Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The End, My Friend

Sadly, I feel the time has come to draw a close to this little old blog of mine.

My biggest problems these days are time and energy. Gone are the heady days of being able to web surf and blog at work, when what my employers lost in productivity my blog gained in amusing or interesting links found, or thoughts and experiences recorded. Now when I get home of an evening I'm tired, especially since I started working 2 part-time jobs, 6 days a week.

The death, or at least (I'm praying) long-term coma, of the lovely laptop I was using and switching back to a desktop pc has also meant that web surfing and blogging have to be done in the cloistered confines of my bedroom. Not being able to web surf while I'm sitting in front of the tv has meant that many nights I'd really rather just watch the tv. In fact I've even been hanging out less on the sites I used to frequent, like Flickr and Ravelry. Definite signs that I'm spending less time on the computer.

What a fantastic experience these past five plus years have been! Nearly 180,000 visits! Many hundreds (thousands?) of comments! In the heyday of this blog I used to hang out in the comments all the time, so much so that at times it was almost like a chat room. Ah, good times. How lively and what energy this blog had then.

I thought about taking a break, but in truth every time I have taken little breaks in the past I have come back with only a short term burst of energy. This blog loses momentum, and readers, each time also. I'd rather not go out with a whimper and of late I've been hearing the sound of faint whimpering. Reading back what I've written just now I'm struck at how much I've used the word 'energy', and I guess that is the key.

Thank you all for the good times. In over 5 years the bad times have been amazingly few, nothing harsher than the occasional and rare rude comment. I know I will miss not having a forum to write in, because I have discovered how much I love the art of writing. Sharing my photos has been another joy, and your encouraging comments have always really touched me. Maybe these will things will draw me back to this blog sometime in the future, but I don't know if they will and so I don't think it wise to make any promises. In the meantime I'll be leaving everything here, feel free to poke around and maybe one day in the future we can meet back here.

Love,
Andrew... the other one.

32 comments:

missfee said...

sob sob sob sob

Thankyou so much Andrew love your blog and your take on life

It inspired me when I first started blogging

Pam said...

So sorry to hear that you'll be de-blogging but I totally understand. I've thoroughly enjoying visiting your blog, your insights are wonderful and I'll keep my fingers crossed that you will some day return. Until then, I wish you all the best!

yani said...

Well that was unexpected. And more than a little bit sad...

Thank you for the last five or so years, I only joined the whole blogging thing in 2005, but yours was one of the first blogs I added to my list and was always a joy to read, even when there wasn't much going on. Thank you for inspiring me with your photos, for showing off all that fabulous retro stuff you found, for revealing your many and varied craft-related talents and most of all, thanks for coming out to have a beer last March :)

You will be sadly missed, although I take comfort in the knowledge that your name will crop up from time to time on James' blog.

And for the record, you were the one and only Andrew :D

Mel said...

:-(

ninglun said...

Sorry too read this. Perhaps the itch will return...

Ernie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ernie said...

What i meant to say is... Thank you for being out there, somewhere x

bendalong said...

sob, sorry to see you go. Thankyou for your honesty and wonderful writing. Hopefully, one day, you may return.

Anonymous said...

i will miss you...

love,

your greatest fan and blog stalker xoxo

Mikey (TLE) said...

Yikes. That was a surprise. I will miss my (almost) daily log in. At least when we catch up for coffee/drinks/breakfast/dinner I won't know everything about your life that you start to talk about. Haha

I was honoured to be the first commenter on this blog.

spyder said...

good bloddy thing I'm coming back to Sydney this weekend!
Thanks for the lovely pickups you have often supplied in otherwise gloomy days.
It's been a charming and sometimes surprising journey.
Am so looking forward to your salad dressing wit (just the right balance of acid and oil) and easy laughter in person.

Tom said...

Oh dear, I always enjoyed seeing you pop up in my RSS reader. Like Yani, you were one of people I read before I started my own blog. I can't complain overly though as I quietly did the same to my blog a few weeks ago.

As liberating as it was to start blogging, it's also been quite liberating to stop and not feel pressure to post, so I hope you feel the same. I'm sure you'll be on teh interwebz in some shape or form again anyway. See you on twitter? ;)

John C said...

Having spent most of my adult years migrating from one field of work to another, I can't really complain when someone else does the same. But it's still a shame when familiar things end. Five years or so seems to be a distinct end point for some reason, you're the third person whose writings I've followed that's ended it after that amount of time. The Blogging Sound Barrier? Or Pain Barrier...

What Yani said, you were the Only Andrew. Best of luck with your free time and sense of relief!

Mindy said...

Sorry to see you go.

Ur-spo said...

I agree, this is one of the saddest things I've read in a long while. I am genuinely in grief.
You have been one of my favorite bloggers ever since I started.
I feel like I am losing a friend.

I do hope you will reconsider and periodically post?

Max said...

I'm sad, Andrew, but I understand where you're coming from. I'll miss your updates and great pictures popping up in my reader...but I hope you'll show back up someday. If I ever get to live my dream and actually make it to Australia for a visit, you are one of the first people I'm looking up!

Be well.

Anonymous said...

How very sad. I've only just discovered you and now you are leaving me. Sigh, such is life, such is love.

jason said...

oh no :(

Andrea James said...

Hope there is a resurrection in store some day, especially with your awesome photos.

Thanks for everything you put into this blog!

Emily said...

I'll miss you - but have fun!

Sim1 said...

Blogging shouldn't be about pleasing or entertaining other people- that's just a bonus. It should be about you and you wanting to write any old piffle at a time you want to. So don't feel like you should 'shut this shop down' in fear of losing readers. That would be a real shame!
Well, that's my opinion out of the way. I'll be sad to see you go from the blogging world, that's all I'm saying.
Love, Sim1 (aka Edna)

'Pong said...

This is quite sad. I totally understand it. Wish you the best. I'll see you around, won't I? ;)

JudgeG said...

Fantastic news! You're too busy LIVING LIFE OUT LOUD to continue with the blog. That's brilliant.

Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!

But not you! You go girl!!!

Quatrefoil said...

I'm sad that you've stopped blogging, but I do understand the decision. Creative endeavours have a natural lifespan, and in my experience pushing beyond that lifespan leads to serious burnout. I'm hoping that making the break will give you more creative energy for other things.

Thank you so much for the window on your life - it's been lovely, and I'm especially glad that I still get to see you in analog format occasionally.

Peter said...

James, thanks for all those lovely posts, you will be missed. Hope you keep the knitting needles clicking.

[verification: sorrynow]

yewenyi said...

hey, only go for a while and then come back again, things will turn the corner, you'll get a new note book I'm sure...

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

ah honey, you do as you will, and hopefully the will turns back around to wanting a little presence for you (and a little present for us) on the net somewhere... just make sure you tell us!

like Mikey, Spyd and DrQ, I'm just so glad to know you in the analogue format. even though that sounds kinda rude ;-)

freakgirl said...

I miss you already.

Cecilia said...

Thank you for the blog. I'll miss it a lot!

Kevin-Andrew said...

I'm getting to the same point too. I wish you the best. Hugs!

Michael Guy said...

oh. my. fuckin' GAWD!

I understand; I do. I share some of your sentiments; blogging is time consuming. It was evident that your blog was a passion; I so enjoyed your wit and snark, Andrew. And your photography, too!

Best of luck, dear one. Maybe give me a heads up if you come back this way any time soon.

Hugs to you. And thanks for all the laughs over the years. :)

x o

Victor said...

Thanks for the pleasure you have provided your loyal readers.