can decide.
By: Backpackermomma on February 28, 2009
at 6:23 am
Happy blogoversary!
I say one life, one blog. And put whatever the hell you want into your blog. It’s more interesting that way. Like narami said, as a reader, it’s easy to skip a post now and then if it doesn’t grab you.
And spleeness, great Jermusch quote!
By: wil on February 28, 2009
at 3:16 pm
East Coast Teacher – Thanks. Maybe my life feels more boring than my blog.
Just A Girl – You are too kind, my friend.
Narami – I don’t know. Maybe just separating the personal from the non-personal stuff in a cleaner form
Michelle – Thing is, my life never seems to take such dramatic turns. I don’t know that that’s a complaint, but sometimes it would be nice for it to turn in a nice direction for once
Michelle – Will do
Homer-Dog – Well, you had a lot going on. Glad the other posts keep you coming back, though
Mrs Chuck Bartowski – Well, I am at 400 posts. Uncomfortable, eh?
K – Welcome to the blog. True, except I know some now in real life, which makes me shy on certain subjects
Mel Heth – Maybe my concern is that I used to be more interesting, and now I’m becoming boring as time goes on…
Dingo – And I’m sure you’ll be asking for a password, right? 😉
BlakSpring – LOL
Spleeness – Yet, rejection always seems the same…
Spleeness – Good quote!
BackPackerMomma – True enough…
Wil – Welcome in. “One life, one blog” – not a bad philosophy…
By: geekhiker on March 1, 2009
at 10:22 pm
Dude! You KNOW I’m going to want the password? How else am I going to weigh in, give my opinion, disperse my sage advice, and then sit back and watch the clouds roll away and flowers grow?
By: Dingo on March 1, 2009
at 11:43 pm
Whoa– our blogiversaries are close together. My 3 year anniversary is tomorrow! I also wanted to do some kind of post for it…. but I’m not sure I’ll have the time.
By: tgaw on March 2, 2009
at 8:04 am