That old blogging problem
I remember why I first began a blog about a distinct subject like true crime: I don’t actually like talking about myself that much. No, really.
I’ve been doing something I’ve done a lot in the last 10 years, overthinking how to use this space after concluding I’m sticking with it, this is the blog. Then yesterday I asked myself some weird question about a passing curiosity and I recalled my best friend at the time, Matt, standing beside me in an ice cream place in 8th grade. I looked down and noticed distinct wear patterns in the concrete floor and it hit me that the patterns approximated the zones where people stood waiting for years on end.
The place was old, that was part of its charm, and to this day I’m sure I was right about that observation. But what Matt said also stuck with me: “You talk about some weird stuff, Steve.”
Adulthood is, in part, realizing you are both just as weird as your friends teased you about being and also not the only person on Earth who does certain things. One of the latter realizations came to me in my 40s, I guess — yes I’m curious in a random, unpredictable way, though it’s only unpredictable to others.
I know, for example, that I’ve wondered and read about some things for years and never mentioned them to anyone. Part of the reason for that? Didn’t want to seem like a weirdo with an absurd special interest.
In 1990 I did The Stephen Foster Drama in Bardstown, Kentucky. It’s a professional production that runs for 88 performances each year, and it has a cast of thousands (maybe 60, actually).
The guys I became friends with that summer nicknamed me “Stuff.” I feel like the reason why is obvious — my first and last name.
Unlike a lot of attempts in the past, this nickname stuck for a while, and I even found myself embracing it. (I’m not a nickname guy, I guess.)
I don’t so much embrace it now but I’m contemplating keeping my personal Medium URL with my name in it but calling the site “Stuff.” Because I’m just gonna get random and talk about lots of stuff. And I am interested in a lot of stuff.
Okay, more stuff to come.
