5 reasons why I blog

Posted by Chris on March 13th, 2007

There is not only one chain letter going round the internet. There are thousands or even millions of them.

Most of them are plain stupid and I don’t even know, why some people still fall for the Nigerian Money Digger Mafia, the Penis ‘Extensionists’, Lottery Agencies or lost daughters of Saddam Hussein or Thaksin Shinawatra who are trying to bring their fortune millions into safety - with your help of course, haha!

Some of those schemes are quite smart and in a subliminal way manage to touch someones pride, vanity or ego.

One of those is the blog meme “5 reasons why I blog”, which is around quite a while. As Justin Timberland currently squeaks with Scarlett Johansson - “What goes around comes around…” - some of those just don’t stop at your door step.

And here we are: I got tagged by Paul O’Flaherty already a while ago, but just found out now.

So what can I do?

Okay, long prelude, short fall-out. Here are my 5 reasons why I blog:

1. To keep my brain juices flowing

When you are laying the whole day on pristine beaches or just in your hang mat; things get slower and slower. Not only the pace of life, but your brain cells as well. The heat doesn’t help either. It feels like someone is pulling chewing gum out of your ear (big Hooba Booba chewing gum that is). Just to make a decision if to drink another beer or better not move at all, because it’s sooooo hot - can be a half-day long task.

3. Laziness

Over your lifetime you’ll meet a lot of interesting people. The only problem is - not all in one location. After a while all of them are scattered around the planet, so it’s quite hard to keep and catch up with them. So when family, relatives and friends ask what am I doing the whole day and if I can send them some pictures and e-mails - I can now point to a simple internet address and say: “There! Just check it out”. Reduce and simplify? Not really. Am still on the phone every now and then and the e-mails didn’t get less. Simple case of self-delusion. Haha!

3. A social thing?

I worked in Sales before. So naturally I’m used to jabber the whole day; doesn’t matter if someone is listening or if I embarrass myself. You just can’t shut me up. And I still want to find out, if not really more of us are able to quit the rat race, even though there are excuses all along the way. So I want to show some temptations and ways on how to get there. Why can’t we learn together and find out about alternative modes of life? Nobody likes the cubicle, but for most of us it’s the future? Yeah right! I believe in shared knowledge as more useful, so if you have something to say and are interested on being a guest blogger, just let me know!

4. A geek thing?

I was always a bit of a geek. Started during the 80’s with my Atari 800XL, soon followed with experiences with KC 85/2 and 85/3, Schneider Armstrad 1512DD with Digital Research’s GEM up to my own first real PC 386DX25. Did mail boxing in my youth (that thing *before* the internet with modems and giant telephone bills!) and even took up a profession in the IT industries for 14 years. So naturally there was some interest in all kinds computer related. And here I am now, sitting on an island in Asia and experimenting with PHP, HTML, SEO, Widgets, Plugins, Google Analytics and Affiliate Programs. It’s a challenge, but an interesting one. So amazing what you can learn about web design in just a few months!

5. Show me the money!

Okay, I have to admit it, that’s a reason as well. Not only am I subscribing to the idea that it takes more than one sources of income, when you want to retire early. Rent, interest, dividends can be some pillars of your retirement. But I also wanted to find out, if it’s possible to make a living online. For sure there are plenty of options, like having an online shop selling things, offering consulting or programming services, teleworking, forex or stock trading. All too stressy for me to do that daily!

So far, things are going okay. Visitors, Ads and Affiliate numbers have doubled now almost every month over the last 6 months, so slowing things are improving. Google Page rank jumped from 2 to 5 and more traffic is coming in. It’s not enough to make a living yet; but I can cover my internet and hosting costs so far and buy a coffee or a pizza once in a while.

My niche is maybe too small; should I write a blog about Raunchy Sex, celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt or lifestyle items like Apple iPods??? But then - in Sex I prefer the real thing not theory. Why watch celebrities when you can live your own life? Person cult died with Mao - no? And lifestyle icons - that’s what I’m trying to get away from. Consumerism, Materialism - who needs that anyway? Happiness in Life is something else not money. There you go!

Can I go now, Paul?

I know: not before I shot the sheriff, eh I mean 5 other people. I really would love to know the reasons of the 5 people below. Let’s see how long it will take and if they even will subscribe to that Meme:

Andy the Hobo Traveler currently in Africa
Miss Izzy in Singapore
James from Japan Probe in Tokyo
Elliott Back from All About Asia in NYC
Dodong Flores in Philippines
Don’t kill me please. Just tell us 5 reasons why you blog!


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