OK, so to the questions. In no particular order:
Q: I’m glad you’re updating since you don’t use Facebook at all. What made you suddenly start?
A: Well, a couple of things sort of came together at once. The first thing that happened was my broken back disc. That really threw me for a loop because it was so disruptive. It really caused me to put many things on hold and it was a major new presence in my life and I wanted to describe the recovery process somehow. I wanted to create a log of it and maybe give it to my PT. I thought about blogging it for other broken back people, too. I definitely couldn’t find much from the victim’s perspective when I was searching for information.
The other thing is that, as quite a few of you know, during my China years I had a blog, “Bleeding Sore”, about the training life there and happenings. I knew a few people really appreciated it for curiosity reasons, and then family and close friends found it a pretty good way to stay somewhat connected despite my distance. When I moved back to the States I figured I’d be in pretty regular contact with people here, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case. I have some good new friends in the city, but I’m somewhat isolated from other friends in different parts of the country and the world, so it makes just as much sense for me to keep updates here as it did when I was overseas.
Also, I basically hate Facebook. I think it’s a great way to find people, but a dumb way to stay in contact with people. It’s like reading an alumni newsletter, sort of, but tilled with way less interesting stuff. I’m also convinced that many people, especially the psychos, feel obligated to post pictures of their outings to make sure that everyone knows they seem to be having plenty of “fun times!”
Q: Where did the name Obsidian Noise come from?
A: I was drunk one night and came up with “Obsidian Noise” as a name for something– a song, a band, a book, I knew it’d be good for something. So I ended up buying the domain. I had to check the next morning to see if I had actually done it, and there it was.
Q: Why do you call yourself Obsidian Duck? Also, why are you keeping it anonymous?
A: Obsidian Duck came after the domain name. I was looking around for something to inspire a new handle and saw a little rubber ducky that I had painted jet black a few months before. So, it was obsidian, sort of, and a duck. It’s anonymous so I can say motherfucker and cuntpunch without wincing.
Q: What is up with the rants? I’m curious how you’re doing, but the rants are so negative!
A: Yeah, those have been a bit negative, agreed. After a while you just get fed up with trying to convince yourself that everything is just middle-path, neither too good nor too bad, always context specific, etc. etc. But sometimes you realize that some things are just totally fucking stupid and it’s important to be honest about it.
So why write about it? Some personal experiences over the last year definitely influences the prominence of certain subjects these days, so yeah, they’ve stayed in my mind a bit. It’s not something I think about much at all and I’m completely disconnected from a couple of things I wrote about, but I have pretty firm views about a couple things, that’s all. But yeah, will try to mellow out on the broadcasting.
Q: Are you a musician?
A: Not really, I play guitar for relaxation and fun and record things every once in a while. I deeply love the sound of overdriven, distorted guitar, especially rhythm guitar that sounds percussive, so I play around with that sound when I have time. I think that kind of music is really expressive and has a real voice to it, and I feel like it describes me pretty well, so I like to play it. I have a jam band that comes to play together every week, just for fun. Sometimes we suck, sometimes we’re totally on.
Q: Are you a writer?
A: Not at all, I hate writing and I hate words. But I like creating things, little tools, that help me add perspective to my own thoughts. Sometimes it’s writing a little thing, sometimes it’s a photo I might take by accident, or something I might draw or build. So I like creating things to keep me thinking widely, and writing is one of those things sometimes.
Q: What are the plans for Obsidian Noise in the coming year?
A: I’ll keep the journaling up, the primary purpose. I’ll also be doing a Noise piece just about every week, I hope. That’s authentic, self-produced and recorded conversations and instrumentation blended together. No idea where it will go but for some reason I really like doing it, I find it enjoyable to work on. I think the first piece on there with the old woman who was stalking me was pretty killer stuff, if you ask me.
Q: Why don’t you have comments turned on?
A: It’s just that this was intended to be more or less one-way, not a place for conversations to happen, though I’m happy to take your mails. Not everything has to be part of the 2.0/3.0 social media movement. Also, the comment widget is not something I have to turn off for every post or something like that, it’s off by default in the entire theme. I guess if I had an open question or something I could turn it on, maybe I’ll do that soon.
Q: Do you know how many people check out ON?
A: Not specifically, no. I have a little hit counter in the admin view and I see it gets about 40-50 hits a day and about 20 of those are repeat readers, but I have no way of knowing who’s who. I haven’t listed it anywhere and don’t plan on it… this is really just for you guys who are already reading it when you have time or feel like checking in, family and friends, etc.
