INTERESTS CHANGE

So why haven't I been writing? Well, perhaps that fire has gone out. Back in the old days, when I populated my previous blog with over one thousand articles, there was a fire behind that writing and it flowed so naturally. I never had to think about writing. I never had to think that I should write. I simply did it and, at the time, I had a lot to say. I remember I would even, while coming back from work at UFO, stop in my favorite Thai bar and post to my blog from my Sony PSP. Nowadays, though, I sit down on this blog and I feel I have absolutely nothing to say, at least that I want to write. As such, this may be my last post.

You know? People's interests change over time. As you know, I have been traveling for four years now. I've been through the Philippines, Korea, Japan and now China. Throughout this journey I have had many experiences, met many new and different types of people, and seen many things I could scarcely imagine before my departure. As a result, the things I was interested in back then hold little, if any, value to me today.

For example, I mentioned the Sony PSP earlier. When I first got mine, it was the coolest thing to ever come across my eyes. I played with it all the time. Anytime I crossed a WIFI hotspot, I was browsing the internet on it. I even did experiments with making comics specific for the PSP screen. I got rid of my PSP somewhere in the Philippines. When I was there, I was caught up in the adventure and spent very little time on my computer let alone on a device like the PSP. For months I didn't watch movies, anime, download anything or play a single game. Today I never even think about that device. I hear there is a PSVIta on the market. I only know about it because someone mentioned it in a forum I read. I still have never seen a picture of it. I don't even know what it looks like. That's how little interest I have in such things.

Let's talk about the iPhone. I got the first one that came out back in 2007. I even waited in the long lines which wrapped around buildings. At the time it really seemed worth it and, for a while, it was the coolest device I had ever owned. I did everything on it, even work on my site. Some may remember I had another site devoted to creating comics specifically for the iPhone screen. Two of those comics still survive in the media section on this site. As they say, though, all good things...

The iPhone was absolutely useless in Korea. They were on a different network standard, much faster than GSM or even 3G at the time. I couldn't even use it for a WIFI device because WIFI is simply not popular there. Their internet is the fastest in the world. Their phone networks are faster than any WIFI, so who would be interested in using it? Basically I had to travel miles to the one coffee shop I could find that had WIFI. Eventually I succumbed and, like everyone else, realized it is so much more convenient to do everything at lightning speed in any of the internet cafes which are found every few steps you take. All it takes is a slight shift in perspective to see how pointless some of the things we latch onto really are. I got rid of my iPhone a couple of years ago.

I should note that I am not knocking these devices. I still like gadgets and technology. I am particularly interested in tablets these days, especially if I can draw well on one of them. That fire, however, is not like it was when these two devices first came out and totally captivated me. I would not, again, consider creating content specific to a device like that. Who wants to bank on a device that may not even be here two years from now?

So what do these examples have to do with my writing? Well, in the same vein, my experiences during my travels, and the slight shifts in perception that come with them, had the same effect on my writing as on the toys I once loved. I would say the biggest shift was getting into Facebook. That was probably the beginning of the end for my writing. I spent so much time on there and was so connected with everyone it seemed only natural to update through those little one line status blurbs rather than writing a blog. Of course, now I no longer have access to Facebook, so once again I see how it is such a waste to get attached to any of these things.

After I arrived in China and new things were happening every day, I thought I would be excited to write about it, but that was not the case. Everything had already changed. The writing fire simply wasn't there. Maybe if I had a Twitter account I would throw little blurbs on there, but true blogging was no longer in me.

So what, then am I interested in?! Well, one thing I am certainly interested in is video. I may very well continue updating this site through the use of video. This may come in the form of a series like Anigen, or simple video updates, tips and information like the clips I do on Japancast.net. So I didn't mean to imply there would be no more updates to this site. I suspect they will simply be approached differently. Aside from that, I am very interested in drawing!

I have been drawing more in recent weeks than I have been in the last four years it seems. A lot of that is for the development of Paragon, but that is not the only project in the works at the moment. I am actually quite surprised how much I have still to learn as an artist. I am discovering great new things to this day. I suspect I will continue to make discoveries the more I create. I feel a challenge in it, and that is exciting. It makes me want to create more.

There are other things I am interested in, but, unfortunately, they have nothing to do with this site. I question the wisdom of ever bringing them into here. I also question the wisdom of creating other sites for such purposes. Operating too many sites was a great detriment to my creative output in the past. I don't plan to go down that road. Now that I am near the end of this post, I am more certain than I was at the beginning that this will be my last. Look for short video updates to follow!