Who Am I?

Don’t panic—this isn’t some sort of existentialist exploration of my place in the cosmos. I’m not even sure I’d know how to do that, to be honest.

This is just another weekend pitstop for this blog as I pause to talk about my favourite subject… me. This sort of picks up where my first post left off, but was actually inspired, in part, by introducing our “fur children” yesterday.

When I started this blog, I didn’t intend to be vague about my personal life but there’s a simple truth about the Internet: There’s no taking it back. Once you put something “out there” you can’t go “Whoops! I’ve changed my mind—ignore that!”

So I felt it made sense to be a little cautious about personal information. I decided early on that I wouldn’t post anything about myself that would make things easier for an identity thief. This isn’t actually a problem in New Zealand, like the American media makes it out to be in the US. Still, it was a useful way to decide what to keep private.

I also decided that I wouldn’t mention the names or many details of my partner or anyone else close to me. I feel I have no right to decide for them what’ll be “out there”.

That still leaves a lot of information I could share, but haven’t. This wasn’t deliberate, it’s just laziness. For example, I haven’t filled in the “complete profile” on Blogger. Actually, I think the whole idea of listing my favourite movies, music or books is boring (though, strangely, I often find it interesting when others do it). Maybe I’ll do it one day.

The lack of a photo of me isn’t on purpose, either. The truth is, I didn’t have a recent photo of myself when I started the blog. Instead, I scanned a lapel pin I bought in a little shop in New York City, just down from Central Park, when we were there on holiday in 1999. As it happens, that image sums up who and what I am better than any photo I would’ve come up with at the time. So, I use it here, which means it shows up on comments I make on some blogs. I also use it for Technorati and Flicr. It’s the next best thing to having a logo or medieval crest or something.

It’s easy enough to see what interests me by reading what I write about. Over time my posts will show more of me (that’s kind of the whole point of a blog, after all). Who I am is, or will be, right here to see. Stay tuned.