Reality Me

Is this blogging on such a personal level a bad idea?

Certainly I’ve spilled much information that is not readily available about me; however, nothing I write is information that I would not willingly disclose in person. I lived a lot of my life being very careful to reveal as little about myself and my philosophies to those around me. My thinking was: Why trouble them with too much information about me? Why not get privilege by allowing them to make certain assumptions about my wealth, capabilities, etc? Simple answer: karmic debt, honesty, right from wrong, and so forth. Why not share information? To really know a person is to build trust.

I enjoy my life. I take pleasure in thinking that others might enjoy it also. Of course, the biggest bonus of the blog is that relatives who might get a call once a week or every few weeks and friends that would otherwise get a call a quarter or maybe a call around Christmas are now able to keep up with us day to day and share in the laughs and empathise with the challenges.

Shouldn’t life be more private?

Life happens once. I missed out on stories from family members and friends that are now dead and gone. I would love to read their lives. Perhaps one day my great grandchildren will enjoy some insight into my life and what it was like to live during these times.

Isn’t it crazy to reveal your debts? Isn’t that no ones business?

99% of my life is focused on getting out of debt. My day to day decisions are driven by my ability or inability to pay for something. My debt will decide if my kids go to college, decide if I get to retire, decide if I can provide extra opportunities for my family and so much more. The bulk of my stress is centered around the trap of high interest credit cards, the threats of lawsuits, loss of property, dollar driven lack of self-esteem in my children, debtors prison, etc. Why should my story of my battle with debt not be public? Hopefully it will come with a happy ending that doesn’t involve a lottery ticket. Any potential employer can pull my credit report. It’s all there.

Why not pick a topic and focus on your expertise? An online magazine effectively?

I could greatly enjoy that. However, that would be a different blog for a different purpose and right now I don’t have the luxury of adding that to my plate. I would expect a greater level of organization and effort from myself for such a publication.

Can’t this negatively affect your opportunities for jobs?

Most definitely! My writing is frequently negative. It’s easier to write when one is down. Look at all our most famous writers. They were depressed druggies and alcoholics running out to the woods to escape their troubles. For every negative thought I put down on paper or in a blog I have dozens of happy thoughts to counter it. I like to keep the happy thoughts in my head and let the negative ones out so they do hang around to trouble me. As for affecting jobs, peoples attitudes toward me, etc, well that’s just something they have to live with. My writing doesn’t change my talents and abilities. I’m not going to do something stupid like write about company secrets or risk breaching security by publishing work related information. I could easily see a hiring manager using the blog as an excuse to not hire; that would be dumb on their part. I’m a hard worker. Nothing changes that.

I am certainly never going to be running for president. I have not the lack of morals, the money, nor the education for such a position. The worst thing that could happen is that I get a job in Oak Ridge that requires a clearance and the blog comes into question.

Are you bothered that your enemies might revel in your hardships?

What enemies? And who cares?

Aren’t you wasting a lot of time?

Sometimes. But usually I blog when I’m otherwise unable to be working on anything else. Or I do it as that smaller reward for completing a task. I think anytime “wasted” is made up in staying in touch with those important to me, better communications with my wife, and having a searchable archive of my life. I have used my blog to look up dates and times of things that have happened as the information was needed in a phone call or a meeting. It makes for a great documentation tool.

Who asked these questions?

🙂 I did. I thought it funny. I also tried to imagine myself being interviewed say by some investigative reporter.

All software people need this displayed in their offices. That would be project managers, programmers, qa people, etc. Software Development Life Cycle