Although my son and daughter-in-law, between them, operate two successful I.T. businesses, and my wife is into Facebook and sophisticated mobile phones, I’m an I.T. dunce. I can use the word processing function, email, and simple stuff like that, but anything else is beyond me.
It’s not because I’m stupid. I think it’s because I don’t give a shit about being an expert. However, I do know that computers can let me do some useful things – like ranting.
I’ve ranted for as long as I can remember. I’ve always been opinionated and stated my views forcefully, but not always at the most appropriate time or in the most tactful way.
I had been whingeing to family members about my sense of frustration at being unable to publish my opinions, particularly about issues which piss me off, when my daughter-in-law Cassandra, who was in the process of setting up her business, Affordable Web Solutions, offered to set up a website for me.
I jumped at the chance and Ranting was created. My purpose in writing was purely to get a lot of shit out of my head, a form of therapy for a sick mind. I had no real expectation that anybody apart from a few friends would read any of my crap, so I was surprised when I started getting comments recorded on the site.
Some of these were clearly spam and I trashed them straight away. Some came from people who obviously did not speak English as their first language and who had made good attempts at communicating supportive comments. Some came from people inviting me to correspond personally with them, or to share ideas or content on their websites, and some were extremely dubious in nature.
My problem was, and still is, that I can’t tell the fair dinkum correspondents from the phonies. I don’t know if a website is bogus and some of the email addresses which I receive seem peculiar. Being an I.T. dunce means that I am suspicious of everything which is sent to me, just in case someone is trying to do something “unfriendly”, so I haven’t responded to any invitations to communicate further.
If you are someone who has made an honest attempt to engage with me via my website, please accept my apologies for my failure to reply. I sincerely appreciate the positive feedback that I have received.
All along, I’ve been conscious of the fact that ranting could easily have become a compulsion and taken over my life, so I’ve deliberately avoided allowing that to happen. At the present moment I am so busy with other aspects of my life that ranting has been seriously neglected. I’ve been trying for months to find time and energy to complete a rant entitled “Human Nature”, which is proving to be the most demanding piece I’ve ever attempted.
Following a friend’s suggestion, and lacking the time, energy and confidence to approach publishers, I self-published “Fools of The Trade” in serial form. I doubt that anyone has read it but I’m happy that I’ve made it available. It, too, was written as a form of therapy.
Time permitting, I’m hoping to be ranting again soon, but these essays will be competing with a second, and possibly a third novel.
Cheers,
Julian
