Why three years?

Whenever I think about how long I have been blogging, my instinctual answer is always 'about three years now.' It's kind of sad because well, it's just so far off from the truth. Perhaps this is just a little insight into how skewed my perceptions are though. (For the record, I've been at this since 2005, making it just about double my estimate.)

To say I'm losing interest in this would be an understatement. In the past, I have written in spurts, but lately it just seems difficult to muster anything worth recording. I say this even as the nation prepares for an election and during hockey playoff season - two events that usually would have sparked me to say something in years gone by. I'm not apologizing for the lack of activity here, just noting it for what it is.

One thing that the blog does highlight is my lack of consistency. I recently had to write down a checklist to remind myself of certain things I really needed to do or check on every morning before I left for work. Checking that list lasted me about a week or two and then I just stopped reading it - I figured I had it down and knew it. A week after that, I started forgetting some of the things that were on the list, which is how my wife knew I had stopped checking it.

I thought it would be a good idea to track what food I eat by using my smartphone to take pictures of it and post it to tumblr. I lasted a few days of diligently recording the items I ate and then started to miss some things - the energy bar or banana on my bike ride, that extra cup of coffee. A few days after that I was forgetting to take out the phone for main meals. It is important to note here that the decision to record my meals was MY idea.

So what does that mean for my blog? I think it means that without some consistent effort from me, it just might wither and die. It's certainly not a big job to post regularly and when I do I find it helps me to focus my thoughts, at least it does force me to think about what to write moreso than a random tweet or facebook update would (not that I ever update facebook anymore - ha!)

Perhaps I should see if defocused.blogspot.com is taken. Yup, by someone in Finland, and they haven't posted since 2006. I guess it could be worse.