Five Years Of Catching-Up

Hello, how are you?

Perhaps that should read How have you been? since, for the past five years, everything that I've written on this blog has been about how I had been, some time before I clicked on the "PUBLISH POST" button to tell you.

Even the next fourteen paragraphs are all going to be about what I have been doing, for the past half-decade.

The last post before this one to have been published on the same day that it actually happened was on 17th June 2005.

My life in New Zealand was getting a bit busy then, what with the work offer from CBA, a new flat to move into with a stranger called Dave, and a visit to the UK looming, so it's understandable that these updates got a week or two behind.

However, it was the two-part post about catching a bus to the Excel Christian School Of Performing Arts on 23rd June 2005 that sat as the top item on here for several months, and no doubt convinced some that I had left the blogosphere for good.

The thing was, in London the following month (July 2005), I found myself tapping away at an update in the library, only to suddenly stop and wonder what I was doing.

Time with family and friends in London was at a bit of premium, so why was I choosing to instead spend it communicating with my everyday friends back in New Zealand?

So I stopped. In fact, every time that I returned to the UK I stopped blogging, and often took a while to get started again once I had returned to New Zealand. The result was a blog that was, at one stage, ten months behind.

Well, I actually quite liked writing, so at some point that I now can't find, I actually typed that I would get this blog bang up to date once more.

Hence, the time-warp that this site has been in for the last five years.

But you know what? Blogging retrospectively has actually turned out to have a few advantages over contemporary posts. I mean sure, it does lose that sense of immediacy, but that delay also creates some room for objectivity. I've lost count of the number of times that I've written an entry, only to ultimately decide against publishing it, because it just wasn't funny enough, or worth it.

Also, it's given me time to edit and polish more. Since I now prefer editing to writing, I'm definitely going to miss that.

The reason why it has taken me just over five years to catch up though, is because of the discipline that I've found in blogging.

Generally speaking, all I'm trying to do here is simply keep a list of all the experiences that I have been blessed to enjoy in life.

Here in the UK, my Sundays have had a lot more leisure options to choose from, so my weekday posts have included many more reviews of movies, comics, books and CDs from my day off. Sometimes I've experienced those things specifically to blog about them, through which I've identified a certain streak of rule-governed behaviour. (which is something I consider unhealthy)

Still, although I've found weekday blogging to take much longer than the Sunday activities that I've been writing about, I am pleased to have remained busy, and cleared-out a lot of my long-term todo lists.

There are now hardly any films about which I can say "I must watch that one day." Likewise my comic collection. And I think Doctor Who is about to finish this Saturday.

I do have a few books to go, but I'm such a slow reader, and I only listen to CDs occasionally.

So, for the first time in five years, just what have I done today?

Well, obviously I logged-on this afternoon with the intention of writing this post.

However, I kid you not, literally just as I was opening up Word, the screen went blank, and the computer's fan fell silent.

Yes, this corner of London chose that exact moment at which to suffer a power-cut.

As it coincided with today's World Cup England match against Slovenia, Herschel reckons it was orchestrated by ITV, to improve England's chances of scoring.

Sure enough, in the 23rd minute, Jermain Defoe took us to a 1-0 victory securing our place in the next round.

To those of you reading this on 23rd June 2010, yup, you just read some news and a topical joke on here.

More as it happens.


Fig. 1: In Howick in April 2006, looking forward to catching-up in four-and-a-bit years' time.

PS. Would you believe, just as I clicked on "PUBLISH POST" at exactly 9pm this evening, Blogger flashed up a message saying that that date and time hadn't happened yet, and so it would embargo this post to publish it in the future! Have I caught up or what?! :)