I Have a Theory.

The written word has been heavily discarded in favor of more easily digestible mediums. Which I totally understand why. Not going to fight that.

In an attempt to preserve memories, I had a desire to document my automotive experiences beyond just a photo in a cloud server somewhere. While photos serve as a great memory jogger for what might have occurred that day, I wanted something more reflective, as a way to document my thoughts at the time. While I can generally harken back to my mental state in that moment, I wanted something more.

Why Not Video?

I can’t do video. While I don’t mind the editing process the few times I’ve done it, its much easier to take a high quality photo and refine my thoughts when I write, rather than attempting to capture the point I am trying to make in an eloquent way on camera. My own Instagram stories have taught me that much.

Its a QC issue as well. I know I would find it immensely frustrating to film a clip with the audio messed up or out of focus and discover that during the edit. I don’t want the hardware to be the limiting factor on the quality of work I am able to put out. Photos are quick, easy, and the writing process for me takes far less time than editing would.

I also just enjoy writing and photography. While I despise most of the things I create, mostly because they present basic or childish from my critical perspective, other people tell me its pretty ok, and I’m learning to like it. Even in the time I’ve spent setting up this site, I have started to appreciate my own work, which is a weird thing to say.

Above All: I Miss Forums and Blogs.

There was nothing sweeter than finding the right forum post to answer your question or blog that documented a really interesting approach to a problem. I grew up reading forums before I could drive as a way to learn about the cars I was interested in. (which profoundly impacted the way I interacted with the world, I was kind of a dick for many years, because the forums were so ruthless and that’s how I thought you had to interact) While usually battlegrounds of ego and dick measuring, it is possible to find incredible levels of technical competence and brainstorming in there as well.

On the more positive side, I still read blogs to this day from people I enjoy following. I find it a pleasant art form to interact with, and while it has been technologically overtaken by short visual information dumps, I still have respect for the old way, as its what I grew up on. I am also a big fan of the school of thought “create what that you like to consume, because chances are there are other people out there are drawn to it for the same reasons”.

I hope to stick to this, I really do. It would be a mentally positive thing to do in a journaling sense, as well as a way to meter the pace I usually move through experiences and projects. Its also public accountability. If this was a private site forever, which I have considered doing, there would be no incentive to keep up to date and not get drowned in the backlog. I don’t intend to bring past vehicles to the blog, although I might. Just the current ones. If you want the blog before the blog, my Instagram has a lot of reading to do, much to the chagrin of those who follow me. I’ve accepted that short form posts are not my favorite medium to represent my own work.

I guarantee there will be many articles that regularly exceed a reasonable length. However for the people like me that want that level of excruciating detail and context, I’m here to supply it.

Long live the written word, and welcome to the chaos.