with great clarity

I struggled for a long time with the precise purpose of this here blog. I mean, it's not exactly focused. I'm all over the place: aviation, travel, books, booze. Those are the things that interest me. And I hope they interest you, too, and that I open up a new door (or even just a window) for you during the course of your reading.

But I've been told by every competent authority that I'm doing it wrong. Blogs aren't a place for you to selfishly spew about the stuff you like. They're not the proper arena for 2,000-word essays on life, the universe and everything. If you want to be successful and accrue readers and whatnot, you need to keep things short, sweet and simple. Focus on a single overarching subject. Keep it down to a paragraph or two per post. Include specific, brief, useful information. Use quantifiable data and verified info. Soundbites, video clips, links. Dates, times, directions, prices. No fluff. No impressions, no feelings, no flowery prose.

Screw that.

Who says you have to keep things brief to keep them interesting? Who says a well-written, eloquent, literary-type blog won't catch on? Why must I and every other blogger abet the insidious stupidification of society? Does the average reader have the attention span of a gnat? Can't they read a few paragraphs and muse intelligently on a few hi-def images?

But that's not even the heart of the matter. I realized recently that I don't care if this blog is widely read or not. I'm not trying to gain a hundred zillion readers and become Alexa's 333rd most-visited site. I'm not writing to rattle off hard data. I'm not here to help you plan a trip or get your pilot's license. (I will help you mix a drink, though.) I'm not here to be a viable or even credible source of information. I'm here for two reasons: to brag vaingloriously about things I've done and love (that's the definition of vaunting, you know) and to give you my impressions.

With great clarity. (Image by Techytez at deviantart)

This is a travel blog, but I won't tell you how often the bus to Dunfermline runs or where to get a Japan Rail Pass. I'll write you a sprightly little essay about how much I love Jethro Tull and how comfortable riding the shinkansen was. See the difference? You can plan your trip yourself, you schnook. My job is to scout this stuff out for you, tell you what I thought of it, and let you make up your own damn mind whether you want to see it yourself or not. That's why I'm so verbose. I need to tell you what I saw, how hard it was to reach, how it looked, what I thought of it, and what I did next...and whether or not the trip was worth it. If you have the gumption to sit through one of my door-stopper blog posts, you'll have all the information (qualitative information) you need to make a decision. And you might just get something edifying out of it. Who knows? If anything like that happens—if I've tempted you into exploring a far corner of the world, or even shattered one of your preconceptions—then this blog, and its author, will have been of service.

So if you're here for soundbites, blurbs or timetables, you better get outta Dodge right now. I'm about to bend your ear. You've been warned.