Tag Archives: Blogging

Missed connections – years apart

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Missed ConnectionsIn the past few days, I’ve had a couple of missed connections return into my life after many years.

The first was a guy I talked about in a post on this blog, and in my brief life as a podcaster. We met at a bar and hit it off great. We were going to get together for a date, but one roadblock came up after another, and we never did go out. We did remain friends though, and he ended up in a relationship.

A couple of days ago, I found that old podcast file and listened to it again. First, I thought how glad I was that I didn’t continue as a podcaster— It really wasn’t my forte. But second, I got to wondering about this guy and what was up with him.

The next day… the VERY next day… he signed up for an audition with the chorus.

Now is the universe telling me something? I don’t know. But I’m interested to see what happens here.

The second missed connection was a guy I met on gay.com many years ago. He lived in Chicago and then moved to Hawaii for a while. I found him recently on a, ahem, gay-related site, and we chatted and texted back and forth for most of the day. We might be getting together soon.

What’s with all these years-apart missed connections coming back into my life? I’m intrigued by this latest universal intervention. We shall see how it all plays out.

Seven-Year Blogoversary (For Real)

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Back in March, I wrote a nice little post about how I was celebrating my Seven-Year-Blogoversary.  I wrote it, checked it, and posted it.  I even got a few comments.

And then I did something I thought was silly at the time– I checked back on my blog to the very first post, and something occurred to me.

I was wrong.  My Blogoversary wasn’t until July.

Oops!

Down came the post, and into the drafts folder (with the hundred or so other drafts I either started and never finished, or wrote and thought were not good enough for posting) it went.

Well that day has finally come.  Seven years ago, I fired up the old Compaq, found my way to Blogger, and started a blog.  It wasn’t much then, and truth be told, it isn’t much now– but it was, and is, mine.

I actually forgot that I had started my blog in 2004, when blogging was just starting to gain popularity.  Back then, even Perez Hilton, Andy Towle and Arianna Huffington were mere blips on the blogosphere.  Feast of Fools/Fun had not even begun to podcast (and podcasting had not even been invented).  JoeMyGod was just another up-and-coming gay blogger.

Some of my favorite bloggers are still around, like Tuna Girl, Pua, Scott and Jake (my true-blue Blog Daddy).  Others who have left their blogs behind I have reconnected with on Facebook.  A few have disappeared into thin air.  While we’re still in touch for the most part, I can’t help but have sentimental thoughts about those days on Tribe, (yes, it’s still there!) when the community was really starting to take off.  Those were magical, exciting times.  I’m proud to have been a part of it.

I’m glad I’m still here, too.  It’s nice to have a place where I can look back and remember things I did, people I met, and places I went.

You never know, someday I may need those reminders.

Welcome!

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Hello there!  Glad you found me here…

I will be moving my blog here permanently as of September 1. All of my posts and (eventually) all of my comments will be moving here as well.

I decided to close my blog at my hosted WordPress.org site because I just wasn’t using it anymore, and frankly, it didn’t make sense for me to continue paying for the bandwidth and storage when I wasn’t using it. I guess this means I have finally sounded the death knell on my blogging experiment. Well, almost.

You see, I have noticed that I am using Facebook more and more for my blogging needs. Everyone I knew from my blog is there, my friends are there, my family is there, and even a lot of my old schoolmates are there. It just made sense to pay attention to one thing instead of spreading it all about numerous things. Blogging has evolved, and it’s turned into something completely different than when it started. It’s much more content-rich and interactive than it ever was. And it includes things like Facebook and Twitter. Those are the places where my enthusiasm lie these days, so why not just pay attention to that?

Of course, WordPress.com is free, so I can, and may, still post here. And I am keeping my rcktman.com domain name. Which will be extra handy, because when everything is done, you no longer will have to add the “/blog” – just type “www.rcktman.com” to get here.

But even though this is the “end,” it’s still sort of sad. My blog has been there for me through a lot of good and bad times. And those who read it were there the whole time through. I’ll miss those early days, when we were a new and exciting community, just starting out. But I’m thankful that those who were a part of the community then are still a part of my world today.

So this is not the end. It is not goodbye. It’s just… a transition.

And that’s where I’ll leave things for now.

Resurrection (Part 1)

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I know what you’re thinking.

“I’m leaving!” “I’ll be seeing you.” “I’ll be around.” “Don’t miss me too much.” “Blah blah blah blah blah.”

Yeah, I know. I said it was forever. I said I was done, I was moving on, and I was through.

And I know I said I had a lot of things going on and I needed to cut things out to concentrate on things that mattered. I know, I said it.

Turns out, however, that this mattered too.

Truth be told, when I shut this blog down, I was entering a very dark period in my life. Ironically though, I didn’t even know it at the time.

In my last post, I said that I was moving, and I needed to concentrate on that whole process, as well as focus my energy on new tasks that had come before me. All of that was true, and is still true as of this writing. In fact, as of this moment I have still NOT moved.

I hope you have a few minutes.

My intention at the outset was to move in with a friend and share a two- or three-bedroom apartment. I wanted to cut expenses and possibly save some money for the first time in a very long time. When I wrote my goodbye here, that plan was pretty well-set, and things were looking pretty good.

But on March 1, that all changed.

Just a couple days before March 1, I had informed my landlord that I was moving a month early. My future roommate was already scoping out places, and we were set to start looking at them and getting things squared away. When I told her the situation, she was fine with it; knowing how difficult things had become for me at this location, and how I needed to start cutting back. Plus it would give her time to make whatever renovations needed to be made here (and there are plenty, believe me) in time for a new tenant to move in for May 1.

But when I woke up the morning of Saturday, March 1, I got an Email from my future roommate, telling me that he had to back out of the plan. He had recently experienced some changes in his life, and decided it was better for him to live on his own. He was sorry for putting me in a bad spot, but he had made his decision.

While I understood his reasons– he had told me what happened about a week prior to his Email, which I am not going to repeat here– to say it put me in a bad spot was grossly understated. I had a full-out panic attack. Here I was, a month before my move-out date… a month earlier than I had previously expected… and I had no roommate, no apartment, and nothing in the works. I was back at square one, and it was not a good feeling.

I called my landlord back and told her the situation, but she said she had made preparations to start reconditioning my unit, so she wanted to stay with April 1. I was stuck. I couldn’t stay any longer. I had to move.

(Part 2 tomorrow)

Who are you?

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I’m just a bundle of curiousity here… so I have to ask:

You– who is reading this right now.  Who are you?  

How did you find this blog?  Are you a blogger as well?  How long have you been blogging?  

Do you know me personally?

Now come on… don’t be shy.  

Tell me in the comments.  Cause I’m simply DYING to know. :)

OK, maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic… but I really do want to know who you are!

Thanks! :-)

*Yawn* … Good morning!

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So, I’m back from my hibernation, and it was a lovely rest.

And things look different.  Again.

You’ll see that I have once again changed the look of The Launching Pad.  You’ll also notice that the name of The Launching Pad has changed.  I’m all about change.

Summer is drawing to a close, and I’ve been getting the itch to blog again.  So I took a look at things and decided it was time to do some house-cleaning… again.  If you’ve visited here before, you’ll notice that the sidebars are gone. There’s nothing but posts and comments, folks.  It’s clean and neat and to the point – just the way it should be.  I took the inspiration from the Tumblelog movement that is occurring – I figured why re-invent the wheel– just re-tool it a little bit.

Of course, if you REALLY want all that sidebar goodness, just hover over “Navigation” at the top and, like magic, they will appear.  So that’s where you’ll find my blogroll (which is being heavily trimmed, by the way), feed info, and other stuff that used to be on the main page.

I’ve also deactivated the PostReach comments – those little icon thingies at the end of every post that allowed readers to make wordless comments.  I decided that if you want to comment, you can write a line or two telling me what you think.  Plus they just didn’t match the feng shui of the new look. :-)

**UPDATE** I’ve also just converted my comment system to Disqus, at the recommendation of a fellow blogger.  Disqus allows a lot of really great features including comment threading and video comments.  Fun fun fun!!!  So you have no excuses– commenting is fun again! :)

So I’m back – and what’s been up?  Well, in all honesty, I’ve been spending more time with my friends and family, and just trying to spend LESS time in front of a computer monitor.  I spend 8+ hours, five days a week, in front of a computer.  I needed a break from that on my own time.

That’s not to say I haven’t been spending time in front of my computer.. I’ve just been doing different things.  My latest obsession is SingSnap.  In case you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically online karaoke.  My friend Teddy clued me into it a few months ago, and in just those short few months, I’ve become something of a rising star there.  I’m not saying I’m ready for a record contract or anything, and I’m much too old for American Idol… but it’s been rather fun, and it’s been a better waste of time than looking at porn or cruising the gay meat markets.

Other than that, I’ve gone camping a couple of times, and spent a lot of time with my friends.  And, of course, I’ve spent more time with my family and my adorable nieces, Abby and Emily.  I can hardly believe they’re already 6 months old… and getting cuter by the minute.

So I’m back, I’m refreshed, and I’m looking forward to a new direction for my blog.  Posts will be shorter.  Photos will happen more often.  And I’m just going to have fun with it.  And like before, if I have nothing to say, I won’t be posting.  I decided that I really like being a part of this world, and I didn’t want to leave it… I just wanted to make it what I want it to be.  Having all of you is just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Here’s a few pictures to get things started… See you soon!

Market Days Madness under the Rainbow Pylons!

Market Days Madness under the Rainbow Pylons!

Camping in Saugatuck - with new and old friends!

Camping in Saugatuck - with new and old friends!

Beth with Emily and Abby at Grandmas house

Beth with Emily and Abby at Grandma's house

I might as well just make it official…

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I’m taking a brief sabbatical.  I’ve been having a really fun summer – between traveling to Michigan to more frequent visits with the family and my nieces, making new friends and having fun with other friends, things have been pretty busy for me lately.  I keep wanting to blog about what’s been going on, but to summarize everything would either take too many posts or make one extremely long and boring post.  So… in the interest of just enjoying myself and coming back when I’m ready, I’ll officially say that I’m on hiatus for now.

If something incredibly urgent comes up, I’ll post, but until then… see you in the fall! :-D

Has Blogging Jumped the Shark?

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Recently, I found myself engaged in a rather intellectual and even stimulating conversation with a fellow blogger about the future of blogging. Our discussion was borne from his concern that blogging has gone past its prime, or, in his words, “jumped the shark,” therefore he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue with his blog.

I could see his point.  I’ve actually thought for some time that blogging has seen better days.  The excitement and enthusiasm we all had four years ago is not there like it used to be.  Many people we knew back then have disappeared into the mist, or moved on to other projects.  Many can be found on social networking sites like Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku and identi.ca.  Others stick to the worlds of MySpace, Facebook and even Friendster.

So why are so many people abandoning the blogging platform?  Is it because blogging as a platform has become so mainstream that it has practically replaced the normal website as the standard platform for relaying information?  Or is it because the “big shots” of blogging have become so big that there is no more room for the “little guys” that helped start it all?

I tend to think it’s a little of both, mixed with a glut of options in the social networking world.  Sites like Twitter, Plurk and Jaiku barely scratch the surface of what’s available out there today.  A visit to ping.fm, a global status updater for social networking sites and IM programs, shows a list of 21 different social networking options available, as well as 8 IM/other services.  That number is not even comprehensive – there are probably dozens more out there that are just starting up, or haven’t quite caught on yet.

One of these is tumblr.com.  Tumblr is a tumblelog site, much like Blogger or WordPress.com, that takes blogging and shrinks it down into bite-sized posts – larger than a 140-character Twitter or Plurk post, but shorter than a typical blog post.  Some people say that the future of blogging is in tumblelogging, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s not just another fad to add to the pile.  While blogging has absolutely caught on as a medium and is, in my mind, here to stay; it seems that the glut of new options will eventually consume the market so much that nobody will know what to go with anymore.

Besides, keeping up with these networking sites alone gets to be more of a headache than it’s worth.  At present, I have accounts on Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku, indenti.ca, MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and other services like Bebo and LinkedIn.  Additionally, I have accounts at AIM, GoogleTalk, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Messenger.

And then, of course, my blog.

That’s a hell of a lot of crap to keep up with.

So is blogging truly past its prime?  Or are we over-extending ourselves with options so much that we give up trying to keep up?

Maybe it’s best to just go back to the old fashioned way of journaling – with a notebook and a pen.

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Blogoversary: 4 Years Later, Still Blasting Off

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I remember it fairly well.

It was a summer’s evening much like this one.  I was reading my friend Jake’s blog, NoFo, and thought to myself, “I can do this.  Hell, I like to write.  I’m always writing stuff.  Why not do it on one of these Blog things?”

And in just a few short minutes, my first blog was born.

I’ve been on quite a journey since then.  I’ve traveled to new and familiar places.  I’ve shared many different facets of my life.  I’ve shared photos and memories and stories from my past.  I’ve lived through the death of my father and the birth of my nieces.  I’ve shared dating horrors and successes, and frustrations with the whole wide world.  I dabbled in podcasting, and became a more active member on another popular podcast.  And along the way I’ve met lots of great bloggers, made friends with others I have never met in person, but consider all of them very dear friends.

Four years later, I’m still blogging, though not as often as I used to.  And while my attention has been split in many other directions, I will always continue this presence as the “grand central station” for everything about little ol’ me. 

I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, and honored to be among the ranks of blogging “seniority.”  It’s been a pleasure for me, and I hope it’s been a pleasure for you as well.

So thank you for accompanying me on this journey.  It’s far from over.  In fact, I dare say, it’s only just begun.

UPDATE:  Ironically, this is also my 1,000th post.  Wow!

Re-igniting the fire

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Full Moon Festival
Fire twirler at the Full Moon Jam, Foster Beach, Chicago.

I’m back.  Did you miss me?

It’s ok, you can say no.  I won’t be mad.  Really, I won’t!

After all, I’m the one who practically abandoned my own blog– you didn’t do anything. 

So yeah I took a little break.  I needed it.  Badly.  I won’t get into the whole story of why I was gone for so long.  Just know that I needed the break, and now I’m back and feeling a lot more energized.

So what’s been up with me lately? 

Well for starters, I’ve been hanging out with friends again, keeping busy with work, watching my beautiful nieces grow up like weeds (see the pictures below), meeting new friends, cleaning up my financial situation, and preparing for an exciting summer.

And that was only in the last week or two.

I’ve also dealt with a horrible case of writer’s block for the past few months.  So instead of pressuring myself to come up with something witty or clever or not-so-depressing, I chose to chill for a while. 

But now I feel like the clouds are clearing and brighter days are ahead.  So time to sally forth and see what happens.

Thanks for coming back. 

 Me with Emily

Abby with Grandma Aiello