It can be so easy to
rest on one’s laurels, then, maybe having a rest to reassess what new laurels
to pursue is a good thing too. However, it was gratifying this weekend to read
an interaction with a published author and a great social media following that
my blogging had inspired him to blog daily.
What a lament that
caused me, even as I appreciated that the little I do inspires others. Writing
daily can be a goal, and it is not the absence of things to write about that is
the problem. When it comes to blogs, there is enough muscle memory to start and
go without the encumbrance of writer’s block; the problem is more one of
lethargy.
Creativity is
sacrosanct
Beyond lethargy, you
wonder if it is worthwhile just banging out anything. The advent of Generative
AI provides such an opportunity to manufacture offal without attendant
rumination or thought, but God forfend I resign my creativity to the cutting
floor of prompt engineering. I have other uses of Generative AI; it won’t be
for my blogs.
One key detail in my
interlocutor’s comment was that he wrote a blog daily, regardless of the length
of the blog. I know a few people who if they stop overthinking their copy and
simply proofread the blogs in draft, they might rise to publishing at least
once a month rather than every five or so months. I’ll be circumspect and not
mention names.
It speaks for itself
I do wish I could
blog daily, and I have done before. What saddens me is the many who blogged over
a decade ago that have abandoned this theatre of sharing ideas for all sorts of
reasons. The Internet rarely forgets as you stumble over crumbling tombstones
of their once commendable activities.
The way social media
works, you are either doing it because you enjoy it for your own leisure, or
you are farming engagement to eventually gain some pecuniary benefit. I enjoy
this stuff, and what would not happen is an upstart magazine inviting me to write
for them and then sending me a style guide to conform to their way of thinking.
I try not to take it as an insult.
I do it my way
On my blog, I have my
own space, set my own rules, and after sampling a few of my blogs in all that
time, it is impossible to gauge how I write, it is unlikely you will like my
style, and we shouldn't waste each other’s time. Thank you.
Then one final note
of gratitude to my readers and those that have been inspired in a small or
large way by what I do.
I decided to try the ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence Chatbot that apparently
specialises in dialogue, as we are told. As a presumably blogging veteran of 19
years, you read so much about AI and how the developments, advances, and
mechanics of it might eventually replace us and our sometimes-unappreciated
creativity.
I had one question to ask the ChatGPT
to answer and immediately it produced a blog that I have published below.
Somehow, I feel in this area of
creative expression, much as ChatGPT was quick to run to the press, I doubt it
gave heed to the most essential component of my request which is to write in my
style with reference to my blog.
Maybe, just maybe, for now, I will not
be replaced by an AI facility pretending to gather and express my thoughts in
my somewhat unique way. God forfend, American spelling, I am quite truly offended.
I may at another time conduct a review
of how and why I might or may not have written this blog this way.
The link to ChatGPT, registration with Captcha
and Multifactor Authentication (MFA) will be requested.
Today, I wanted to talk about the importance of
self-reflection. As we go about our daily lives, it's easy to get caught up in
the hustle and bustle and forget to take a step back and reflect on ourselves
and our actions.
But self-reflection is crucial for personal growth
and development. By regularly taking the time to introspect, we can gain a
better understanding of ourselves, our motivations, and our goals. We can also
identify areas where we need to improve and make changes to become the best
versions of ourselves.
One way to practice self-reflection is to set aside
some time each day, perhaps in the evening before bed, to reflect on the events
of the day. Ask yourself questions like:
·What did I do well today?
·What could I have done better?
·What did I learn today?
Another way to practice self-reflection is to keep
a journal. Writing down our thoughts and experiences can help us process them
and gain insights that we might not have otherwise.
In addition to personal growth, self-reflection can
also improve our relationships with others. By understanding ourselves better,
we can communicate more effectively and empathize with others. We can also
identify and address any negative patterns of behavior that might be damaging
to our relationships.
So make sure to set aside some time for
self-reflection. It might not always be easy, but it's an essential part of
being a happy and fulfilled person.
Creativity is like a flash of light, it might be a well sunk deep somewhere where the water your draw from it only comes in buckets that you sling down easily but draw up with much exertion and perspiration. At least I know that is it is not a running supply that delivers water to your sink as you turn the faucet on demand.
Yet, once you start to create, there is a zone of flow that appears to suggest you are connected to an inexhaustible pool of resources of deployment and expression, and that you must always be thankful for.
It died completely
Just under three weeks ago, I was writing a piece that was an appeal to the goodness and professionalism of someone else on behalf of my sister. I had completed the write-up and was just proofreading it when my computer died on me. I mean, died completely.
Now, for a while, I never thought of using a tablet device my main computing device, I had preferred lightweight laptops until at the end of November 2016, I went on holiday trialling a Galaxy Tab Pro S tablet device running Microsoft Windows 10.
As an entry-level low specification device with just 4GB of RAM and a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD), I did not expect much from it that I had my laptop as a backup device, but I grew to love the tablet that it eventually became my main computing device as I eventually left the laptop untouched for months.
The voice that spoke in vain
On my last trip to Edinburgh, I had a deep premonition that I ignored, it suggested I take my laptop with me, but that required rebuilding the laptop and working on a few other things; that little voice does matter.
I had not saved the piece I wrote when my Samsung tablet died and could not be revived again. Taking it to the Samsung shop in Edinburgh, I was told it had to go for service and repairs, an arrangement I could complete in the shop and then have the courier come over to my Edinburgh office to pick it up.
For days, I monitored the service records that indicated the device was being repaired, then they were waiting for parts for another week.
The stand-in did not stand out
Meanwhile, on the matter of creativity, it all seemed to dry up, the replacement, Samsung Tab A (2016, 7.0, Wi-Fi) was the least expensive stop-gap device I acquired in the Samsung shop because I needed to retain online communications. It fell short on one of the critical elements of transcribing the blogs that I usually write and format in Microsoft Word before pasting in the Google Blogger editor, but now on an Android device. The formatting did not keep and that was just not acceptable to me.
Recalling what I had written before I lost it was not easy. Whilst I could remember the context and the ideas, the first run that looked like it nailed all the points I wanted to express was not going to be like my second attempt, which I eventually published using my computer at work.
I pined and pained
The loss of my primary device, however, left me bereft of inspiration and without the ease of communication I was already accustomed to, I became a recluse of the mind, all dried up with a famine of ideas even if there was much to write about and there was.
On my last day at work in Edinburgh, there was much to close out, documentation, demonstrations and discussions, even that suffered from my inability to produce and excel. It bothered me so much that I had to step away from my desk a few times, in the hope that the changes in environment and engagement in other activity might trigger something.
The surprise that arrived
I arrived early and I was the last to leave because of this and then just after 2:00 PM, a phone call from the mail room informed me that I had a parcel waiting for collection. My Samsung device had returned even though I put on notice that I be informed before it was sent back, just in case I had left Edinburgh by then.
The motherboard and power port was changed per the information in the parcel, I cannot explain why the motherboard would just die like that, but I am pleased that the device was under warranty for the repairs not to cost anything, or at least the cost to me seemed invisible, apart from having to acquire a temporary device and then being unable to blog with a sense of flow.
To create again
I still struggle to get back into the rhythm of blogging and I know I would get back there because of all creative endeavours, that is the one I seem to be getting good at after 13 years of doing it.
Creativity is like a flash of light, if your eyes are closed you might not see it, if they are open and you are looking directly into the source of light, it might be blinding, else, it momentarily illuminates your surroundings and in that instance, if you can see, observe and perceive, you get a good idea of where you are and where to go from there.
Throughout today that song has been going on in my mind, it contains the Barbara Mandrell lyrics, Woman to woman, now if you were in my shoes, wouldn’t you have done the same thing too.
Like a broken vinyl record player this is replayed again and again, as the other part of the refrain, it says, Woman to woman, if you’ve ever been in love, then you know how I feel – with a greater sense of feeling about many who have never been in my shoes but seem to know exactly where the shoes are pinching my feet.
Their sympathy is patronising, their apathy is based on ignorance and their indifference is borne from the fact that they know no different from their own particular experiences and their assumptions about things they have never partaken of. It extends beyond woman to woman to include man to man and woman to man.
I know my own things
Before I had cancer, I could never fully relate to how people suffered the disease, after I had it and the treatment that followed, I need no new appreciation of the pain of cancer, the rottenness of chemotherapy, the deprivations that come with serious illness and the fight that rises up in you for every ounce of strength that is your life-force, I just know.
However, my knowledge and experience is hardly the embodiment of all occurrences of that kind of circumstance, people go through their battles with different approaches, strategies and outcomes but we can in many ways support each other a lot better than those who look in from the outside with the know-it-all hubris that accompanies their interaction.
Experience is not always needed for understanding, there are genuine people who have deep compassion and empathy, who are reasonable, friendly and wonderful to relate to, this is not about them.
From ancient to modern
In the same vein, there is sexuality and there is faith, there are struggles, conflicts, angst, anxiety and there are desires, if choices could have been made surely, other choices would have been considered and the outcomes might well be different.
I find that I now have to assess the issues of ancient views with modern understanding whilst I run the gauntlet of fundamentalists of different religious persuasions.
Even I, probably irrationally and unreasonably, am not fully persuaded of the whole theory of evolution, from the perspective of man’s creation, I do very well believe the amazing evolution of man’s creativity and the wealth of knowledge that has benefitted mankind to great ends.
The advances in science, medicine and technology which in biblical times would have passed for witchcraft and sorcery, the new understanding of man’s psychological makeup which had every negative connotation until psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, anthropologists and economists unravelled the knotty issues.
Incontrovertible fact against fable
It is however convenient for people to suspend their intellect and reason for some norm of times past and use that as a template for modernity with ill-fitting consequences.
It makes one wonder how sexuality is no more codified in terms of mental illness or some psychological disorder, neither is it in professional circles considered a lifestyle choice but a personification of the subject, wholly integral to the identity of the person who might in turn demonstrate the requisite tendencies.
Has new knowledge and learning left the tomes of religious stricture behind or has it evolved into logical conclusions that are reasonable but are challenged by blinkered religiosity masquerading as right, just, moral and true?
The questions are there to challenge the “earth is flat” view of man’s existence, identity, personality and expression, so much has changed about the knowledge of man such that religion and interpretations have adapted, evolved or adjusted to serve the purpose of man because religion exists for the service of humanity and not the other way round.
Rectal fixation
The more contentious topic of sexuality is how many are fixated on the sex and not on the identity. If expressions of love are only seen in terms of the act of sex and the satisfaction it offers, the holders of that view diminish the wide spectrum of human emotions leaving them bereft and wanting in the knowledge of the essence of deep emotional involvement that comes with committed relationships regardless of gender pairing.
It is so amusing how religious heterosexuals are so anally-fixated on matters in which they have no experience and cannot begin to fathom how it affects people who have no qualms on the matter.
The reductionist view that sex is only just for procreation is interesting and it beggars the question whether heterosexuals in relationships with a finite number of children have only had sex a finite number of times just for that particular and primary purpose only, procreation – the truth?
Maybe it would interest the squeamish that anal sex between heterosexuals has existed for time immemorial partly as a contraceptive and partly as a variation to the sex-life, who would however admit to that is a different issue.
Does it affect you that much?
If there is any group of people who probably know about the experiences, it would be bisexuals, heterosexuals probably have no inkling about homosexuals just as homosexuals might not be persuaded of heterosexual affinities and so the matter of conscience comes to the fore in one simple question.
Does homosexuality affect the relationship between heterosexual partners? If it does, they have issues they need to deal with and sort out; if it doesn’t then why all that angst and emotional energy expended in condemning what you are not interested in? What you don’t do is what you cannot contemplate except if there is a latent desire for something you have not yet been brave enough to acquire.
If you’ve ever been in my shoes, then you will feel the same way too, until then, you know nothing, absolutely nothing about it.
Lately, the recording and film industry have bored us with the incessant rant about piracy, illegal downloads and falling profits.
There might have been a time when one could almost sympathise and understand their plight; however, they are victims of their inactions, evident in the fact that elephants are not nimble animals.
Just as people do not try to consider the roots and causes of terrorism, the roots and causes of piracy are ignored in favour of attacking the symptoms.
By analogy depending on the species of tree, cutting the leaves, stems or branches might stop growth or kill the tree, but it is uprooting the tree that would ensure the death of that tree.
In the creative wilderness
What is needed by the recording industry is some creative thinking on how to harness the new technologies for the survival of their businesses.
Creative thinking however is something that has been lacking in the industry for a long time. Examples abound of where they have refused genuine artistic license to artistes who do have creative genius for the supposed understanding of what the customer wants.
George Michael suffered a stifling of this creativity when Sony failed to market appreciably his Listen Without Prejudice album, which by all account enjoys critical acclaim.
The reality talent shows likeFameAcademyand Pop Idol would make more sense if some of the judges were people with talent who could nurture talent better than thinking of how to deliver the most obnoxious put-down.
It is good to see that some of the manufactured bands are splitting up and the real talent is shining through with solo contracts where the artiste has more control over their material and how it is presented.
Video kills the radio star
It is no secret that the record companies abuse their positions when the transition from vinyl to CD allowed them to charge above the odds for their material. It is interesting to note that piracy was not that rife with the advent of recording devices like the cassette player.
However, the MP3 is a complete shake down of the industry, this made music digitally portable and Napster – a data-sharing software and service – allowed the MP3s to be shared amongst enthusiasts at no cost.
The recording industry went after Napster and close-down the company, but it provided the forum for more Napster-like services which are well within the commonsense limits of a data-sharing service dependent on what the individual wants to share.
A test case brought inEuropecame to nought because the judge contended that if a customer has bought their music, they are within their rights to do whatever they want with what is principally their property.
Reckless gambling
Now, the argument for piracy destroying the finding new talent does not hold any water. If the talent were real rather than manufactured, it would show through.
Companies should also properly reward artistes based on their sales and stop front-loading contracts with outrageous sums that amount to reckless gambling.
Maria Carey and Michael Jackson are cases of where companies invested millions on a potential that did not materialise.
Music for all tastes
The focus of industry should also move on from just serving the musical tastes or rather tastelessness of the teenager generation, we need music that is good for listening, good to dance to, rhythmic and sensible.
It is unfortunate that part of this poor music culture fuels drug usage because nominally no one in their clear minds can dance to music played at 130 beats per minute.
Additionally, all this mixing business does not necessarily enhance the quality of the music for the dance floor; there is no good recognition factor for music that has been adulterated with other sounds, which were not part of the creative purpose of the artiste.
Technological advancements
It is clear that technological advancements would lead the curve when it comes to the music industry and it is time for the music industry elephant to re-invent itself.
The common saying is"If you are green you grow, if you are ripe you rot"the rotting smell of denial and lack of visionary drive to capture the technologies for enhancement is pervading the air and suffocating everyone.
Piracy is here to stay
Piracy would not go away, until the industry provides just and sensible reward for the artiste, not every artiste has to be a millionaire and have a wanton and lascivious lifestyle. They are supposed to be people like you and I.
It would not go away until the customer sees music formats as affordable.
It would not go away if the quality of published and produced music were not distinctly better than the Napster-like downloads.
It would not go away if the music produced is so ephemeral and has no enduring quality, which is why a contemporary's greatest hits album is only valuable within five years of their marketability.
Compared to the classics of the 60s, 70s and early 80s, the dash for market share and cash of the 90s has done much damage to the fabric of creative talent.
More people are switching to other non-popular or classical forms of music for entertainment, relaxation and inspiration.
