How I Miss You in 2014

Here we are at the 2014 edition of the

In truth, I don't really have a lot to add to what I said in 2012 and 2013. I don't have any new people/blogs to add to those lists, and I figure if you want to see who I talked about before, since they are still the same, you can click the links and go back and look.

However, I do want to highlight one blog in particular that I miss, because it's not coming back.

A few months ago, we lost Tina Downey of Life Is Good. She was having some health issues, but she didn't really let on as to how serious they were, so it came as quite a shock to pretty much everyone who knew her online, I think, when she died. We weren't expecting it, and we weren't prepared. Not that you can ever really be prepared for anyone's death other than your own. I listed Tina last year in my "blogs I would miss" section of this blogfest and, now that she's gone, I do miss her. I miss her joyous outlook that she held to despite her health problems. I miss her posts about what it was like to adjust to moving to the United States. I miss arguing with her about math. I miss her comments.

I think, considering her last post was within a week of her death, that she probably misses blogging. She had no intention to quit. It's too bad the world wide web is still only the world wide. I'm sure that once we figure out how to go beyond, we'll find that she's out there somewhere still blogging away, and we'll have tons of posts to catch up on.

This blogfest has been brought to you by Andrew Leon (that's me), Alex Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish. You can find the other participants on the list below:

Time Enough? (an IWSG post)

"People assume that time is a straight progression of cause to effect but, actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff."

Of course, what I want to do is get all philosophical about time, about how time is finite, about what it would be like to be able to step outside of time... Except I can't really imagine that. My view of time is kind of like a painting. Or, maybe, a movie. Time only exists within the movie and, if you could only step out of it, you could see the whole thing at once, be in any part of it. That kind of thing. Except, conceptually, as soon as I remove myself from the movie, I put myself in another one, because I still imagine a sequence of events and, without time, there can't be a sequence, so it's not something I can properly imagine.

None of that is what I really want to talk about anyway...

Sometimes, there are events that remind us of the finite-ness of time, that there will be an ending. At least, for us. Well, for all of time, but I expect TIME to go on much for much longer than I will. At any rate, the sudden departure of Tina Downey of Life Is Good from TIME has served as a reminder. Time is, after all, finite. There's a deadline on the things I want to accomplish in life.

I suppose most people have all sorts of things they want to accomplish and that they all feel like they have plenty of time in which to do it. There's always tomorrow, right? But there's not always tomorrow, and, sometimes, tomorrows quit coming sooner than we think they will.

I know that Tina was writing a book. Mostly, though, I think she was working on the writing skills she would need to really write the book. What it means, though, is that I'll never get to read the book. Neither will you. And, you know, maybe it wouldn't have been any good and, in the scheme of things, it doesn't matter, but, maybe, it would have been life-changing. For me. Or for you. Or for someone. That book that really inspired a life and changed its course.

We'll never know.

I have a lot of books like that. Unfinished ones, I mean; I'm not claiming that I'm writing great, life-changing, works of literature. I have PROJECTS! The idea that I could leave TIME with them unfinished... well, it kind of panics me. I don't want to leave things unfinished. Well, I don't want to leave these things unfinished. I'm sure I will always feel that way about whatever projects I have in the works, but other projects are in the future, and I have nothing invested in that stuff yet. These things, these things I have going on now, I know I don't want to leave still in progress. Especially the stuff that relates to The House on the Corner. Too many people ask me when the next when will be finished for me to be okay with just not doing it.

None of this is meant to change the focus from Tina's passing out of TIME, but it was one of the first things I thought of, "I'll never get to read her book." Which, then, has applications for all of us. Not just writers, all people who are doing things. Who have projects of whatever sort. Some of which sit around and sit around and are left abandoned for months or, even, years on end with the thought, "I'll get to it. Sometime." But "sometime" doesn't always come.

So... I am reminded to look at the things I want to do and evaluate them on the basis of what it's okay with me to leave unfinished. Like, I would like to spend time painting, but it won't really bother me if I leave TIME and there are big stack of unpainted miniatures in my garage. It's not like I'm the only one that could paint them. But no one can write the stories that are in my head. Even with notes about them, no one can write them the way I will, so that's the thing I need to get busy with, working on the things that only I can do so that they're not left unfinished should I have to leave.

And that's what I'm going to go do...

Let Me Count The Ways...

...That I Miss You.

I've been bashing my head over this for weeks, trying to figure out who to include and how not to include anyone that I listed last year, but you know what? Screw that. I'm just going to list the people I list, no matter if they were on last year's list or not. I'm  not even going to go back and look. So...

The blogs I miss:

1. It's the world, dear... -- Bess' blog was one of the first blogs I found and started following back when I first started blogging. That I am still blogging and she is not seems somehow... wrong. She had this great way of describing life in New York that both made me want to go there and be glad that I'm not there at the same time. And she knew how to put hipsters in their place.
2. Concrete Pieces of Soul -- J, the author of the blog, is one of those bloggers that always had some interesting perspective or slightly off-normal way of looking at things. At least she did before the baby. Who knows how that is now, but I hope all is well with the new family and that she makes it back at some point. Her blog name is great, too.
3. English Major versus the World -- Another great blog name and a theme after my own heart. Neal was someone that would really get into books and examine them. His blog was definitely not a cheerleader camp. He would take a book, break it up, look at the pieces, and tell you exactly what he found there, good or bad. Or both. I hope he's not gone for good, but it's been since June, so...

The blogs I would miss (so don't go anywhere):

1. Elizabeth Twist -- Writer, Plague Enthusiast: Elizabeth has one of those quirky blogs which often teeters on the edge of horror. When she writes, she's always interesting, and she hasn't been writing enough, lately, so I hope she doesn't move up to the other section of this list, next year.
2. Briane Pagel -- Okay, so, actually, Briane has so many blogs that I could fill up this whole list with them, so I'm just going to list him as a person. Usually, when I'm doing my blog reading thing, I scroll down the list to wherever I left off (the oldest post) and work my way up (to the newest post), but Briane is one of those people that I stop for and read his posts right then, and I really just don't do that. Because Briane is prone to long, rambling posts, I think he doesn't get enough attention, and that's just too bad, because Briane has a lot of good things to say and tells great stories (like about how he exploded (yes, exploded) a garage door). Also, he's a great supporter of other authors.
3. The Blutonian Death Egg -- Actually, Rusty's blog is in danger of moving to the other list since his posting has become, well, sporadic, to say the least. It's too bad, because Rusty has a different way of looking at things that can make people go, "huh, I never thought of that," and I like that. He needs to do more of those posts about the things he thinks about, because those are the best!
4. Life Is Good -- Tina just has a great way of communicating and often tells stories about her childhood (see this year's A-to-Z posts). Well, all kinds of things, actually. They're always interesting, and I would definitely miss her blog if it went away.

Special Mention:

The Museum of Joy -- This was a blog I have missed because I thought it was gone, which was because it was gone, except that it was actually only moved. But no one knew that. Jericha has a way of always looking at the world as if she's seeing it for the first time, and it's pretty neat to read her thoughts about that. So, if you used to follow her, you can do that again, and, if you've never visited her blog, you should.

Okay, that's it for me, folks. It's time to go check in on some other blogs that people miss or would miss. If you have a favorite(s) blogger, you should really let him/her know. It's the kind of thing that can really lift someone up and, maybe, keep him/her from disappearing. Spread the appreciation around!

Here's the list of participants so that you, too, can check out the blogs people (would) miss: