Are Bloggers the New Sweatshop Workers?

E Pele, eia ka 'ohelo 'au;
(Oh, Pele, here are your branches)
e taumaha aku wau 'ia 'oe
(I offer some to you)
e 'ai ho'i au tetahi
(some I also eat).

Today, Treehugger - a green media outlet - pointed me to an article titled Blogging Can Be Bad For Your Health. Honestly, that does not surprise me. Like any other process we humans engage in, it can be addicting. It can take up a lot of time, I know that, even for those of us who do this for free as a creative outlet, a community service or simply as a bit of a lark.(1) I've noticed that blogging can turn into what the wondrously prolific Paul Theroux calls "a parasitic interest", the sort of thing that, while fun to do, can take one away from one's real work and life.

So, I, for one, have got to blog a bit less. I'm hitched to a different sort of plow and need to till my fields. (2) You, Gentle Reader, have a rich, full life, I'm sure, so I don't imagine that you will be crushed if I post a little less often. But, I must say, it has been fun.

See you soon,

Sia

(1) All right, I admit it, sharing links and doing the research for these essays is fun for me. Geeky, I know. You can take the girl out of Silicon Valley, but you can't take the Silicon Valley out of the girl.


(2) Spending time with my family, and working on some other writing projects being among them.

Photo: Bird of Paradise. (and points to those who get the Farscape reference)

I'm leaving on a trip soon and going to a place that has quite a few of these. While there, I expect to turn 50. I turned 40 on the top of a volcano. (Thank you, Pele. I've since been blessed with a vital and meaningful decade.) I hope to enter this next turning of the wheel while swimming with (free) dolphins in tropical seas. You know, I love what I do and have done for most of my life (the onerous and inevitable donkey work aside) but oh! if only I could make a living doing that.