Balancing Act

According to feedback from multiple sources, I’m too negative on my blog. Well, considering what I have to work with, there’s not much I can do to fix that. I post fluff articles to put a buffer zone between the unhappy posts about reality. “Hey, what if I had a whole post about Alien vs. Predator and the marriage of the franchises?” Then everybody complains about how frivolous the blog is and sometimes even insults me for it. Then I post “Frivolity” to acknowledge that. Then some of these more lighthearted posts get deleted simply because they are just too stupid to begin with—and, of course, because somehow they inevitably mutate and turn against their creator in a very ugly and combative way. “All right, let’s take Tim’s blog and talk about how Christianity is going to destroy the world.”

Sometimes the blog sounds depressing and miserable because I am miserable, and there’s no way to disguise that for very long. But what’s the point of a “Woe is Me” blog? As the good Captain says, “Everybody’s life sucks. Nobody wants to read about how yours sucks more than theirs.” (What can I say, the Captain is a compassionate guy.)

Moreover, the dark/dry humor is apparently lost on many of you. Like the post titled “Holy Crap.” I wasn’t actually demoralized, for crap’s sake! How did you miss that?! Dr. Gooch always said, “I need to hold up a sign that tells you when I’m being sarcastic.”

And sometimes someone leaves a comment so obviously hurtful or mortifying that I think to myself, “That should have been reserved for a private email. That was totally uncalled for, and in such a public venue.”

I try to strike a balance on the blog: sincerity, absurdity, hostility, tranquility, practicality, frivolity, and… um… whimsic… al… ity.

Yes, “sincerity” tends to mean talking about a bleak outlook (recently, anyway). Please keep in mind that I am trying to find positive things to blog about. I don’t want to lose any readers, but I can’t spin straw into gold.

The blog will continue as normal. Take the bad with the good.