Self-Imposed Blog Exile

In the month of November, I posted three times at BillyBlog. Three times. There had been days in the past when I posted thrice in a single day.

The posts were all sent remotely via my BlackBerry, two were reports of new poems appearing on New York City's Poetry in Motion transit program, and the third was a Thanksgiving greeting.

A far cry from last November (55 posts) and the November before (26 posts).

And now, for a bit of an explanation.

Even though this drought concurred with a program called WebSense, cruelly imposed by Big Brother on the employees of my company, eradicating 90% of un-work-related web activity, I can't give the Man credit for silencing me.

It has been quite a year, and BillyBlog was its most successful. However, one could argue that it was taking over my life, usurping my identity.

Posting was no longer a luxury, but a priority, when other priorities in my life needed attention. I became increasingly self-conscious of my relying solely on blog fodder as my social conversational repertoire. Son of BillyBlog, Tattoosday, also contributed to this deterioration of my social make-up. Tattoosday has also gone dark in the month of November (despite some tattoo-spotting success).

I watched myself from outside of my body, conversing with people, seeing how long before "the blog" entered the discussion. Dishearteningly, it happened sooner rather than later. I am Bill Cohen, not BillyBlog. The lines blurred and it didn't feel healthy.

The Ancient One, Blessed Be He, called me a week into my self-imposed blog exile, just to make sure that I was okay. I was, and I am.

There are people in this world who find enlightenment through fasting, and November was my mental fast. I am hoping it will be for the better. I think that it will.

I appreciate the messages of support from my scattering of readers. November was still a big month for BillyBlog, as we surpassed the 33,333 hit and, on the last day of the month, registered #35,000.

I am back for December, although I may not be as prolific as I had been in the past. I'm not sure. I regret that I may have missed some good blogrotunities last month (a trip to the NYC Transit Museum, dinner at Junior's, and a disappointing Thanksgiving dinner at First Oasis, to name a few). But I needed the break.

Thank you for sticking by, checking in, and keeping the faith! Onward, ho!