My Unofficial Interview by James at The Ink

Blogged on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Blog365, Guest blogger, Philosophical.

My new internet friend, James, interviewed me recently. We are both participating in The Great Interview Experiment, and I have to tell you - James was the most polite, cordial, and friendly person I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. If you have any compliments, give them to him - and if you have any complainings, put them here. :)

For your reading pleasure, here is the full text of the interview:

James Interviews Me

For the benefit of anyone new to your blog. If you had to summarise your blog up in one sentence what would that sentence be?

I hate to use words like ‘rambling’ and ‘anecdotes’, but that’s what a blog seems to be, really. A collection of rambling personal anecdotes, occasionally sprinkled with worthwhile reading.

You’ve been blogging for well over 4 years now. What has blogging brought to your life?

Looking back on it, I began blogging for the sole purpose of keeping up with family and friends that I no longer saw on a regular basis, after my first husband left me.

Flash forward to now, and I see that blogging has made me realize that I have a voice. All of my writing for my blog is part of how I express who I am, and I try to do it in a way that is true to my real self.

I suppose that a better way to put that would be: blogging has brought freedom of speech and expression to my life, but only by going through a period in which my speech and expression had to be suppressed for a while, which was most of last year after I kicked out my second husband. (I sound like a soap opera!)

Given the commendable amount of time you’ve been blogging, what advice would you give to people who have just started or are considering giving it a go?

I commend anyone who wants to contribute to the wealth of data that now exists on the internet; but I don’t have a lot of patience for people who want to blog because it’s the new ‘in thing’ but don’t even understand anything about websites or blogs to begin with. I would recommend asking advice of a blogger whose style you love and could see yourself emulating. There’s nothing wrong with having the same sort of style as someone else, as long as it’s you doing the writing when it’s time to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, I suppose).

You seem to have a habit of setting yourself very stretching demands. For example Blog 365, NaNoWriMo & your recently launched Geek Review and Geek Advice. Are you a sucker for punishment?

In a word, yes. :) I am definitely a sucker for punishment. But it is inherent to my psyche to push myself, so I am always open to new and better ways to be the person I’m supposed to be. I realize that may make absolutely no sense at all to someone who doesn’t feel that they need to sign up for things that take up so much time and energy simply to express who they are. People like me are simultaneously genius and idiotic.

Talking of Geek Review and Geek Advice: would you like to explain a little more about the concept for these new projects and you reasons for doing them?

I’ve always been the resident geek and tech support bitch, so it is a very natural transition to take that persona to the web. I am constantly getting emails or IMs from friends or family, asking me how to do this thing on my website, or how do I upload this plugin, or why won’t this application work. I love helping, and I love that in answering questions and coming up with solutions, I discover that I often knew more than I realized.

When you’re comfortably well-versed in a certain area, like computers or the internet, you forget that the casual user doesn’t necessarily know (or want to know) all the bits of information that you have so manically inhaled over the years; so it was actually difficult for me to get to a place where I realized that I do actually know enough to launch projects like Geek Review and Geek Advice.

You seem to have no issues with being labelled a bit of a Geek. What one thing do you think gives you the most Geek points?

I love being called a geek - it reinforces my perception of myself, haha. Probably the one thing above everything else that gives me hardcore Geek points is my two old laptops running Linux. Also, I plan to partition the hard drive of my work laptop (the one I’ve been using up until I got this new desktop) so that I can dual boot Linux and WinXP. Is that geeky enough?

I think so. You’re obviously not adverse to a bit of photography - do you have a favourite picture or collection of pictures that your particularly proud of?

My favorite collection of pictures… that is a difficult one to answer. I love every photo I take, but there are some that haunt me. Rather than say ‘every photo I’ve ever taken of my kids’, because that would be the raw truth; I’ll say that the collection I am most proud of are my outdoor photos. Most of them are up on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caffeinatedelf/sets/1131353/

In the earlier days of your blog there was an awful lot of talk (and pictures) about knitting. Are you still an avid knitter?

I still absolutely love knitting. It’s like my yoga. However, I’ve barely been able to pick up the needles and yarn lately, let alone finish anything, because this past year has been so incredibly busy. Also, I have been struggling with a lot of wrist and arm pain because my current desk and chair setup are really abhorrent. Thankfully, I was able to order a new desk and chair and should get them in about a week. I also broke down and bought a wrist brace.

I am looking forward to knitting a lot more this year, because I have all these great sweaters that I started and just… never… FINISHED.

You’ve openly stated that 2007 wasn’t the best year for you. If we were to sit down again in another’s year time, what things would you hope to be able to tell me about 2008?

I would hope to tell you that my business took off like a rocket, and that I had to hire extra help. I would hope to tell you that I learned to relax and not be so worried all the time about bills or money, and that I was able to take my kids on a nice week of vacation and not think about work one single time. Above all, I would hope to say that I was significantly different one year later, because if I cannot see change in myself then I assume I haven’t been paying attention or learning from my mistakes.

Ah yes, I was going to ask about your business. That must have taken some serious courage to decide to start up your own business; how has it being going so far and what kind of work have you been up to?

I’m not sure that it took courage so much as it took a dire need to have money coming in. I do mostly web work, updating existing websites, creating new ones, and branding for small businesses that don’t already have logos or business cards. It’s been going well for a startup, and I just have to get my head into a place where I realize that it can get MUCH bigger than it is already.

So even on this side of the pond there is quite some interest in the race for the next US presidency. What is it like to watching from the inside? Do you care much for who next gets the big job or are you letting it all pass you by?

Watching from the inside is like being inside a big box where, even if you’re standing up against the wall, the mud that’s being thrown with such speed is going to hit you at some point.

I both love and hate the platforms on both the Republican and Democratic sides, and I think it would be dreadful if Hillary won the Presidency because she’s being puppeted by her husband. I am really sad that Ron Paul went no further than the Michigan caucus, because his take on everything was fresh and new (from a political standpoint, I mean). I would love to see our government shaken down from the inside out, but at the same time I think that it would be far more disastrous than anyone might care to imagine, because our society and government are set up to work the way they do right now - change is always hard and always hurts people you never intended to hurt.

I do care about who gets the big job, but I hate all the hype and hyperbole leading up to it. Everyone always says ‘taxes! healthcare! blah blah good things!’ but that’s just to make us love them more than the other guy. You never know what they’re going to do until they get there. It’s a crapshoot and I think it’s amusing that most of us pretend it isn’t.

Also, being in Michigan right now where the economy is HORRIBLE, my perspective is warped by my pessimistic attitude. Like: sure, you talk pretty, but we’re in bad trouble and you likely won’t be able to help, so why lie to me about it?

What one question would you have liked to have been asked in this interview? And your answer to it, please?

Well, gosh. I would have loved to be asked how I keep my hair so shiny, and I would tell you that it’s because I use a good shampoo and conditioner! And also I was born with awesome hair! (And a HUGE ego!)

Blimey, I was going to ask that too but somehow it slipped of the final list of questions. Finally, if I were ever to pass through Michigan, would you spare me the time to meet up for a coffee?

I certainly would! There’s nothing I love better than wasting a bit of time over coffee with friends, new or old. And after you’ve spent so much time reading through my archives, you know me far better than I know you, so I owe you some one-on-one time. :)

Well, that sounds like a reason to go to Michigan. I’d like to end by expressing my genuine thanks for taking the time out to be interviewed and just say how much I’ve enjoyed reading through your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you in the future.

Go ahead, go give James some love. He deserves it. Thank you again, James!