inside and out (yummy links)

Note: If I could figure out how to blogroll worth a damn, I'd link all these folks. The blogs mentioned here are all fantastic and provide much substantial food for thought. And some Twinkies, too.



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Folks, I’m awfully sorry to have neglected the blogspace lately. I’ve promised you Duckdates and commentary and medication happenings, and since Wednesday there’s been a whole lotta nothing. I’ll be honest, as I usually try to be, and admit to the following distractions and issues:

I’ve been having too much fun over at the Dark Wraith Forums Message Board to bother updating here. It’s full of very smart, knowledgeable, justifiably paranoid and admirably perverse personalities. Not to mention a newsfeed that's hilarious and somewhat disturbing. I usually hang out by the edge of the pool and watch, but will sometimes jump in and swim with the rest of the kids. Discussions of politics abound, naturally, but there are also weird little items like this one from Lab Kat , about a man who locked his balls up, and this one, about the 28,000 year old item recently found in Germany. I highly recommend the Board, as well as the Dark Wraith’s blog, for anyone who’s interested in getting behind partisan rhetoric and into the rather intricate workings of economics, policy and culture. (Dad, I really think you’d dig this place – come over and hang out for a while if you get bored while you’re home recuperating.)

The Dark Wraith himself has a flair for measured understatement that is a much-needed foil for my own sometimes panicked sense of outrage and loss of control about current events. He also brings an enormous wealth of knowledge to the board, from economics and mathmatics to political history to conspiracy theories to science and literature. His latest post on futures trading somehow managed to bring the subject down to a level that I could understand, with some effort, so he has a special place in my ever-curious blogger’s heart, even if he can’t clean a coffee pot. And I can’t mention conspiracy theories without mentioning Peter of Lone Tree, who is a frequent contributor and cabana boy to another favorite blog of mine, BlondeSense.

Luckily when I get far out there on my sappy branch, there’s usually a few others hanging out with me, like SB_Gypsy and OldWhiteLady, who have their own lovely corners of blogtopia, complete with pictures. (The word “blogtopia” was coined by Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, if you’re interested in giving them a visit. Should have pimped them out a while back when they were shooting for a million hits, but I was too busy hysterically excoriating the Bush administration at the time.) And there are, of course, other brilliant and slightly strange people hanging out and posting regularly, but the Board isn’t terribly big at the moment. Which is nice if you don’t like crowds.

As always, it’s important to note that I made the acquaintance of all these worthwhile people through Shakespeare’s Sister.

Another reason I’ve been quiet lately is work – for the first time in a while, I’m finding myself somewhat motivated to get through the mounting piles of useless paperwork on my desk, if only to move them somewhere else. I do hate having a cluttered desk.

Finally, I have lately been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of finger-pointing, blame, name-calling and violent negativity that’s being passed around these days in the blogosphere. At some point the liberal/progressive anger and outrage starts to sound the same as the wingnut/neo-con denial and bullshit, and that worries me. Wordlackey posted about this very thing yesterday, so I’m evidently not the only one experiencing this angst. The problem is that I don’t believe the end justifies the means. So even if you’re working to get someone impeached for a perfectly good reason, there’s no need to be rude and hateful about it. Although I do still adore the Rude Pundit and can’t seem to break the habit. This is another reason why I frequent the Dark Wraith Forums Message Board – there are folks who get angry and upset at current events (I’m one of them), but someone else will usually step in with a reasonable fact or two, or a hilarious comment, and rein things in. Or make them worse, depending on your perspective. Always a fun place to be, anyway.

So lately, when I start to post about a subject that upsets me, I stop and think about the purpose of the post. Will it make me feel better to post it? Yeah, sometimes. There was a time a few weeks ago when I could do nothing but obsess about things I couldn’t change, so the only thing to do was to write about it. I think the meds are helping with that. I probably lost a few readers, maybe gained a few, but that’s life. My blog, my rules. How many places can you really say that about? *There I go dangling prepositions again. * Not too freaking many.

Mostly what I’d like to do is contribute some thoughtful insight into the problems that I see, instead of just railing against them. There are times, however, when I feel the need to share some pretty vital information and news with the people who read this blog – some of whom already know it, and some of whom might find it interesting or relevant to their lives. Maybe I'll start posting the stories and letting them speak for themselves, for the most part. I don’t have to be a harpy all the time – but I’m not making promises to be a perfect angel, either. Screw that. Just a slight change of focus.

Wish me luck. :)