Ah, what the hell

30 Jan

It may be temporary, it may be less frequently updated but for now you can consider LB/RB open for business.

EDIT:

When I closed in October 2007 (well spotted Kristjan!) I got literally inundated with email expressing sorrow, frustration, remonstration that I was giving in and lots of warm wishes. I hope I managed to reply to everyone, if I didn’t then I apologise but it was (if you’ll excuse the self-referencing humour) manic. The day after I shut, I woke up to find GMail reporting 76 unread emails.

I was taken aback at how strongly people felt and immediately began to feel a bit guilty but I was convinced I was right to do it and I’m still not unconvinced 100%. I cannot let my kids become targets.

However, a few weeks ago a friend of mine who lives in the same town I do and who is also a manic depressive took it upon himself to become my ‘protector’ and started posting under a pseudonym to various blogs hostile to the stance of mine. Even now I still don’t know how many blogs he posted on. But anyway – the point of me telling you this was that it immediately started up again from ‘certain quarters’ (no prizes for guessing and no need to mention the blog or name in question) and I realised that it didn’t really matter if I was posting or not – it was still going to carry on.

With that in mind, the biggest reason for stopping seemed a bit pointless.

However, I’ll be honest, I’ve enjoyed not blogging. I won’t ever again get so caught up in it. It was nice to sit down and read a book for pleasure after the girls were in bed and so I intend to not lose that. It was nice not to have endless blah-blah wars with Brad Handley running into gajillions of comments so I’m going to be applying a very simple rule to comments: if they annoy me in any way I will simply delete them. If anyone doesn’t like that then boo-hoo. Get your own blog. My priority in doing this is my own peace of mind.

No more family mentions at all. Pics of the kids have been removed from Flickr. The videos of them are gone from YouTube. That’s a high price to pay, especially considering that one of those videos did one of the best things I could imagine – reached a man in need and helped him.

I’ve had a few questions reach me since yesterday. I’ll deal with them here:

1) What about the Group blogging?
Amanda (who is unavailable right now) has set up a fantastic resource called GreyMatter/White Matter which has all the LB/RB team bloggers on it. I am more than happy for bloggers to post here again if they want to but I would like to talk to Amanda first as GM/WM is her project.

2) Might you shut again soon?
I might, yeah. I really don’t know. I don’t want to. I enjoy writing and this grand old lady has been around for five years now but I have to have a bit of perspective. Its not up to me fight every battle going. Family, health, peace of mind, meals, then blogging.

So – lets get to it 🙂

45 Responses to “Ah, what the hell”

  1. Lori January 30, 2008 at 20:43 #

    Woohoo! Welcome back Kev 🙂

  2. culvercitycynic January 30, 2008 at 21:14 #

    WhooooHoooo is right! Very cool Kev.

  3. Ms. Clark January 30, 2008 at 21:51 #

    One more wooooohooo! and a Yipeeee! too. 😀

  4. feebee January 30, 2008 at 21:56 #

    Yay! Don’t let the bastards wear you down.

  5. Jon January 30, 2008 at 22:16 #

    ditto – good to have lb/rb back, and don’t let the bastards grind you down 😀

  6. Jemaleddin January 30, 2008 at 22:22 #

    Very very glad to have you back. It’s been through you that I’ve found and read some of the most important and inspiring information ever. Please, please, please keep doing what you’re doing!

    (Unless the bastards do get you down – no sense driving yourself crazy just for my sake!)

  7. bullet January 30, 2008 at 22:48 #

    YAY! 😀

  8. Dr* T January 30, 2008 at 22:57 #

    Welcome back & well done.

  9. Niksmom January 30, 2008 at 23:04 #

    At the risk of being redundant…WooHoo!!!! And Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  10. Mojo January 30, 2008 at 23:18 #

    Good to see you back.

  11. Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay January 31, 2008 at 00:11 #

    So can I write my Titoism stuff here?
    –
    Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay

  12. Patrick January 31, 2008 at 00:41 #

    Both sides of my brain are happy about this!

  13. Beau January 31, 2008 at 01:06 #

    Consider me happy 🙂

  14. Bev January 31, 2008 at 01:46 #

    (chirping)

  15. Jennifer January 31, 2008 at 02:30 #

    A heartfelt vote of thanks for continuing whenever you feel up to it. When you are a leader, you are a leader. Get used to it 🙂

    xx

  16. Club 166 January 31, 2008 at 02:40 #

    Most excellent!

    Joe

  17. Tom January 31, 2008 at 03:03 #

    Welcome back my friend!

  18. Rjaye January 31, 2008 at 03:50 #

    Yeah!!! I am so glad you’re back! Thank you for your past efforts, and I am looking forward to your future ones.

    Metta.

  19. Bartholomew Cubbins January 31, 2008 at 03:50 #

    Heh, good to have you back!

  20. Mike McCarron January 31, 2008 at 05:05 #

    This is good news! I think the WEB is a better place with you in it.

  21. Steve D January 31, 2008 at 05:06 #

    All we need now is a comment from Anonimouse and it’ll feel like the good ol’ days!

  22. mayfly January 31, 2008 at 05:48 #

    I have, at times, had reason to question your statements, but never your civility. Welcome back!

  23. isles January 31, 2008 at 06:43 #

    You freaking rock. Blog away!

  24. Mum Is Thinking January 31, 2008 at 10:03 #

    😀 So glad you’re back!

  25. Kassiane January 31, 2008 at 11:07 #

    Can’t keep a good blog down. Welcome back.

  26. Sharon January 31, 2008 at 11:21 #

    Glad to hear it Kev. And yes, do it on your own terms and delete the stupid comments ’cause they add nothing to the discussions anyway.

    The web hasn’t been as much fun since you and the Diva took a break. But like you said there are many, many things so much more important then blogging.

  27. Dawn January 31, 2008 at 12:34 #

    Welcome back, Kev. I have missed you! Yeah, delete stupid comments. I know you always respected HONEST disagreement but there were those who were just stupid. No one would miss those comments.

  28. Luna_the_cat January 31, 2008 at 13:02 #

    Yeah, it’s not like I ever commented here much, but it’s wonderful to see you back. Good luck.

  29. bones January 31, 2008 at 14:32 #

    “ASS-tounding” LOL!!! Good to see you’re back!!

  30. Joseph January 31, 2008 at 15:52 #

    I’m glad you’re back. It’s good Best didn’t win after all, isn’t it?

  31. DavidCT January 31, 2008 at 17:49 #

    Welcome back from a new reader. I found your bolg just as you closed. Nonsense is endless thanks for a little sense!

  32. Kristjan Wager January 31, 2008 at 18:15 #

    Nice seeing you back Kevin!

    Oh, and didn’t you close in 2007 rather than 2006?

  33. Mekei January 31, 2008 at 21:34 #

    *happy dance* welcome back, kev!

    *happy sigh*

  34. Liz Ditz January 31, 2008 at 22:11 #

    [Waving from California] Hi Kev! Welcome back!

  35. wskrz January 31, 2008 at 23:26 #

    WOOT! Glad to see you open for business again, Kev! We missed you!

  36. Bronze Dog February 1, 2008 at 00:10 #

    Glad to have you back as well.

  37. navi February 1, 2008 at 00:11 #

    Welcome back. and gee manic depression/bipolar disorder is everywhere. I’ve myself a bipolar husband.

  38. delphinium February 1, 2008 at 00:29 #

    welcome back!

  39. Science Mom February 1, 2008 at 03:54 #

    Kevin, You do a great service to the Autism Community yet again by returning. Here here to your neutering policy as well; let the intelligent dialogue flow.

  40. Kev February 1, 2008 at 08:33 #

    Thank to everyone, old and new friends, for the welcome back 🙂

  41. bonni February 2, 2008 at 17:46 #

    “I’m going to be applying a very simple rule to comments: if they annoy me in any way I will simply delete them.”

    Yup. That’s a policy I had on my personal blog (before I turned off comments entirely). You annoy me, I delete you. Waste your own bandwidth. 😉

  42. Phil Schwarz February 3, 2008 at 06:04 #

    Welcome back!

    “And that’s the news from Lake Woo-be-gone, where all the bloggers are above average, every last one of them.” (with a wink to Garrison Keillor)

  43. alyric February 4, 2008 at 15:03 #

    Hey you’re back and you’re right about keeping it a little less frenetically paced – you and the Diva both. Am tremendously grateful that you will do at least some writing.

  44. misha_k February 4, 2008 at 17:05 #

    I started reading your blog shortly before you closed it. I was very sad to see it go. However, I’m thrilled to see it open again. Welcome back.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Trusted.MD Network - January 31, 2008

    Kev’s Back!…

    via Respectful Insolence My blog-pal Kevin Leitch has re-opened his blog, Left Brain/Right Brain. Go give him a shout….

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