Hello and welcome to my blog. I've had many of these blogs over the years, some with hundreds of photo-based posts and others with more targeted content about topics of personal interest.

On the slim chance that anyone will read this section of my site, and especially this post, below is an outline of what I want to achieve, and ultimately define what this blog's purpose is.

Not least the process of distilling one's thoughts, leading to a clarity of understanding that no amount of thinking can match.

Loss

As I mentioned above, I've written hundreds of posts over the past 20 years, however 99% of them have evaporated or been lost due to site upgrades or server failures. And of the remaining 1%? Well they exist on my hard disk, awaiting their eventual demise too.

Gain

I lament the above loss, and due to it I've procrastinated on restarting the cycle of writing and sharing my thoughts for too long. Perhaps eight years too long.

So why start this process again, and why do so from scratch? I believe the benefits of writing posts are myriad, not least the process of distilling one's thoughts, leading to a clarity of understanding that no amount of thinking can match.

I also hope that again, and I've experienced this in the past through old posts, my writings can help others or can spark interesting avenues of debate and uncover new and exciting ideas worthy of a shift in personal or professional focus.

As an example of unexpected outcomes, and this is more of a point I'm proving to myself rather than anything of particular interest, I've just discovered that my photo blogging content still exists on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. I'm amazed.

Back in 2004 I started a photo-blogging site called mezhopking.com (link is to the 2004 version in the archive). I'm currently exploring those posts remembering moments, events and places that I'm sure would have faded completely from my memory had I not started this process again; writing posts and figuratively putting pen to paper.

...the ramblings and inane 'insights' of my much younger self are of little value.

Why from scratch?

That one is easy to answer: The old content would be incongruous to what I hope to articulate here. Put another way ⸺ the ramblings and inane 'insights' of my much younger self are of little value.

I want to focus on producing content that is of a much higher quality and of which hopefully provides value to readers like youself.

How do I plan on providing value?

I have enjoyed an interesting life over the course of the past eight years, however during that time I have not published any written content. This I have been told by some is waste of that experience, and that I should share it so that others can potentially benefit. I hope this will form one pillar of value.

Another pillar, and one I believe I will enjoy much more, is using this medium to share my deep dives into new topics. I have what is referred to as a polymath personality:

Polymath ⸺ an individual whose knowledge spans a significant number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.

⸺ Wikipedia

I love learning, and if I'm not doing so then I feel like I'm failing. As with everything there are pros and cons to a personality such as this, and I plan on covering and exploring this subject in much greater depth in future posts. I think the topic of polymathics will feature a little more heavily compared to other content, at least initially.

Possibly the third and final way I plan on providing value will be through sharing my professional experience in the fields of software development, UI/UX design and photography ⸺ where I have over 17 years of industry experience. Jump over to my Porfolio for examples of recent work.

Wrap

Should you have any questions or you would like me to cover certain topics in future posts, then please don't hesitate to reach out in the comments below or send me a tweet.

Thanks for reading and, honestly, I'm amazed you made it to the end of this self-indulgent 'first' entry!

\(^_^)/