External Underpants

http://externalunderpants.blogspot.com/

This was a long time coming.

I don't read many blogs. In fact, I didn't read any blogs until External Underpants came along, to be perfectly honest. The blog is written by the frontman of The Frank Stalloners, true. But it has little to do with his rockstar alter ego, and much to do with other passions of his, namely comics and writing. Danny is an avid reader, and an even better writer. His ability to dissect the information that exists between the lines, and present it in a way that is digestible to the rest of us, is well...Uncanny. For those of you who may know Danny simply by his stage antics and humorous band leading persona, this blog will open your eyes. His writing affords us all new insight into the mind of a truly gifted analyst. I was never even that huge of a comic book purveyor, though I did read my fair share growing up. This fact only enhances his blog for me, as it's opened me up to a whole new world of literature.

In the relatively short time that Danny's blog has been operating now, it's changed the way I think about a lot of things related to social media. I am not a social media guy. I don't have Facebook or MySpace, Linked In or Twitter. I'm not prejudicial towards those who do, it's just not something I'm interested in. I like a degree of privacy, and likewise, I afford other people theirs. In short, and I mean this as inoffensively as possible, I don't care about other peoples day to day dealings outside of those whom I actually speak with. But that being said, it's becoming clear to me that this is not a passing fad, and that social media is, and is going to further become a staple of our societies communication landscape. I'd also be lying if I said I didn't enjoy reading and partaking in the blogosphere.

So, now I'm blogging. I've bought a ticket, and I'm taking the ride. It's still a very strange thing to me and I'm not sure I think of it in the same manner as other people. Then again, I don't really know because I haven't spoken to many people about it. When Kim set this whole thing up for me, I figured, what's the worst that happens, I have a forum to write everyday (which I do anyway), and save each entry by date. It's pretty much a journal. Personally, I struggle with the idea of putting things on display. I'm not good at that because I'm not comfortable with it, but I can acknowledge that it is my own issue. You see, I respect humbleness. I respect the guy who keeps his head down, works hard, and makes great things happen, all the while never asking for recognition, never feeling he deserves it. Granted, I haven't done anything great at this point in my life, but just publishing this stuff is asking for a certain degree of acknowledgement. Asking people to read your work, is a form a self-validation and at least a little egotistical. It assumes that your work is good enough to be read. Maybe mine is. Maybe it isn't.

I'm know not all of my posts have been worthy. I hope at least some have. It's a quick, train-of-thought type process for me. You don't proof and edit journal entries, you just lay your feelings out there, and let the chips fall where they may. That's essentially how I've treated the Junkyard Farmer process. When I go back and read some of my prior entries, I can't help but cringe. I find all the flaws, both grammatically and otherwise. That's just my nature. But I must say, on the whole, the process has been very positive for me (I don't know if that's the same for my readers!). Getting my thoughts down on subjects that either pop into my field of view, or have been important to me for a long time, has given me perspective on things I didn't even know I had. It also just feels good. So in that vein, I must say I recommend it or something like it, to everyone. You won't know, until you try it. And I'll tell you what, if you start your own, I'll sign up and read it as often as I possibly can. Because though I may not be a fan of social media, there are a lot of interesting people out there with something to say. Hell, I know many of them, and one of them is certainly posting under the moniker of External Underpants.