#oneaday Day 614: Joining the Fold

It’s with some pleasure that I welcome a very good friend of mine to the blogging fold. A big hand, if you please, for Mr Kalam Abul. Kalam’s a good buddy from my days working for a certain fruit-based computer manufacturer’s retail outlet, and we both have plenty of unpleasant experiences to talk about from our time there, but now’s not the time for that.

Kalam plans on using his shiny new blog as a form of free therapy — and that, to me, sounds like an excellent idea. After all, at times, it’s what I do here. Talking about stuff is good. If you don’t have anyone to talk to, though — or no-one you feel comfortable talking to, or if you don’t necessarily need to “talk”, more just “get things off your chest” — then writing is an excellent outlet. I know that the last 614 days of writing something every day — though it’s been a struggle sometimes — have provided me with a means to vent my inner frustrations into something vaguely productive rather than sitting around moping, being upset, crying, punching sofas (apparently) or stabbing badgers. This is good.

Self-proclaimed social media experts and people who read Mashable would probably come along right now and say that blogging’s not about the individual person, it should be about your audience, your community, the blogosphere and other pretentious-sounding phrases. You know what I say to those people? Sod off. Your own personal space on the Web is yours to do with as you please. You can vent your frustrations, or you can attempt to provide a “service”. You can express yourself, or you can inform. You can even do all of the above. You don’t necessarily have to have a particular “structure” or theme in mind (though it sometimes helps) — sometimes all you need to do is write.

If I had to pigeonhole this blog, I’d be pretty hard-pushed to do so. The most frequently-occurring topic is likely video games, of course, and that’s probably unsurprising. It’s something that’s in my blood and that I’ve been involved with for almost as long as I can remember — and it’s something I’m involved with professionally now, too. But I certainly wouldn’t describe this place as a video games blog. There’s all manner of other nonsense amidst the rampant enthusings regarding Xenoblade Chronicles and Deadly Premonition. There’s honest stuff, creative stuff, weird stuff, experimental stuff, stuff that didn’t quite work, stuff that I’m incredibly pleased with and stuff that makes me sad to think back on. All of it’s important, and, particularly since I started this daily posting business, all of it reminds me where I’ve come from and — maybe, anyway — where I’m going.

I can certainly say for a fact that this time last year I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d be sitting here right now — though it’s probably fair to say that this time the year before I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d have been sitting where I was this time last year, if you see what I mean. Sometimes things that you take for granted are more fragile than you think — but sometimes the reverse is true, too.

I’m in a reasonably good place right now. I can’t complain too much. There are things I want to achieve and things that I could do better, but after surviving a year best described as “traumatic”, I’m happy to take things a bit at a time and let this place track my progress — either directly or indirectly.

As for Kalam, well, buddy, I hope your site helps you find the same sort of inner calm that writing here has done for me. And if not, don’t hold back. Everyone loves a good rant.