Ignoring Austin Powers' advice

You know that scene in Austin Powers where he's concerned about going back in time while he's still frozen back in time.



You know how they say don't worry about it and just enjoy yourself? Yeah, I did the opposite of that in this post. No, not about Austin Powers (maybe someday) but I made the mistake of thinking about something and worrying about it.  

Keeping a blog like this is, inherently, a narcissist act.

It's not like other writers who actually get paid. Journalist, authors and the like have a market for their work and people pay them for their writing, whether it be reporting for a magazine or newspaper or a book or an opinion piece or a work of fiction.

But I do this for fun. And there's nothing wrong with doing things just for fun.  I have a modest but growing collection of board games that my family and friends get together and play fairly regularly. It's enjoyable to get with a group of friends and play games.

I also enjoy sitting on the couch after my family's gone to bed and watching a baseball game. Being by myself, the solitude (well, solitude + my internet friends) having fun watching a ball game.

But writing is different. As much as I enjoy it, there's something incredibly self-centered in thinking that anyone cares what I have to say (which, most often, is nothing of consequence.) There's literally no reason for me this stuff down.

That's not to say writing, in general, is a self-centered act. If behavioral economist (and recent Nobel Prize winner) Richard Thaler writes a book about behavioral economics, then that's probably worth reading if you're interested in that field. If Ta-nehisi Coates writes about racism in America, it's going to be well researched and while you may disagree with the conclusions, you'll know it was founded on facts and the historical record. Experts in their field writing about their field are inherently worth reading.

That's not what I do. The closest thing I have to anything well researched on this blog is my treatise on the Barenaked Ladies song "If I had $1000000" which is not likely to win any prizes in the foreseeable future.

I guess this is a long, rambling way to say I don't know why you read my little blog here, but thank you for finding it worth your time to do so.