Friday, September 19, 2008

Reflections of a one year Old Blogger!!

It only starts with a match and fire. Before you know it , everything will burn.

One of the greatest changes to my thinking resulted from a discussion with the boys last weekend.What we chatted about could be summarized into this sentence: If my reality is a product of the blood and dreams of those that came before me, what can I do for those that will come after? Of all the ideas discussed, none was as captivating as the belief that some difference would not be possible unless we say so..
Thinking further about that statement made me aware of how much impact I can make to the world around me, without even knowing it. But why a change? Our experiences are metamorphosing at a rate faster than our society's capabilities. To prevent chaos we must transfer these changes to the world around us (a catalyst that makes this vicious cycle continues, until we evolve to a point where our collective mental state is at par with the environment around us).
I question my position in the grand scheme of things, and I realize how insignificant I am; I am referring to me, a product of the net generation. This is reflected in how different my perspectives is to those that dictate the harmony of my life. And I am not alone in this internal crisis.
Most Western economies,for example were built on a foundation of racial hatred ("our leaders must be protestant, white, heterosexual males"). African on the other hand, has a foundation where economic policies are influenced by politics and selfish interest. But we, the emerging product of a new world order, are different. There is something similar in how we speak; a similarity reflected in our writings. Passion, and a desire for something we cannot see, yet.

I didn't know what a blog was until June 2007. My first conscious encounter with one was with that of Jeremy. (Before then, I had probably seen some very disjointed stories and wondered what magazine the person worked for; I thought all writers were either established journalists or freelance writers) .A friend sent me an article that we found interesting. I read it and took no serious thoughts about who the dude was (till we met at a friend's place and struck me I had seen his face before). My clicking on the long forgotten bookmark is how my journey started. I observed the content of the articles and after a few days, I noticed a link called 'comments'. From this I came across the blogs of the in my head and around me lady and a weird bloke who named his blog Unaked Soul. Through this network, I also came across the writings of Good Nigerian Girl and the blogs of Vera (that babe don kolo since....LOL ).

To be honest, this type of writing is something I am new to; the art of 'expressive' writing. I termed it such because, the writer is required to use words as a medium in describing his opinion and personal conviction on an issue. My profession as a Management Analyst has put in place the discipline of unbiased opinion on external issues, business report writing style, and a step by step approach to reporting; thus makes this very hard to write in a fluid manner (I sometimes can be found demonstrating my idea with hand movements as I try to write sentences that makes cognate sense and is aligned with my personal compass, at the same time goes along with the story). Article of this kind could take me two straight hours of uninterrupted thinking (a rare instance for me in these "dark" NEPA days) to write and express something that will engage reader.
Arriving at present state was the result of continual transformation. The name, for example, has been changing. Previously, this blog was called:
  • The world as I see it (burrowed from Albert Einstein book of the same name)
  • Blogging my mind (from the previous url name which was www.bloggingmymind.blogspot.com)
  • Thinking Far>>>>
The concept and style of writing kept changing also. Since I don't have the time to do my own research, I use people's blog to determine my benchmark. I am super at look at things from a first principle basis then linking that idea with a critical issue under review; thus most of my post will try to relate the issues to fundamental units that everyone can relate with. Units that identifies cost/benefits. I have used other blogs to help refine the medium through which my concept is expressed
  • Jeremy's blog was helpful in pointing me out to contemporary Nigerian issues, as he effortless dug out articles from archives that I am still baffled how he found them out
  • I use the style of 'in my head and around me' to test how fluid my sentences are. I still haven't got her style yet but I am now falling in love with that of Vera.
  • Naked Soul's use of quote at the beginning of every new post is brilliant (which I adopted)
  • I am using GNG's rambles to develop my "Internal conversations**" (statements labeled in red) (**Internal conversations are meant to uphold my opinion of the idea with a comment that doesn't fit into the structure of the sentence in consideration. This word should be in Wikipedia if it doesn't exist as something else already.lol)
As I try to redefine better ways to express myself, I cannot help but notice that although all blogs seem to explain personal stories, there is always something this undertone that questions the norm. There is like this silent revolt against all that the establishment stand for. Institution that are not evolving rapidly enough to deal with our changing ideals and perceptions of the world around us.
It have been tolling with the idea of a wiki-blog, after I came across this blog. If a mega blog is built that any registered blogger can edit, how powerful would that idea be if all our skills are channeled towards one single idea? The impact of that can be so overwhelming that it could set the right energy in motion capable of engaging policy makers and project managers towards implementing the issues being deliberated about. This could be a thesis more powerful than what is present being pushed out of the ivory towers today. An idea backed with a passion, loads of humour, well-researched articles and a proposed practical solution can be a platform upon which academic ideologies can be transfered to the way our society runs. With passion, people in the corridors of power,NGO will discover practical ways to manage ideas they believe in (and edited) to develop and execute work plans. As people see the impact of their work in action, they get motivated to work more and with more peer to peer softwares available, the idea will spread like wildfire with everyone contributing their own conclusions and suggestions; no one can ignore the power to a concept something as little as a 'comma' can do.

We are all striving to achieve something. It might be on a very subliminal level but being every article, blog, comment writeup, there is this drive to change something no matter how mundane. It might be the mood of a reader, someone perception of us or an issue, or to draw our support a particular notion.
Once we know our capabilities and strength and focus on it, we would be capable of making the change that replicate our vision. With an idea, the right skills and passion, the mind of the world remains the conquest we must dominate.

12 comments:

Vera Ezimora said...

First!!

Vera Ezimora said...

2nd!!

Vera Ezimora said...

And 3rd too!

Vera Ezimora said...

Mr C, you called me kolo. You no dey fear o! lol. How pesin go siddon for her house jeje & some1 else go dey somewhere dey call am kolo?

In fact, if not that I'm in a very good mood right now, I would come down 2 Naija to show you my true color. No dey try me o, lol

Anyway, blogging is one heck of a hobby/committment. So many bloggers. So many blogs. So many posts to read. So many issues/topics to blog about. But sooooo little time. Where does one find the time to do it all? I am barely catching up myself. Bloggin ko easy @ all oh (err, hope my Yoruba is right. I'm still in training).

Anyway, thanx 4 mentioning me o! I'm feeling very special right now. I'm gonna sleep very well 2nite. In fact, lemme print this thing out and put it under my pillow. I will wake up @ 3am to read it again.

Mr C said...

I am sorry Vera,lol, I just couldn't resist the temptation.

I just turned 1 year blogging yesterday (Aso Rock suppose celebrate am) and I couldn't think of anything to do but write a post about the peps that influence my writing and my idea of the future of the Nigerian blogger's community.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your blogging anniversary, Mr. C! Like commenter 1, 2, 3, and 4 said, blogging is a committment. It's not easy to make the time to blog, especially when you set goals of the sort you have: to impact lives and people with your blog. The reason I say it's harder in your case is because it takes much longer to write something along the lines of what you write than to share something that happened to you that day or something that's annoying you (i.e. more mundane things).

This idea of a wikiblog is really interesting, and I'd be interested in seeing how it would work in the way you describe (as opposed to a collaborative writing exercise, which I understand 14th and Serenity was).

Mr C said...

Thanx for the words goodgirlnaija. Maybe when u come to Nigeria we would celebrate my one year anniversary in style. Lol.

With regards to the wikiblog idea, I think it is something I would really like to kick off. It is still in very fundamental stages of conceptualization. My hope is that someone who reads the post will push the concept further by contributing ideas in ways I can not think about.

Vera Ezimora said...

I forgot to say congrats on your one year anniversary. We musto celebrate am. Nkwobi go dey. Isi ewu go dey. Suya go dey. Big stout go dey. And of course, I, the chairlady go dey too. lol.

Mr C said...

Thanx dear.
Book ur ticket for the event.
I already started preparing the Ise ewu for the December event (which promises to be bigger than xmas).lol

Anonymous said...

To blog no be beans,you guys afre doing great job and i think Gos has called for you guys to be some form of change instrument, the change we seek is definitely coming....... You guys are contributing gradually but change may not be in our time bue all the same God bless us.
Mr C, me i like pepper soup and ponmo for the records.

Mr C said...

LOL. anonymous. You are welcome to come and chop (if u let us know who u are). wink* wink*

trae_z said...

congrats! good to see converts confessing it up. blog on!