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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, April 08, 2003
A Moving Experience
Funny, but moving week seems to be the most contemplative, spiritual time most of us in secular society allow ourselves these days. It's frenetic, to be sure, but there's also time to stop and think. To look at those brown-taped boxes and wonder: is this all there is? Can my life truly be defined by the contents of a Ryder truck? Of course it can't.
Home is something more, something intangible. It never seems to exist for long enough. We try and arrange everything in our lives so neatly; we circle the wagons of our possessions and we invite those people least likely to hurt us inside the circle. What we're really trying to do is will this ethereal spirit of home into being. But what do we do with it once we have it? Do we use our well-feathered nests to hide from our true selves?
I haven't had to move in three years. This is the most well-established home I've had outside of the one I grew up in. It's a wrench, tearing down a nest, even when you know you're about to build a new and better one. But I used to do this once a year when I lived in New York, so I know -- when the house is stripped bare, so is the soul. Moments like this are precious, because they are about the only times you realize that your home is not your address, nor your bookshelves or computers or even walls. Their permanence is an illusion; they can be shipped off, lost or destroyed at a moment's notice. A stable home is not the twigs of the nest you hide from the world in. A stable home is the only thing we always have: other people.
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