Blog Rot

blog rot: (n.) condition wherein one has not written in one's blog for so long that when one finally does attempt to do so, an almost physical stench emits from the screen, driving one away again. Condition can be brought on by preoccupation, laziness, apathy, or any combination thereof. Symptoms tend to be worse in the summer. Condition can become permanent if not treated aggressively.

Here we go again, another post explaining/excusing why I haven't blogged in so long. The fact is, after you've let three weeks go by, it's really difficult to just jump back in again. Several things have kept me away, but I'll pare them down to three main excuses . . . I mean, reasons:

1. Work, work, work. I'm still working over 50 hours a week, on average, and after spending 8 to 10 hours during the day at the computer at the office, I rarely feel like jumping back on one when I get home.
2. Social life. After several months of semi-hibernation while I contemplated/reflected upon my split from my soon-to-be-former husband, I'm starting to get out there among the living once again. And it's been good. It's summer, the weather's been gorgeous, and there's a lot going on.
3. Topic Indecision. Despite the (very valid, I think) reasons above, there have been several times I've sat down and actually logged on to the blog, only to stare at the screen for a while, get frustrated, and then ultimately give up. The problem isn't that I have nothing to write about. It's quite the opposite, in fact--I have too many ideas, and I can't seem to choose which one I should dive into at any given time. Should I just write about my life and what's going on with it? Make some pithy observation about something seemingly mundane but potentially interesting? Write a movie or book review? Or maybe dive into something political again, which, incidentally, I haven't really done since the Great Election Tragedy of 2004? I can never decide. And so, instead, I don't write at all.

This is a common problem, I think, with casual blogging--you know, when your blog has no unifying theme. Do I need a theme? Maybe. I'm still working it out.

Life would be so much easier if I just had a blog like this guy's. In case you're too lazy (or preoccupied, or apathetic) to check out the link, I'll sum it up: It's called "snakesonablog," and it's all about this guy's obsession with the upcoming flick, "Snakes on a Plane." For those of you who don't know, SOAP is a potentially horrid or brilliant B-type movie starring Samuel L. Jackson that's premiering, I think, next month. It's getting a lot of pre-release buzz as a made-to-order cult classic. Whether it will endure as such remains to be seen, but it's a fact that it already has an early cult following thanks in large part to this guy's blog. You might think it would be rather difficult to build an entire blog around one's excitement over an upcoming movie--even burb doesn't go that far--but this guy has done it. And I have to admit, I'm a little jealous.

One major drawback to the SOAB blog, though, is rather obvious--what happens to it after The Big Event (i.e., the premier of the movie)? No matter how the movie is received, the whole point of the blog--which lies in the anticipation of the event--will be mute. The poor guy will have to totally reinvent his blog. And if, as is so often the case with things we look forward to, the anticipation of the event proves more fulfilling than the event itself, where does that leave him? Maybe he'll be too disheartened to ever blog again! And his (semi) fame, like that of so many others, will be a mere flash in the pan, giving him a teasing taste of greatness only to snatch the plate away again.

Which naturally leads to another question--is it better to have blogged and stopped, than never to have blogged at all?

Let's hope I can successfully battle the blog rot and never have to find out.

(By the way, I love this bit of trivia about the SOAP movie, from IMDB: Samuel L. Jackson only signed on for this film because of the title. It was later changed to "Pacific Air Flight 121", but Jackson demanded they reverse the change. "We're totally changing that back. That's the only reason I took the job: I read the title.")