I haven’t written a proper blog entry in quite some time, for several reasons. Well, two big ones, anyway. Or maybe this counts as three.
I changed my website to a blog format back in 2005/6 so I could relate my experiences as an American expat living in Latvia, and for about a year or so I was able to write about my experiences here with a kind of virtual (pun intended) anonymity, partially shielded by my writing in English and partially shielded by my outsider status here in Latvia. I wasn’t a known commodity, and was thus below many local radars. My audience (such as it is) was American. Or at least in my mind it was. But over time, I realized that sure enough, people here in Latvia were reading my commentaries. And those that discovered it and could read English were of course willing to translate for others if it seemed appropriate. I said nothing particularly scathing (well, maybe a little, but never personal), but I was still trying to write honestly. As time passed and I’d had good professional experiences as well as bad ones, I began to feel constrained against writing about the warts.
Here’s an SAT style analogy for you: The New Music community in New York is to archipelago as The New Music community in Latvia is to Melrose Place.
Reason number two: Since I moved here, I got remarried and had two kids. Nothing takes time away from things that feel even a little bit peripheral than that.
Anyway, I say all that to say this: I have a big project involving lots of tech stuff in the works, where I’d like to open up the process a little bit and also benefit from the experience of others who may care to share their advice or guidance. I’ll leave the actual beginning of that topic to the the next entry. Until then.