The Philosophy of Blogging

“It's hard to live with someone else's flimsy attempts to avoid your real concerns, but pushing to get your way doesn't seem to make it any better. You would rather be given a straightforward answer today, even if it is "no." Nevertheless you might not get the resolution you seek. Minimize your irritation by acknowledging that others may not be working on the same timetable and just walk away.”

According to Rick Levine of Tarot.com, the above is the daily prospective provided by my horoscope for today, Thursday July 10^th. Perhaps this can be accounted for via the vagueness in such things, but I have always found some semblance of truth – or at least usefulness – in my daily horoscope readings.

As an anecdote, it is interesting that I have more faith in my horoscope than I have in, you know, actual faith.

I mention my horoscope because it ties directly into what I was intending to write about today. It’s influential enough, in fact, to alter what I had intended to write. I was going to write yet another mindless rambling about my conflicted interests in life. Such writing would not be without reason. Consciously, I would tell you that my purpose would be to “allow my internal emotions flow externally through my preferred medium of writing.” And, of course, there would be some therapeutic value in that. However, subconsciously, my true purpose in writing would be to initiate a response from the reader who, in turn, would bring some magical solution to untie the conflicting strands that is my web of desires and interests.

To those of you that follow along here at Educated Soldier, if you are assuming that this struggle is between my desire to become Special Forces qualified and my law school aspirations, you are absolutely correct (for more info, click the link and scroll WAY down). But that’s hardly significant in the current discussion.

What does interest me currently (and does so because my horoscope only just now made me aware of this phenomenon) is why I – or anyone else – would expect answers from you concerning my personal, potentially life-altering choices. I think this tendency is common amongst many bloggers. In fact, it is probably what motivates us to write. We have this sense that we must communally share our emotions, problems, and decisions. But is this common outside of this virtual realm? Do normal people stand on street corners professing what is important to them continuously until some passerby responds in a method deemed satisfactory?

Blogging is akin to walking into an art gallery and immediately chatting up individuals observing a piece that you admire. And, ironically, making uninitiated conversation is not a strong suit of mine. Yet there is some inherent characteristic shared by that action and the act of blogging. Readers arrive at Educated Soldier because they have some similar interest to my own. And then I just immediately chat them up. In the art gallery analogy, one could at least assume that the discussion would pertain to the piece of art that the involved parties find intriguing. What’s interesting is that logic does not necessarily hold true in the world of blogging. When I begin to chat you up here, I may not even mention the topic that is of mutual interest. In fact, I may just dismiss all foreplay, and immediately begin expressing to you a large portion of my hopes, desires, and problems.

And then I await your answers. And, of course, a lack of response just causes me to talk more.

This whole blogging thing is so unlike the real life that I have lived and known.

So I had intended to produce an edition of Educated Soldier today that would allow me to receive the definitive solution to my current predicaments. But, instead, I allowed my horoscope to complete its self-fulfilling magic. The horoscope indicated that I would receive no worthy solution or, at least, one that fails to fit my time table of immediacy. This will certainly prove true because I am not going to ask any questions. I will flesh out my concerns on a day when my horoscope suggests that viable and workable solutions are more likely to be produced.

Meanwhile, I will just continue to ponder internally this philosophy of blogging that I am developing (thank you tarot.com) until someone comments with something thought-shattering. While today was a bit abstract (and I am allowed that indulgence occasionally), I promise that upcoming editions of Educated Soldier will be a bit less esoteric in nature. In fact, here are three topics that I hope to expand on in later postings:

• Texas Congressman Jim Culberson (R) battles with congressional leaders over web 2.0 applications. I beg you to read more about this story because it is so genuinely fascinating. Congressional leaders are attempting to prohibit the use of web 2.0 institutions (such as twitter, YouTube, etc) by its legislative members. Meanwhile, Congressman Jim Culberson is fighting the prohibition via… you guessed it… web 2.0 programs!! Meanwhile, the Educated Soldier has become a twitter follower of Jim Culberson. This has caused me to become aware of the political value in the web 2.0 programs that some are attempting to prohibit from the democratic process: they make the constituent feel that he or she is truly in on the political discourse. Please read this link – I am sure I will produce additional comment as this storyline progresses!*

• My actual conflicting interests that spawned today’s post: becoming Special Forces qualified (and, thus, interrupting school – which I am oh so close to completing) or attempting to gain admission to a prestigious law school. (Georgetown, I am talking about you). Associated discourse may delve into the source of my homesickness somehow transferring from the place of my up-bringing, North Dakota, to Washington, D.C., a location I have never actually called “home”.

• My new found fascination with taxi cab blogs. Here are two of the best: Tampa Taxi Shots, Mad Cabbie.

*Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/whiskeyboarder