the other side of the mountain

I don’t remember exactly why I started blogging, but I imagine at the time I thought it would be a learning experience or something similarly high-minded.

I suppose in a way it has been, because I did learn at least one thing – i.e. that the surest way to draw the lurkers out of hiding is to write about bowel movements. In the more traditional forms of media, sex may sell, but when it comes to blogging, scatological ponderings attract responses like coiled nutty things draw disease-carrying insects. Hmm… the expression might need a bit of work. Something punchier, like, “If it’s brown, write it down” – actually, that’s not too bad.

At face value, this may seem odd, but peculiarity, like beauty, is very much in the mind of the beholder. If one can judge a society by the gods it worships, then it would appear that we (and by “we”, I mean e-society) worship the Almighty Turd. In hindsight, this should be pretty obvious: there’s a terrifying amount of shit online.

This blog has existed in one form or another since the beginning of 2005, which makes it a veritable Methuselah among its peers. In that time, I have witnessed the emergence and subsequent demise of many blogs. It is therefore with a certain wistful sadness that I recall the passing of the following – they gave me considerable pleasure while they lasted:

• A column inch
• Beelzebabe
• Boudica of suburbia
• Crayola diaries
• Divine miscontent
• I are wearing the jean pant
• I live in the third world. And love it
• Kevin’s arbitrary thoughts
• Lentula vitae
• Mahendra’s ties
• Moonflake
• My life… welcome to it!
• Ramblings of the fatman
• Reluctant nomad
• Riding the slipstream
• Something under the bed is drooling
• Ten miles beyond the city
• The (ex) granny wrangler
• The big wheel
• The South African insult
• and lastly, the other side of the mountain

Take care all. It’s been real