One Click Might Change Your Life

The Shmata Queen and I once had a conversation about whether I needed to be more strategic with my blog posts. The idea was to be more focused on a particular topic and to try to secure a better SEO ranking for certain topics.

We wondered if it might be faster, easier and more effective way to build the readership. Narrow the focus, establish expertise in certain areas and expand outwards from there.

It was and is an idea worth thinking about. There is merit in it and sometimes I think the smart move would be to focus upon it but by gum if I did I would miss out on the opportunity to highlight some fabulous old posts from the past.

“In its native habitat the penis is primarily a nocturnal creature who operates with stealth and guile under the cover of darkness. Sometimes when it is surprised it attempts to hide by trying to blend in with its immediate surroundings. In a bathroom situation that involves immediately cutting of the flow of urine so as not to make any noise or leave a trail that can be followed by hunters or animals employed by hunters such as the penis hound.”  The Germophobe

One Click Might Change Your Life

Some years ago I received an email from someone who quoted the section above and said that I was a sick degenerate. I wrote them back and suggested they speak with my doctor who would assure them I was a very healthy degenerate.

I don’t recall if they responded but I am fairly certain I suggested they read the Germophobe in its entirety because they had taken the quote out of context and twisted it.

At least I think I told them that, memory fades but I think was engaged in a debate elsewhere in which I told them they couldn’t use Zionist or liberal to insult me. It was sort of a funny conversation because  they railed at me for being a proud Zionist and excoriated me for calling myself liberal.

It was the sort of nonsensical argument that you can only have online because this sort of nonsense never gets aired out in person. Or maybe it doesn’t because when you have a grip that makes a gorilla scream in pain people temper their response.

Or maybe it is none of those things. Does any of this matter or should we talk about how one click might change your life.

I’d offer to let you choose. Really we could go discuss  Maybe You Shouldn’t Take Your Best Friend Out In Public but you might think that I have a one track mind about somethings.

So let’s get back to talking about change and leave the narishkeit about godfather of blogging for a different time.

One Moment In Time

I took that picture in February of 2013, it was Old Jack’s first trip to the Stockyards in Fort Worth but I took it as a resident of Texas and not as a tourist.

Blame that moment upon one click on a job listing for a position in Texas. One click led to a five state move and another led five states back.

But that first click set things in motion and enabled more changes in my life than most of you probably want to hear about. Ask me to sum it up and I’ll tell you that it is not an exaggeration to say I see it as life changing and that I expect it to lead to great things.

It has already been an amazing journey and the adventure hasn’t ended.

I don’t know about you but I much prefer to view life as an adventure than as some dull, dreadfully boring series of moments to be passed through.

Maybe that is a confession of a different sort. Maybe it is an admission that I am not as low maintenance as I like to consider myself to be.

I seem to do a very fine job of being a storm walker but when you become accustomed to dancing in the fire these things seem to become normal.

But if the goal is to live my dreams and not dream my life than this is the path I have to take and it wouldn’t do to ignore the advice I give my children.

What Role Does Blogging Play In All This?

This joint you are hanging out in is more than just an online barbecue. It may be a place where I am passing out drinks and engaging in conversation but it is also where I chronicle the lives of my children and clear the space between my ears.

When the kids and I talk about their lives and their dreams I always remind them to consider how to build a road map to get from here to there or there to wherever.

It is kind of a funny contradiction because I don’t like making a ton of plans. I like flexibility. I like being able to turn on a dime and yet it is hard to get where you are going without a plan or so the powers that be have said.

So I use the blog as a sounding board, as my laughing place and as my online sandbox. I use the blog to think out loud and to plan.

The funny thing to me about it all is that in many ways blogging is really what changed my life. Ten years ago one click took me to Blogger and then a couple more helped me launch my career.

One click followed another and decades later I can say blogging led to both full time and freelance work. It led to working with various brands and to friendships I never would have had otherwise.

One click on a whim and I began the great adventure of my life but that is a story for a different night.

• Saved: Blogging