BLOGGING AND BITCHING

So what happened?

From where I sit (anchored in the sea, miles away from civilisation), honestly, the title and raison d'etre of what should have otherwise been a blog really no longer apply. I've been out of academia now for something like five years--long enough that I'm not actually sure how long it's been and also more than a week out of any sort of communication with the outside world, including my wife. The phones have been confiscated and sealed (Yeah, don’t drop your jaws – I was there too at the EXOs den to witness the blessed event). My only attempt to use the internet dongle to connect to the internet and know whats happening to my blog/FB/and also the world have also crashed and burned – again thanks to the EXO. He HAD to take a round then, just about when the net was getting connected. Anyways, talking about the blog, I always used my blog to vent my frustrations – be it personal or professional and its really cut down a lot on my hypertension. It allows me to bitch in fourth gear and still not be worried if I am being watched/ judged. And from my experience I tell you – strangers can actually give you some of the best advice. I think its mostly because they aren’t biased towards you and also because they really don’t care/know if their advice can hurt/really solve the situation. Though the bitchiness of the blogging has come down a lot now, I still have strong opinions, but the severe unhappiness and depression that were, to be honest, major drivers of the urgency and bitchiness of conversations that filled my blog (minus the night long bitchy session yesterday I had in lieu of blogging, in the wardroom) are also things of the past. For now anyway, and I hope permanently. And most importantly of all, my primary purpose in indulging in the bitching has, I think, been met: there are *tons* of people out there who are also depressive/bitchy/feminist/married/academic/anxious/funny/cynical/etc. types, who experience at least some parts of the world in ways that are congenial to me, and I to them, and the blog has, I think, been a successful part all of our discovering that the internet is a really awesome way to ditch the facades and talk, honestly, about our experiences. Even the pseudonymous part of doing so feels almost like an afterthought: it's been quite some time since I have been fairly transparent (though still quite enjoyable) nom de plume, rather than a proper mask.

That plus it sort of feels like my mad blog is a more or less complete body of work. Not that we don't/won't continue to have things to say on the blog's topics--feminism, politics, society, recipes, emotions, even academia--but we, the various contributors into the bitch sessions, have each reached a kind of closure of the parts of our lives that the blog served. We may not all be living happily ever after, but I think we're all at transitional stages and ready to move to something new.

But as I said, that doesn't mean we're, like, dead or anything.
For now the blog will stay exactly where it is. But I have decided that I need to think and shoot about newer, better topics. Like travel. In other words, stuff will still be around, hopefully to be occasionally discovered by new readers but my readers are going to miss the bitchy content from now on.

I shall forever remain your humble servant.

www.docshibs.blogspot.com

PS: 1. Face it – Men can almost always beat women in bitching.
2. Being happy and having someone with whom you can discuss what you think, drastically cuts down on the bitching. See, it worked for me.