MediocreMan

Running Alone in the Woods · 12 October 2024

I have stopped running alone in the woods.

Some people think it is crazy, but I like to run. I cannot do it every day, but I try to run as often as I can. My goal is at least three times a week, but you know how goals go. Sometimes you hit them. Sometimes you do not.

At any rate. I like to run.

Now I am not an alarmist or anything like that, but I have decided that I am not going to run in the woods alone anymore. It is not that I am afraid of the boogeyman or anything like that. Quite the contrary. My fear is more practical. I do not want to get mauled by a lion.

Mauled by a lion! I know. That is crazy talk. But it has crossed my mind. Oh, not an African lion. A North American lion. A mountain lion.

It is certainly a farfetched idea to think that I might get mauled or even eaten by a mountain lion. Even if it has crossed my mind. But it is not out of the realm of possibility. After all, animals are coming closer to civilization the more civilization encroaches on the animals’ domains. Still, it is doubtful that a mountain lion is that close to where I like to run. Which is mostly in my own neighborhood.

I still think it wise not to run in the woods by myself. After all, there are other creatures in the woods that could maul me. Bobcats live around me. And then there are the deer. I do not need to get kicked by a deer. Or even impaled by a deer’s antlers. Again. Probably not going to happen. But then again…

Now that I think of it, meeting people in the woods could be scary. Not that I think the worst of people, but that is just it. Sometimes the worst in people comes out when you are alone in the woods. I might rather meet the lion.

At any rate.

(Well, I think this post is running out of steam. It was not quite what I was thinking it might be. But that is okay. After all, I am merely aspiring to be mediocre. So having something substandard is par for the course.)

When it comes right down to it, I am really not afraid of running in the woods by myself. But it would be better to run in them with other people. After all, if we did end up meeting a lion, I would not need to run faster than the lion. (Sorry to end on a bad dad joke. But like I said, I am still aspiring to be mediocre.)

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Aspiring to Be Mediocre · 5 October 2024

One of my friends and faithful readers has told me time and again that I should keep trying to become mediocre. That even though I am not there yet, I still might make it one day. And so I keep trying.

Some people would say, “With friends like that…” But that is not the way I think. I think that my friend is right. I should keep trying to be mediocre. I know. It is not a high bar. At least not for most people. But it is a worthy goal for me. My writing is suspect. Oh sure. It is regular. I post something every week. But even being regular is not the greatest thing. (Unless of course, you are worried about that sort of thing and eat lots of fiber in your diet.)

But being regular and being mediocre are two different things. After all, you can be a regular in terms of being steady and reliable without being that great at anything. Which is perhaps where I am at. You can count on my blog being out every week. I post something even if that something is not very good. Or even close to mediocre.

I do wonder what mediocre looks like. I think it is just being normal. But even normal is not normal anymore. Whatever that means. But when I came up with MediocreMan, I just figured I was a normal guy. A person who nobody really notices because he is not too great and not too bad. Maybe not just right, but then again, this is not the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Which, by the way, is an odd story. Think about it. The bears go for a walk, and leave their house unlocked. That seems pretty normal. After all, if you live in the bears’ neighborhood, you would not want to go into their house whether the door is locked or unlocked. After all, you might find the bears at home. But not only does Goldilocks go into the unlocked house, she eats their food. Or at least tastes some of their food. Then, she goes around and sits on chairs and finally falls asleep on the little bear’s bed because it is just right.

You know, I never thought of Goldilocks being such a criminal. She breaks into somebody’s house. She steals their food. Then, she vandalizes their bedroom by messing up beds she did not even sleep in (not to mention the chair she breaks). And she is caught red handed. Sheesh. Ah well. Everything ended up fine and dandy. They ended up becoming friends and living in Shrek’s swamp.

I do wonder about what it would be like to hit the goal of being mediocre. I might end up having a cohesive blog post without going off on tangents and giving spoilers for other people’s stories. Then again, I might not be as regular if I tried to wait for greatness to come upon me. So I will keep listening to my friend and keep striving to become mediocre. Maybe I will make it one day.

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Third Time Is a Charm… Maybe · 28 September 2024

Third time’s a charm. Or so they say.

I have tried writing this week’s blog post a few times. Well, this is the third. I think. Which is, of course, how I got the title. Third time is a charm. Maybe. Hopefully. Please be the charm.

At any rate.

There are certainly times when I have a stinker of a blog post. I know because some of my faithful readers and friends have told me so. Actually, they seem to tease me when they (the blog posts) are not so smelly and never say a word when they are. So maybe I have written a bunch of stinkers lately. Hmm.

Then there are times when I have lots of things to write, but not a one of them is for my blog. Book ideas. Poems. Song lyrics. Thankfully, one of my recent poems was also a blog post. Which I enjoyed writing. And I thought was okay too. Of course, I took the idea from William. William Shakespeare, that is. And I took the rhythm or meter as well. But the notions were all mine.

When I am in those times when the creative juices are flowing toward other projects, I try to just write and write and write. On those specific projects. Then, life or my blog gets in the way. Which is actually a good thing. Getting away from a project for a short time can bring freshness to the projects when I get back to them. Or the time away can make me forget where I was going with the story. Which means that I need to read some of it. Which means that I often wonder where I was going with it. Ah well.

The other times that I am kept away from my blogging is when I have things going on in my life that I need to write about in private. Yes. That means that I keep a journal. (I had actually written that I journal, but I am not keen on verbing nouns or nouning verbs. Which is a completely different story.) These journal entries sometimes make it to my blog, but usually, they are private thoughts that will never be seen by anybody but me. Unless, of course, I become posthumously famous and somebody actually decides that a dead man’s journal is a treasure trove. Like that will ever happen.

At any rate.

It is obvious that I like to write. My blog and my Amazon page are proof that I have clogged up cyberspace with my writing. Whether it is any good or not. Which is really the point. I just write and write and write. And publish and publish and publish. Whether anybody ever reads or not.

Well, that is about it. This is the third piece I have written this week for my blog. And maybe one of them is acceptable enough to post. So maybe, hopefully, the third time really has been a charm.

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