Full of Sound and Fury... for now.
I was recently talking with a good friend of mine and the subject of this blog came up. He said, in a rather straightforward fashion, "I remembered why i don't read your blog. I checked it the other day, and i read the post about...and the post about...and then i stopped. I don't enjoy reading it. It doesn't do anything for me...you seem depressed."
And although my initial response was indignation, after some reflection i've come to realize how startlingly accurate his analysis of the blog is. For all the promoting i've done for this handful of entries, it has come down to nothing more than a scattered, disjointed collection of thoughts, sometimes happy, often sarcastic, and lately brooding. Without direction, it has become "a tale told by an idiot."
I used to enjoy doing this--i'd have something happen to me and think "oh my god. this is going to be a great blog." I'd postpone other activities so i could finish writing, and then i'd enjoy hearing people's reactions. Sometimes i'd have half a dozen people tell me that such-and-such entry had made their day, and that was enough to keep me going.
But i've changed. And as i've changed, so has this blog. I said, not so long ago, that my purpose is to entertain, and to make people laugh. That, too, is the purpose of this blog.
But right now, that is something i cannot do, something i cannot be. There are a lot of dark clouds gathered overhead in my life and until i've worked them out, there's no way i can be the man i've wanted to be, the man this blog was supposed to help me become.
And so, until further notice, i am closing down the forge. It will sit here, stagnant, until i've worked out who i want to be, and then what i want this to be.
I hope you understand, and if you would like me to send you an e-mail when i reopen, just send me a message or comment or e-mail. It will probably get depressing to come back here and see nothing new for the next couple months, if it comes to that.
Again, thank you. This place has been one of learning and meeting, one i hope will flourish in the future. But for now, it shall be laid to rest.
-Adam "Mr. Smith" Bogert
"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Mon Aug 18, 10:35:00 PM Wow. If only to be able to say I gave my two cents, I think closing down the Forge is a crappy idea. Clearly, you've already decided to do it, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.
You listen to the opinions of others too much, but worse, you actually take them to heart. If people don't like reading what you have to say, then they shouldn't read your blog, simple as that. No one is forcing them to. But the Forge, Adam, is just as much for you - if not more so - as it is for anyone else. So what if it's depressing? So what if it's sarcastic? These thoughts are still your thoughts...they're real, they're genuine, and to try writing about anything else right now would be false and, quite honestly, boring.
Life IS depressing sometimes. It's sarcastic more often than that. Whether you choose to continue adding to the Forge or somewhere else, don't you dare stop writing altogether. You're a wordsmith, not a perfectionsmith. You don't squelch the truth, you face it. Write, throw inkbombs at a canvas, take up kickboxing...i don't care what you do, just don't stop expressing yourself. I'll lose respect for you if you do. There, i said it.
And that's my two cents.