Coughing Up a Hairball

Yes, it's that time again ...

I like that cartoon and had it posted here on this page but after thinking about it and looking at the website where I snatched it (yep), I began to fear copyright violations and didn't want the cartoon people coming after me. (No, not actual cartoon people because they are not real.)

I've been trying to blog these last few days but keep getting distracted by something. If it's not other blogs and conversations, then it's just that something else comes along to pull me away from writing here. Maybe it's also that I haven't been able to really come up with something anybody but me would be interested in reading, and I do want to make your visit here worthwhile.

So much of what I think about is of limited interest to others. In one hour, I'll be listening to my daughter's Internet radio show*, which she is doing with a friend this semester. (Last semester, she had her own show.) She left the house excited this morning, excited in a way different from the excitement she had last semester on the days when she was doing her own show. There really is something about the energy of collaboration with another person.

This is one thing, I think, that keeps me from blogging more often. It's just me here, writing to myself and hoping someone will come along and read it. Of course, it turns into a conversation when someone comments, but not until then. Once the conversation gets started, though, a mutual admiration society often ensues. People who "relate" to what you said chime in with some related nugget, which then changes the flavor and flow into something different.

Or, sometimes a contrary wind blows in if you say something that either comes across as somehow offensive or wrong or maybe just needing another perspective, for balance. For example, I am fairly sure that happiness is a state of mind more than just about anything else. It comes and goes, like all other states of mind. But I don't own the definition of happiness, so ... chances are, if you see it differently, you might say, "Hey, not so fast there, missy...."

I also find that comfort is nearly impossible. You know, being comfortable. I mean, you can go to great lengths to achieve comfort in your life by wearing clothes that feel good, or by using this or that appliance or device to enhance your experience. But as far as lasting comfort, I have been unable to find it. There is always some discomfort lurking in the background, sometimes out in full force in the foreground. It might be physical, or mental, or emotional, or some combination of all of these; but there never seems to be a time when I feel really comfortable.

I sometimes think this is just part of the plan here. You know, the whole "being human" shtick. If we get too comfortable, resting on our laurels and all that, we stagnate. So, we keep moving to avoid that stagnation and to (we hope) feel a little bit more comfortable in our discomfort.

Here I go speaking for you again! When I say "we" I am assuming you have thoughts that are similar to mine. Maybe you feel very comfortable and it wouldn't occur to you to even talk about it. Who knows.

Well, anyway, I hadn't blogged in awhile and wanted to just come say hello. (Hi.) I hope your year is getting off to a good start! Thanks for stopping by.


*The name of the show is actually Eigenvectōr, but (as of this writing) the website is not yet updated with the new information.