Monday, March 7, 2016

At this point...

It shouldn't be a surprise that I'm not blogging every day.  It's not happening and that's ok.

I've been thinking about that "greatness" thing again.  I don't even think it's greatness, I think it's passion.  I feel like I'm not necessarily passionate about anything any more, and it's making me sad.

One of my friends records about 3 different podcasts monthly.  Two of my friends are teaming up to start a small publishing venture on the side.  Another friend is blogging about traveling.  They're all passionate about something, and I feel like my passion has left me.

I've been enthusiastic about a number of things over the years, most notably television.  But now?  I find myself constantly behind on every show.  I'm probably watching too much, but then we're allegedly in a "Golden Age of Television"  Even so, I find it becoming a chore.  I could delete my whole DVR and I wonder if I would actually mind?

This is not to say that I'm depressed.  If i were, I think I'd be watching more tv, not less.  But I still can't help that feel that something is off.  Something is missing.

How does one go about recapturing a passion?

I keep trying to come up with ideas.  Something to do.  Something interesting and sustainable.

Maybe I watch a show I've never seen before and podcast about it from the beginning. Or a show I love, and point out the things I love...
Maybe I try writing again.  I've always loved screenplays and mysteries.
Maybe I think of a third thing, because of the rule of three!

I don't think anyone reads this.  Mostly because I haven't told anyone I'm writing this.  But if you're reading and you have any thoughts, let me know.
 

Monday, February 22, 2016

Ok, I skipped a few days...

But just a few.  What's 2 days when the last time was 2 years?

I'm still listening to podcasts, and it's got me thinking about media in general, and then life.  First and foremost, I find there's not enough time to read all the books I want, listen to all the podcasts, watch all the tv and movies, etc. Especially with work.  Man, work is just the biggest time suck there is.  I need to find someone who will pay me to watch/read/listen to what I want.

But that gets me back to what I was talking about the other day, about making my mark.  I'm still trying to figure out what that means for me, and what I'd want from it.  "What do I want?"  If that's not a loaded question, I'm not sure what is. 

Friday, February 19, 2016

2 in a row?

I've decided to try and start a podcast at work.  I'm in the planning stages right now.  It's good because it's something we should try, but it also aligns with my interests right now.  I subscribed to several others that I think can give me some ideas on how to get started. Some are from competitors, and some are from what I'd call parallel consumers.

Last night I started talking walks again.  I'm hoping to excercise a bit more, and that seemed like a good start.  It's a little more than a mile to walk around my block (It's a huge block).  Last night I did 2 laps, tonight I did 3.  I'm hoping to get up to 5 miles a night by the end of next week.  That would talk me near 2 hours, so it's a good time to start listening to podcasts.

One that I listened to tonight is called StartUp Podcast.  It's a guy making a podcast about how we wants to start a podcast business. The first part was really interesting, and I look forward to seeing where it goes.  His premise is that there's a market for story driven podcasts (like Nightvale, a popular one that I've also enjoyed.  I'm 2 episodes in on Nightvale, but it's awesome.)

Tonight at dinner I wondered aloud if I could be veterinarian for a week.  I might be giving that a shot soon.  I've done it before, more or less.  (During the week there were 2 occasions that I forgot I was vegetarian.)

Startup also got me thinking.  I'm still trying to find ways to make my mark, not just at work, not just in my industry, but I guess in my own mind.  I'm two blog posts in, but I've already mentioned 3 people who I feel have done pretty cool things and made an impact: Tim Ferris, Seth Godin, and now Alex Blumberg, the guy behind Startup.  How do I become a person like that, if not to the world at large, even in my own mind.  Something to think on.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

2 years seems about right...

I'm going to gloss over that it's been two years since I blogged, and just start blogging. I started listening to podcasts this week. I asked some friends for recommendations, and subscribed to about 50 different ones. Ones they recommended, ones I found on my own. One of them is The Tim Ferris Show. Tim is the author of the 4 Hour Work week, and other books. I listened to this particular episode because Seth Godin was his guest, and Seth is also an author I enjoy. Seth writes about marketing, and business, and in general is an author I enjoy reading, and always walk away with a few tidbits from each book. Tim asked Seth for a piece of advice for the listeners, and Seth said to Blog every day. It was an interesting piece of advice. It's good to get your ideas out there. I'm going to try it. Given my history with blogging it may not go on for long, but it's worth a shot. If you have any podcasts you recommend, let me know.