Blog 2000: An Interview with Myself

With the summer solstice nearly here, another milestone was reached today.

Photo by Andrew Perfetti

Ennyman: Today is your 2000 daily blog entry. That’s quite a streak you have going. How does it feel?
EN: Actually, I think there are about a half dozen days I didn’t blog. Maybe once a year or so (I started five years ago) I would skip a day in order to relieve the pressure to keep it going, in case there was a day I didn’t have anything to say or didn’t have internet access. There were a few days I posted twice, though, I don't know if that means anything other than I don't want to feel boxed by a law that demands one entry a day, no more and no less.

Enny: Still, it must take a certain amount of discipline to blog daily like that for over five years.
EN: Actually, I started a dream diary in seventh grade that I kept up daily till I finished high school. After college I started journal writing. As I’d been journal writing daily for thirty years as a way to start my day, I suppose starting each day with a blog entry is similar form of discipline.

Enny: What differentiates your blog from the gazillion other blogs out there in the internet universe?
EN: I started the blog out of curiosity. I wanted to see what blogging actually was all about. After researching hosting platforms I favored Google Blogger to Microsoft’s Wordpress due to ease of use. Then I had to make decisions about content. I initially decided to transcribe thoughts from my thirty years of journal writing and add illustrations to set my blog apart. Most writers are not artists and vice versa, I felt at the time. Before long I discarded the use of my journals as a startpoint because I found blogging such a natural thing to do I didn’t need the crutch to lean on.

Enny: How has the blog evolved since you started it?
EN: Initially I wrote about anything and everything, whatever I was thinking about that morning when I woke up. My interests are fairly broad so the subject matter was all over the place. Eventually, because I had produced so many pictures to illustrate my blog a few friends said I should have an art show. This led to my becoming more serious about my art. (I had been an art major in college.) It also led to the narrowing of focus to being more about the arts and especially the local arts scene rather just about me.

Enny: You don't seem to mind talking about yourself sometimes though. I mean, you're interviewing yourself here this morning.
EN: And I interviewed myself once before as well, but generally I attempt to approach my subject matter as a journalist would, in a somewhat objective way that gives readers some kind of take-away at the end, including this silly exercise here today.

Enny: Any suggestions that would help others who are getting started as bloggers?
EN: Be patient. Be consistent. Keep at it. Have something worth saying and continually care about those you are writing for. I gotten to know many interesting people through this experience. 

Enny: I see that you make references to Dylan a lot. In what ways has Dylan influenced your life?
EN: I wrote about this during Dylan days. If I find the link I will post it.

Enny: What other kinds of music do you listen to? It’s not all Dylan, is it?
EN: Hardly. Bluegrass, jazz, classical… Arlo, Miles, classic rock like the Beatles, Stones, the Who, Joe Cocker… and some new age stuff. But yes, a lot of Dylan.

Enny: Over the years you’ve done a lot of movie reviews as well. What are some of your favorite films of all time?
EN: That’s such a hard question. So many great films. Here are a few I have watched five times or more… Groundhog Day, Zelig, A River Runs Through It, No Country For Old Men, Educating Rita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick's Paths of Glory, Beetlejuice, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, It's a Wonderful Life, The Mission, The Truman Show, Vanilla Sky...

Enny: What about authors… Who have been your biggest influences?
EN: Jorge Luis Borges, Hemingway and Andre Gide. 

Enny: How much of your blog content is true and how much is fiction?
EN: To some extent this interview is probably fiction. I am projecting an image of myself that is the ying side of my yang, or the visible fruit and leafy part of a tree which has an equally complex roots system. But it is what it is.

Enny: Is it a challenge working full time and trying to be a blogger and artist? 
EN: It would be more challenging to not be working full time. At least I have the money to buy art supplies and a work space, among other things. I think if I had more time I would read more, but there are only so many hours in a day.

Enny: Do you have any regrets?
EN: Yes. There are things I've said that I wish I'd never said and people I have hurt that I wish I didn't hurt. And decisions I made that I wish I didn't make. But we start anew every day and do the best we can. That's what I like about the movie Groundhog Day. Today's another day. Maybe I can do it better this time.

Thanks to all who have encouraged me on this blog journey over the years. It meant a lot to me every time.