Wed, Feb 16th - 1:18AM

Funny thing about blogs...Marsh asked for a topic the other night and I gave him one and he nailed it in no time.  At that same moment I had a great topic ready for my attention but I was tired and figured I'd sleep on it and work it up in my head for a day or so prior to dumping it on the keyboard.  The next day comes and it's gone like it was never there.  So I rack my brain for some keen insight to share with the world and nothing comes.  A majority of my work is writing very technical telecommunications reports and recommendations for the lay person to understand so my topics are predetermined and not very interesting.  However, it does require some inspiration and creativity to make absurdly confusing issues understandable.  Here, I get free time and space to ply my talent for fun and I get nothing.

So, here I take a page from Marsh's approach and just open my blog and start regurgitating on the keyboard and this is what you get, a blog on blogs.

The cool thing about blogs (this is my third entry so I really know what I'm talking about), is that it really doesn't matter what you write as long as you write something that you enjoy writing.  There are no grades, no clients calling for clarification or more information, no need for anyone to even pay any attention to it.  Sure, its gratifying to get positive feedback but that should not be the purpose.  The purpose is to let your brain take you somewhere else and just maybe someone reading it later will go there with you.  It is also very cool to meet people whose blogs you've read because it provides a little insight into how they might tick at any given time, which is much more than you might learn fishing with them or sitting in a bar trading stories.  On the flip side, it is also very cool to meet someone and then read their blogs and find that you were right on in your initial impression of them or that you were completely off.  Either way, you learn more about people by what they write than what they say. 

You might even learn a bit about yourself, which might be a good thing...or not.  Everyone on this site should grow a blog.  Imagine what it will be like a year from now, five years from now to go back and read the whole damn thing.  I'm guessing it would be like a trip through time with the various persona you assume when you blog.  That's right, "persona".  I just realized it myself, no matter what you're writing about, what the purpose, or who the audience is, you assume a persona that may or may not be your everyday self.  But you are different each time.  Not different like a schitso (sp?), at least not my case, but different based on your mood, or the day of the week, or the amount of intoxicating substances you happen to enjoy.  Okay, I'm getting pretty far out there aren't I.

As I mentioned, this is me writing unplanned on a very loosely defined topic so I'm trying to find a point here...oh, here it is.  Go blog yourself!  It is good for you. 

Fri, Feb 4th - 4:28AM

One hit wonder?

NOTE: For those of you who enjoyed my first entry into bloggery, thank you for the kind words. Following is my attempt to avoid being the Tommy Tutone of HnF blogging. You know the guy who did that “867-5309” song, you didn’t buy the album did you? Oh lord, don’t tell anybody. And don’t even think about admitting that you and your pals called the number and asked for Jenny and thought it was funny.

“Free beer tomorrow”  That’s what the sign over the bar said in a place I used to hang out at in Chicago. Of course, when you go back the next day the sign still says tomorrow. “Damn! Tomorrow was today yesterday, gimme my beer!” I would always protest as I shelled out my hard earned dough. That’s similar to another cute little saying we always seem to hear around any launch facility or boat dock…

“shoulda been here yesterday”  Well that’s great information isn’t it! Thank you very much for telling me that, next time I’ll know to come a day early. I don’t think it really matters what actually occurred “here” yesterday, usually it was just that YOU were not involved in it and they really wish you would have been “here” for it. They really want you to enjoy yourself.

Seriously, it could have snowed on Grand Isle the day before you were told that. When you ask why you shoulda been here yesterday, usually you’ll hear something like every boat limited out in an hour using bare hooks fifty yards from the back down ramp. In the snow you wonder? “Yep, it was the damnedest thing.” That’s quite a story. Another interesting aspect of being “here” yesterday, was that they don’t tell you this along with GPS coordinates and free bait as you’re heading out at dawn. Instead, they tell you when you come in at 2:30 pm with three 12” specks, two sheepshead, and a gafftop you kept because somebody told you they were good eating. Then they hand you the bill for the launch, gas, live bait, lunch, drinks, and ice. “Well gee, mister. I wish you would have given me this bill yesterday because I lost my ass at poker last night! You should been there. I was throwin’ c-notes around like confetti!”

Don’t you just love hearing about people’s amazingly successful fishing trips from the past? You will sit there and nod and smile and inject a “wow” or a “really” every once in a while so they think you’re interested. They’re the most realistic when you’re heading down to the launch at 5 am. But, they really get good when the weather has been total crap like it’s been lately and you’ve got a fishin’ itch you really need to scratch. You head out for a beer and end up recounting past successes and great conquests on the water. Of course, the ones you tell are amazing and captivating and one hundred percent true but you must doubt and question the ones you’re hearing. “How can he expect me to believe that?” you think to yourself as you cut him off and proceed to tell the one about the time when you were sixteen and had two broken arms and got arrested for catching 206 redfish near Happy Jack with somebody they don’t know. The best thing about these stories is we all have heard them and we all have our own and every one of them is important.

They are important because stories are the way we express our enthusiasm for our sport and for each other.  They are a way we feed our passion.  You’ll listen to them again and again because you want the chance to tell yours again and again.  When you really think about it, “shoulda been here yesterday” is usually the start of something pretty good.  So, when you hear somebody cranking up the bragging muscle from days gone-by, 50 years ago or just yesterday, listen up.  If not for those stories, our child-like eagerness to go again would not be there.  We all hope we can be there “yesterday”, and we all hope it is tomorrow – even if it’s just for beer and stories.

Wed, Feb 2nd - 12:38AM