Saturday 11 August 2001

Pic of the day: It is in the nature of the flower to grow until fall, even though it may break when the storms come. And so also with me.

Growing pains

Yes, I already have an established journal. In fact, I have a BIG journal. It has grown to such proportions that I no longer expect any one reader to read every entry. That is why I started color coding them last year: This way, different types of entries are easier to find. If you come for my editorials, you don't need to wade through my soaps and after shaves, my computer games and the adventures of my role playing characters. Conversely, if you come to see my daily life, you don't need to read about W. Bush, Alan Greenspan and Jens Stoltenberg. I accept that I am simply too productive for one single reader. As Lana Lang observed in John Byrne's reboot of Superman: A superman cannot be only for one. He belongs to the world.

OK, that was uncalled for. We shall return to my mortality soon enough. But first the big news of the day: I've started yet another journal! At LiveJournal. If you don't have a journal already (and I know some people don't) and you can't tell HTML from HTTP, I can tell you now from experience that it is easier and quicker than going to the corner store and buying a spiral bound notebook. You can ignore most of the features until you need them. Furthermore, there are no popups. No advertising frames. No advertising at all, actually. And it is free. If all you want is a diary, and you're dirt poor, and you don't have a lot of time ... go for it. (Of course, I can't guarantee it won't be bought up by AOL eventually, but one can always pray. Or pay. Both of which are entirely optional.)

When you've made your new livejournal, tell me and I shall link to you. (Actually, if you already have a journal, I may still link to you. I am generous that way. It is cheap and it makes me look saintly. :)

***

What in the world could possess me to create yet another journal when I have a huge one already? And what will happen to the Chaos Node?

Well, it all started on IRC, where I met some online friends (such as they are) from the Acid Reflux support group. I knew that one or two of them had a livejournal. Now there was some excitement over a slightly naughty quiz by SunTyger, a sympathetic but seemingly polyamorous young woman in the clique. Now I personally am closer to Lighthawk's view of love, but the fascinating thing was that her list of LiveJournal friends contained many people I knew from the Acid Reflux forum.

So I decided (gradually) to expand my operations to LiveJournal too. So much for simplification!

Since the Acid Reflux tribe know me slightly differently from my older friends and family, I may at least initially have a slightly different persona there. The porcupine I have been roleplaying will be more prevalent, I think. And above all, I intend to keep it quicker, simpler, less demanding. To read this journal here, you almost need to be a genius. Hey, you need to be a genius just to find it! The livejournal will (I hope) be Itland Lite, for the IRC generation. Very little attention span required. And you won't need a lunch break for each entry. (For each day however ... :)

***

The price is paid by my hand, wrist, shoulder, neck and upper back. These last few nights sleep has been cut short early in the morning as my neck pain wakes me up. The muscles seem to tighten up each night, and the mornings are not too fun. Depending on the workday, it may get better or worse. In the evening, it will get worse if I play Master of Magic (which is otherwise not too bad on the wrist) and improve if I don't use the computer much at all. Not that this happens often.

I don't know why my shoulder and neck get worse when I sleep. As I napped today, my upper arm got it and was in some pain for an hour or two. It may be that writing more and more will have a too high price for me to keep up in the long run. Especially if I have to type at work, which is even worse. Still, right now it is worth it. For the joy of expressing myself while I am still alive. The night comes when no one can work. As the saying goes: Eat right, exercize regularly, die anyway.

But until then, I keep building my "tower of babble". Enjoy with me! My livejournal. (Hint: Select calendar view at once! It is by far the most familiar.)