"I Like It 'Now'"

But I fear no one is listening.

It seems I do not change as fast as “change” wants me to change.  Not that I don’t change at all.  I change all the time.  I used to wear calf-high gym socks; now I wear anklets.  I used to eat cow cheese; now I eat goat cheese.  And I am working tirelessly towards squeezing the toothpaste tube from the bottom.

I am a veritable whirlwind of change.

It’s just that I like to change at my own pace, and “change” itself seems to change faster.

There is also the question of “choice” – the difference between moving, and being evicted.

I can identify with those beleaguered coal miners.  Mining coal is what they know, it’s what they do, and what they want to keep doing.  And no “No-‘count ‘Outsider’s’” going to get them to stop.

Such thoughts came roilingly to mind after reading a response in Ken Levine’s “Friday Questions” (on his reliable blog bykenlevine), where Ken mentions, and I quote, because when Ken “mentions”, I listen:

“… fewer people now read blogs.”  

Uh-oh.

That’s the blacksmith at the dawn of the “Car Era” hearing,

“… fewer people now ride horses.”

Now I may be jumpin’ the gun here, but if Ken’s admonition wasn’t “Time’s up!” it sounds like “Time’s up!” is precipitously down the road.

I don’t want “Time” up till I’m ready.  Is that too much to ask?  (To which the answer is “Yes.”)

Sometimes, as Ken goes on to reports, after writing a blog a while, it gets increasingly harder to come up with new post ideas.  In my experience “feast or famine” happens in waves.  Scribbled ideas on mini-yellow pads all over the house mix with inspirational droughts. 

These temporary “slow times”, I believe, arise because I have uncharacteristically stopped noticing.  I temperamentally see myself as an “interested noticer”, most particularly of “little things”, offering “noticings” for people with brains more productively applied elsewhere. 

This is is the service I provide, a “Personal Shopper” of “noticings”, for those too busy to notice things themselves.  It seems to work fine.  I am not busy, and the “noticing” recipients seem grateful.   

I am not alone in this peculiar proclivity.  A recent Lyft driver regaled me with his musings about an emporium he drove past called Lamps Plus, piquing his interest and his concern.  He understood they could not just call the place “Lamps”.  But what exactly were they talking about when it came to the “Plus”?

I immediately identified with his curiosity about store names.  Lamps Plus, I proposed, came from the same “branding philosophy” as Bed, Bath and Beyond.  I then wondered if there was ever “Inventory Clash”, “Lamp’s” available “Pluses” being identical to Bed, Bath’s “Beyonds.”

With such uncertain labeling, you could never be certain.  Needing to buy something, you are unsure if it’s a “Plus” or a “Beyond.”

All of which made the drive home enjoyably faster.

When you do a blog called “Just Thinking” – and my sped-up heartbeat just warned me “Don’t say this!” but it is too late to stop now – ideas for posts appear unlimited.

(Stay tuned for Fate’s punishing “dry spell.”  Or don’t, ‘cause there’ll be nothing to read.)

Seems to me, if I remain open and don’t get to too sad or neurotically unhinged awaiting medical results, I can keep “rollin’ along, singin’ a song.”

But, if as Ken observers, “… fewer people now read blogs”, it won’t matter if I’ve still got ideas. 

Will there be readers to read them?

It is only by erroneous accident that I occasionally learn how many “followers” I have.  (The most frequently asked question by people who know me, none of whom are reading my blog.)  (And, by the way, “followers” suddenly sounds creepy.)

I write this blog – falling into quetionable patios – because I likes to.  People reading it is a bonus. 

But what happens if they stop?   (And I eventually find out?)

Ken is already immersed in his podcast, apparently the next communicational outlet.  (Unless there’s a still newer one and I am two communicational outlets behind.  Like I am a number of Apple cell phones behind.  (I can now just call people over seventy.)

Here’s how slow I am, and not just “slow to change.”

This post was supposed to build to the borderline virtual impossibility of my transitioning to podcasts.

And I am just getting there now.

I may try that one next time.

Unless the “End of Blogging” is closer than I thought,

And they turn the lights out tonight.

VETERAN MINER:  “I am still digging coal.”

Would you still dig it if no one was buying it?

“That’s a strange question to ask.”

Ken Levine tells me that’s coming.  And I’ve not known him to be wrong.

“Who’s Ken Levine?  Some no-’count ‘Outsider’?”