Sixty-Three Days Remaining

10/29/15

I disappeared for a bit there.

I was sick again.

I've decided I don't like using that as an excuse. I've noticed that I regress a lot while I'm sick. I go to habits I long thought dead. It seems like an incredible weakness. It could well be the place where bad habits retake their root.

Stopping the bad habits I have is hard. Harder than I care to admit. It's a struggle that shows me how weak I really am. I'd rather not also have to face a relapse if I can build the infrastructure necessary to avoid it.

But that's not really the point of this post, Stephan.

The end of this year of "blogging everyday" is coming to an end. And I'm wondering how far behind I am on having an average of one blog post per day.

A quick hack to my html generation script should provide the answer I seek (though maybe I should probably make a better script for such statistics).

286, if I count this post.

How many days are we into the year?

302, counting today.

So, out of a goal so far of 302, I've managed 286 posts.

That's a solid A if I permit a regression to academic scoring (a regression I'll allow this once).

It's also not impossible to catch up at this point, by any means. In fact, if I simply required 2 extra posts per weekend (completely doable), I would catch-up by the end of the year.

And then, after those sixty-three days....

I'm not sure anymore.

I was going to do a year of drawing/visual art, but now I'm not so sure.

Don't get me wrong, Stephan, this year has been super valuable. And gaining that value even while "failing" to live up to a day's standard somedays has been quite... empowering. I'm not afraid of breaking the chain.

A post everyday led to a proper scope. Things weren't complete, per se, but things are never complete. There was a finality there. A self-containment. Sure, many posts assumed past reading. Few posts assumed future reading (though such posts did exist).

Posts this year approached a good unit of completion. Short enough in duration to adapt as necessary without too much lost work, but long enough to actually do things. More of such productivity will surely be my goal going into 2016, but I think a year's devotion to some arbitrary goal is not a necessary part of my growth.

Of all the things I'm thinking of doing in the coming year, the thing I feel most comfortable committing to is abandoning this site. Or rather, this site's infrastructure. I've learned a lot here, but I've also growth complacent with some things that should've been redone so long ago now.

I've heard that Louis C.K. and George Carlin got good by throwing away the old content (the person who told me that told me he got it from here, Stephan).

I like it. I'll build... something throughout the year, and then I'll abandon it at the end of the year as well.

We'll see what I think as the year comes up.