5 Years

Today is the fifth anniversary of my gig here at the Brain. Yesterday if ya count testing to see if it actually worked. It seems to have. In Blogtopia, that's an ice age!

When I started, I didn't know jack shit. I still don't, but I mean in the technical sense. I didn't know how to cut & paste, blockquote, upload and download graphic material, HTML, links (I thought 'hot links' were Louisiana sausage), none of the tricks and tidbits I use regularly today. There wasn't even any YouTube then, which seems stunning now.

I made one comment in my first post that embarrasses me a little still, which is that I wouldn't use quotes very much. For one thing, I didn't know how, I actually thought you had to type them and thought that was too much like work, and I didn't quite realize just how much work goes into original commentary. It didn't take me very long to understand that reference quotes are the life's blood of political commentary, and longer quotes are a great way to get someone else's good points or the meat of a subject across.

Fixer was very patient. He taught me a lot and I picked up more along the way.

Fixer and I have never met, although I hope we do some day. We've never talked on the phone, although we've heard each other's voices on videos. We communicate via e-mail and snail mail on a very irregular basis. The only editorial direction I've ever had from him was to "hold down the porn" when I discovered how to upload photos. He lets me do whatever I want completely how I want to, which is a polite way of saying I'm hung out to dry out here on the left coast all on my own, although I prefer to think of it as holding down the left flank without the possibility of reinforcements. It works out pretty well, and he and I agree on a lot more subjects and have more in common than I would have thought, considering the differences in our ages and backgrounds, which are really not all that dissimilar when you think about it which I'm sure we do and wouldn't have had we not hooked up, not to mention the cultural differences of being from opposite ends of the continent. Must be something to do with us both being mechanics: it's pretty near impossible to bullshit a broken car or bike into acting right, although we're both experienced enough to get away with it once in a while. I better stop that line lest I give away any trade secrets.

That said, I consider Fixer my friend and a potential dangerously hilarious running mate (visuals of the back seats of po-leece cars with CA and NY license plates, their occupants sitting on their hands and laughing like fiends). Heh. Alternatively, us laying on our backs looking up at the undersides of crapcan Humvees with sand blowing up our asses, figuring out how we're gonna liven up the EM/NCO Club later.

Which goes directly to the beauty of the internets: distance is no longer a bar to like minds or the dissemination of ideas. If nothing else, we find that we are all pissed off about the same things. It's also no bar to disagreement or learning, and we must listen to one another and learn something new every day or we will be just like our enemy, the right wing.

I love this gig. This is the best 'job' I've ever had, and I've never stayed on a 'real' job this long ever in my life. The pay is immeasurable. Literally, both in terms of money (none) and satisfaction (immense). This is the perfect spot for an opinionated retiree if only because it keeps me off the street and out of trouble.

Thank you, Fixer. You've given me a home and a voice and I'm here as long as you'll have me. I'd say "'til death us do part", but...

And thank you, dear readers, without whom this would just be graffiti.

I'll close this with a little ditty from my third-ever post:

"We're all friends on this old boat
And none of us are sissies.
We tuck each other in at night,
And blow each other............kissies!"

Hmmmm. Maybe not all that much has changed in 5 years after all...