Out of the silent planet…

January 14, 2003 by Andrew | 4 comments

I’m posting something lest anyone thing I have died. I am in fact quite alive. The CS Lewis novel title I quoted has little to do with the book and just something I thought appropriate, since I’ve felt for the last 6-8 weeks like I have indeed been on another planet. The planet called “too busy and distracted to remember I even /have/ a frickin blog.” I am now trying to get my ducks in a row to go to the IA Summit, and trying to get an article written for Digital-Web magazine, and trying to help that magazine with its IA (though I’m not being very helpful I’m afraid, only taking the occasional potshot), and then there’s my actual /job/ that pays me, and my clients there, and of course my loving family without whom none of this would be worth a damn.
Now, the thing is that I have been thinking about stuff that would be fine on the blog, but just haven’t managed to squish it from my brain to my fingers. Or even my mouth most of the time, which will shock those of you who have met me. One problem is that I turned 35 in December, and for some reason that particular pair of digits has led me to do a lot of ruminating before, during, and after the actual birthday. Why did I get all worked up over 35 and was fine with turning 30? 35 is halfway to 70. Nuff said.
Here area a few of the things I’ve thought about:
1. If I could create a simple automatic way for people’s socks to stay together before, during, and after the wash, I’d be a billionaire.
2. People shouldn’t sell Leopard Gecko’s when they’re too young, because kids like my daughter will get really sad when they die from being too little and unhardy for anything but professional care.
3. Stuff that I once thought was too weird for words is suddenly looking like opportunities I missed as a 20-something, and that I wonder if I should explore as a second-half-30-something. What stuff? Well, stuff like horror fan conventions, or nude skydiving. Or nude horror fans skydiving. I don’t know actually, which is part of the problem.
4. Information Architecture is my job. It is not my life. I am tired of thinking about it every day all day as work, play and dream material. This will make me fall far behind many of my more obsessed and disciplined colleagues. So be it. I’m gonna write a horror novel about nude skydiving conventions.
5. I can’t ever end a list on an even number. I think I’m prejudiced against them.

There. Any comments?

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4 comments

  1. skebrown’s avatar

    skebrown on January 15, 2003 at 2:53 pm

    Hey… nice to see you are still alive.

    I wonder what naked horror film addicts skydiving would look like to a pedestrian looking up?

    Scary :o0

  2. john boy’s avatar

    john boy on January 17, 2003 at 9:32 am

    i second that notion. i was beginning to wonder if everything was alright. it is good to see you still have a good supply of words and thoughts. this is the only way i get to communicate with you anymore, even though it is only one way most of the time.

    happy 35th, err, happy birthday man!!

  3. Liz’s avatar

    Liz on February 3, 2003 at 10:20 am

    I highly recommend Lawson’s Dragons lizards. (Similar to Bearded Dragons, but much smaller.) We got ours when they were 6 weeks old, and they’re doing remarkably well. They eat a lot of crickets (more of an expense than I expected), but other than that they’re easy to care for, quite tame, and surprisingly cute. My 6 and 8 year old sons are quite fond of them.

    Our local “serious herpetologists” store has them, but I don’t know how easy they are to find elsewhere.

  4. Andrew Hinton’s avatar

    Andrew Hinton on February 3, 2003 at 11:01 am

    Thanks for all the lovely feedback, especially for the lizard recommendations :-)

    As far as looking up at nude, skydiving horror fans, I imagine you’d see more body jewelry glinting in the sun that you might otherwise. Other than that, I have no idea.

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