Number 600…

Ok…

I guess we can say that this is the 600th blog. I can’t really say that the same sort of pressure that Alex Rodriquez had going for his 600th homer has been on me but I have been thinking about it. And this is really stupid because it is not that big of a deal. I have not been blogging like I did a few years ago. The first 500 blogs came in about three years but it’s been another three years since I did this last hundred. I stopped blogging I suppose for the same reasons a lot of people stopped. There is no money in it, the audience is fickle and it amounts to a monumental amount of work for an unnecessary ego stroke. This last group was started though to get into shape for this court case and for two other writing projects. Public writing, with or without a paycheck, is more useful than a private journal because of the obligation to be clear. And so I have started in and in doing do, have arrived at this milestone.

The court case itself did not go well though. It did not go badly, but it did not go well. We had a draw. The judge refused to change the time so we continue on. And looking back, I really feel that I understand the mistakes I made in my presentation. I really do not believe though that I am playing on an even playing field but because I can’t do anything about that, I can only do something about improving my presentation and getting a bit closer to the real facts of the case. And I did make some mistakes and I focused on some things that were not hard, absolute and measurable facts. I even ignored my final statements, or even a decent some up in favor of what amounted to an emotional speech which of course was completely unnecessary given the situation. And finally, while I did disturb the credibility of Tanya’s main witnesses, as if that was so hard to do, I also failed to make the specific point which needed to be made regarding the witnesses and this was the biggest mistake. So this next week, because I do not wish to agree with these results, I either have to make a complaint or to start a new case and I have been working on those facts the last three days.

There were some awesome moments though in the court. One specifically, was when my friend Lyosha was making his testimony about a horrible moment when Anya’s brother beat her, and he had been an actual witness to Tanya’s lying about it on the phone. After he told his story, Tanya stood up and, taking her cue from me, attempted to challenge his perceptions. Did you really hear this? How could you really hear this? Were you actually on the phone? Lyosha though literally, turned around, looked directly in Tanya’s eyes and said “No, YOU said this. This is what YOU did!” Tanya collapsed like a house of cards. Really, it was a great moment. And in fact all of my friends who came to court were brilliant. They presented themselves well showed the information we wanted to show. And if nothing else, we did make it very clear as to the differences between my house and Tanya’s. But again, the failure in the court case was that I just didn’t make the points I needed to make clear and straight. I was too passive as to the procedure and let opportunities to define the situation properly slip away. I won’t make the same mistake again.

But I do think that these writings have been helpful. Writing in general is an awesome tool. I had a great teacher at the University of Minnesota who outlined a lot of the benefits of putting one’s thoughts on the page. Writing is rewriting she taught us and the act of challenging one’s words makes those words, as well as their speaker, stronger. Time and many foolish mistakes have shown her to have been right and I now teach these same ideas to my own students. So I am going to try and continue blogging because I do have a lot of work to do and having a clearer head will only be helpful- as is an audience, even if it is not one that pays for your time.

So probably this 600th blog is not really such an occasion because you know, it is not really 600, but more like 100 over three years. I suppose it would be hard really to even say that I am a blogger, if such a title means anything. But anyway, it is and has been good and interesting for a long time and, as we like to give attention to round numbers, as always, thanks for reading my 600th blog.

I’ll try to get some more out soon…