Monday, September 28, 2009

The Monday

Two years ago, I thought that it would be fun to make up an is-it-or-isn't-it quiz about Shakepeare plays. In order to have a reason to do this, I created the Thursday Quiz. That turned out to be so much fun that I came up with the Monday Quiz a few months later.

Having the Quizzes quickly changed the nature of keeping a blog. Not only did I have to make sure that I had material ready for every Monday and Thursday, but I had to have something ready for every Tuesday and Friday as well -- new content that would mark the end of the Quizzes. Throw in a little something on Wednesdays and most Saturdays, and I had committed myself to daily publication.

Which has been great! Obviously I don't mind shooting my mouth off, and a surprising number of y'all have been willing to read my material, or at least skim it, or at least click through to boost my number of hits and make me feel like the time spent has not been completely ridiculous.

The problem with blogging, though, is much like the problem of college. You meet all of these brilliant and engaging people, you develop a big crush on the sheer quality of their prose, you get all excited when you realize they are reading you too -- but then they move on, their life in the biospace gets more interesting or more stable or more demanding, and suddenly you realize that they haven't posted since April. You make new friends, but often lose the old.

And now I feel like I'm more or less running into the biospace problem myself. I've noticed myself neglecting some of the responsibilities of the middle-class, middle-aged dude -- the house, the yard, the bland conformity -- because I "have to" make sure there's something ready for the blog. Which would be fine, if the spring that runs the blog -- the Quizzes -- was something fresh, new, and innovative. But you and I know that I've long since used up the best topics; to a certain extent, I've been in reruns since about TQXL.

So here it is Monday, but without a Monday Quiz. I'm sure this bugs me more than it bugs you, but if there's any letdown, we apologize for the inconvenience. Perhaps I should also apologize, though, that tomorrow -- Tuesday -- will bring yet another of the unpopular Great Movies reviews. And a long one. E.T. Because I'm not going for the clean break and just shutting this puppy down. No, I'm just trying to shut down my feeling of obligation to it. In particular, the ongoing projects -- Great Movies, The Reading List -- will continue. The Bible blog and the Shakespeare blog will keep plodding along, too.

The only other change to business as usual is that you'll have to do a robot check when entering comments now. I'm sick to death of weeding out the cretinous Taiwanese spam. Have a great Monday!

16 comments:

fingerstothebone said...

Hey, how do you know it's the cretinous Taiwanese spam and not cretinous mainlander spam? (Traditional vs. simplified doesn't always distinguish the two.)

fingerstothebone said...

And hey, I didn't get a robot check...is the robot sick?

fingerstothebone said...

Oh, and I forgot, the most important question -- I'm not all clear whether this is a permanent condition of the MQ, or if you're just taking this week off?

Rebel said...

There are way too many obligations in life... blogging should NOT be one of them, hobbies of any sort should not turn into obligations. So just write what you want to write and call it good. Even if you do want to write about movies so old & boring that *you* don't even really enjoy them. ;) =P

Elaine said...

We'll still be interested in what you have to say, M5000! and Bravo for taking control; there are enough obligations in life without creating more.

No doubt you will continue to find Bloggable Moments-- babies that need names, snippets of overheard conversation, moppets in toy stores-- to share with us.

Oh, and *I* do not see the robot, either.

Nichim said...

Oh, thank heavens. Because I was just half-awake, needing to get to my co-op shift relatively on time, and thinking "oh, jeez, Monday Quiz, aargh." I didn't want to do it, and I'm pleased to see that neither did you.

Michael5000 said...

@fingers: When it says things like "peace and love from Taiwan" and "please support earthquake victims in Taiwan" and what-not, I regard it as a clue.

The Robot appreciates your concern; at the last second I decided that he won't check you the day of the post.

And: permanent -- I wouldn't have written seven paragraphs just to take the week off.

@Nichim: You never HAD to take the Quiz, you know.

Anonymous said...

你想選擇一位大陸新娘 外籍新娘的話,請進入我的網站也許就是你一生中最好的選擇。
納豆 保健食品要如何選擇呢?
選擇現代生活中最好的運動就是瑜珈,要選擇瑜珈就要先了解瑜珈教室設備、師資及瑜珈教學喔!
高雄瑜珈中的簡善琳瑜珈教室是南部地區最完善的瑜珈教室耶^^
MOTEL就是汽車旅館,它是提供情人溫馨休息住宿的好地方,到台中住宿時別忘了到台中汽車旅館看看喔!!!
台中乳酪蛋糕中禾雅堂乳酪蛋糕提供讓您難忘的蛋糕口味,除了chocolate蛋糕之外還有中秋禮盒多種樣式。
選購服飾潘朵拉日韓服飾有日系服飾服飾批發流行服飾及韓國服飾。
外籍新娘 大陸新娘 越南新娘這些都是一生一世最專業的服務與選擇。
您在尋找墾丁旅遊網資訊嗎?畯富包車旅遊提供阿里山旅遊 高雄縣旅遊 高雄租車 高雄計程車 高雄一日遊 機場接送等專業服務,高雄旅遊 墾丁旅遊超值網站。
僑泰裝潢廚具網是全台最大的居家生活廚具網站有廚具 廚具工廠 系統傢俱 傢俱 裝潢 抽油煙機以及系統櫃歐化廚具 室內設計作品與免費室內設計喔!
網路行銷是網站曝光的首要指標,如何能讓網站排名於首頁是需要靠SEO技術與專業,當然關鍵字的選擇就格外重要了,這是決定瀏覽者在搜尋行銷中唯一的方向。網路行銷seo
你了解整形有哪些手術?整形外科一定要具有專科證照醫師才是基本要素。隆乳 果凍矽膠是目前市面上最好的材質!
汽車隔熱紙 大樓隔熱紙有何差異?隔熱紙不是係數越高效果就會越佳喔!

Elizabeth said...

Never do anything that isn't fun any longer unless you're getting paid to do it. Or your mother tells you to do it.

Definitely do it if your mother is paying you to do it.

Eversaved said...

Well, I guess I'll have to find a new bi-weekly way to kick my self-esteem down a notch.

But other than that, I support the decision. Why create obligations when there are enough real ones out there, anyway? And plus maybe this way you will have more time to write vignettes, which are always my favorites anyway!

I'm currently rebelling against my blog, as well, although I haven't completely abandoned it quite yet. I understand.

d said...

well, that's it for me. i'm never coming back here again.

i, for one, have enjoyed the quizzes quite a bit, but i can totally understand why you are weary. there's no reason on earth that blogging should feel obligatory. if it's not fun, don't do it.

Aviatrix said...

Maybe you can make it a once a month quiz. Weekly is pretty ambitious. I have been blogging almost daily for several years now. At first it was daily because that was a limit I set for myself NO MORE THAN ONCE A DAY!

Now I often break posts across multiple days, but the readers don't mind. My old posts were often too long.

Jenners said...

The robot missed one!!!

I just started getting that crap on one of my posts.

I haven't been blogging as long as you but I've already felt the sense of obligation and the ups and downs. I think the key is to do what YOU want and just hang the rest. No one is paying you, right? So don't worry about it and do what you want, when you want. : )

Michael5000 said...

I told the robot to let one through, just to make my point.

boo said...

I have often wondered how you managed to do it. The quizzes are so well constructed.

I think if my family, my mother in particular, were not to read my blog that I would have given it up entirely in the last few months. I am glad I didn't even if I have cut back substantially from the days of daily blogging. And I am glad you haven't given it up.

For me it is bouts of depression that keep me from reading and writing. And though I am too old to be so concerned about what my mother thinks, I don't want her worrying about me so I don't blog about it. I swear it is the same kind of sneaking I did when I was a teenaged delinquent!

I don't blog about depression, shootings, injuries or financial difficulties all so she doesn't read it and pass the dim news on to my father whose stress issues have caused him fairly serious health issues.

I have erred on the side of caution and in doing have become one of the most boring slacking bloggers and readers on the planet. And for that I apologize.

But know that you are in my reader and I have read when I can even if I don't leave comments or tracks, I appreciate the time you put into this and love your writing and observations.

If you never did another quiz again, I would still enjoy reading your blog. And am still agog at how you can keep up with it all.

Bridget said...

Be free!!