The Art of Bitch

Since my writing style is growing, you might as well come along for the ride. First I was going to call this post "The Bitchy American", but bitching isn't unique to America (although I bet Canada is complaint free. What have they got to complain about?) and I already used "Fragile American" in a previous post. See how hard this writing thing is?! And that's just the title! So, I weeded out a few more titles and settled on "The Art of Bitching", but it dawned on me that really, bitching is a lot like war. It's usually an attempt to gain some small victory in a battle in which you've taken the offensive position. Does your job suck? Does your boss/spouse/dog never listen to you? Well, take it out on the fast food server that got your order wrong. Is it a big deal? Fuck no, it shouldn't be, but it's a battle you can win, so "Charge!!!". So, it seemed very appropriate, even if it sounds wrong, to borrow from the title of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War".

See how this is all coming together?

This parallel also solves the dilemma I had about how to bitch about bitching without bitching, thus becoming the subject of my own rant. By invoking Sun Tzu, this post is now faintly camouflaged as educational and relevant. Adding a historical context makes your writing look well thought out. What's really amazing is that all of this came together AFTER I started writing about it. Even after I thought about the title, I hadn't made the critical psychological connection between bitching and war.

The only bad thing now, due to this post taking on a life of its own and being shaped by seemingly random thought tangents, is that the original idea seems kind of lost. Maybe that's a good thing. My original negative vibe, intended as a means to vent about people's propensity to complain and feel entitled, has evolved into a more positive, compositional journey. Perhaps if I'm lucky, you still got the point while also being enlightened somehow, and not feeling like you want to kick a puppy.

"Hey you...read this guy's blog, it ROCKS!"

The Tyranny of Expectation

So, there I was having a nice conversation when BLAMMO!…out of nowhere I was asked, "Have you updated your blog? I stopped checking".

And there it was, the looming shadow of expectation…and guilt. Frankly, I didn't think anyone was even checking, and I guess I was right, but it was my own fault. Then the second blow came when I went to check out some other friends' blogs and darn it, some of them are quite literate. The ones who aren't are funny though, which makes up for a lot.

Where does that leave me? Somewhere between inspiration and oppression. Does my ego really demand that I share my inner creativity with the world. Does it require recognition to warm my soul? And to receive that recognition from an audience requires consistency.

So I have to decide, does creativity drive my writing, or the demands of an audience? Most likely, I'm just putting off something more "important". [air quotes]