Blogging Update (Again)

First of all, I've changed the name of this blog again.
I actually changed it a couple months back.  You've probably already noticed.   But I'm just getting around to writing about it now.

The previous name change was back on June 21, 2020, and that name change was to: TESOL Materials (plus my reviews of stuff)

As seen from the archives.

...I explained my rational for that name change in that post, but over time I've realized the obvious problems with that name.  The reviews of stuff is just as big a part of this blog as the TESOL materials, so it was strange to give predominance to one over the other in the title, and probably confusing to new readers.  Plus it was just a really awkward title stylistically.  

So the new title is: Joel Swagman (Reviews / TESOL)  This is the first time I've used my name in the title heading since 2006.  I eventually figured there was no use hiding my name.  My name is in the url (http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/) and my other social - media accounts.  So no use trying to pretend to be anonymous now.  

The rationale for giving predominance to the "TESOL Materials" in the title back in June 2020 was that I had ambitions to refocus my energies to make them much more focused on professional development.  And also I had ambitions to stop wasting so much time on this blog by blogging about stuff that was not related to professional development.  

This wasn't entirely a bad impulse.  It is true that I've wasted a lot of time on this blog over the years, and that I'm way overdue for re-directing that energy towards caring for my family and career.

But it was also typical of one of my character flaws--my tendency to always go all or nothing instead of just moderating myself.  

The truth is that my motivation to stay focused on professional stuff comes and goes.  Some days I'm really professional, and some days I just want to blog about lighter stuff.  It's also true that my schedule and circumstances change from week to week.  In fact, right at the moment I'm writing this, we're in the middle of another extended lockdown here in Ho Chi Minh City, in which I've been stuck in my apartment for weeks and am lacking the stimulation of the workplace, and beginning to go a bit stir crazy and crave the ability to express different sides of myself.

My personality is, after all, multi-faceted.  Some days I'm focused on work.  Some days I want to talk politics.  Some days I want to post nostalgia about cartoons from my childhood.  And what is a blog for if not for self-expression?

I still have ambitions to try to cut down on the amount of time I waste on this blog.  At the moment, I envision that posting about other stuff will mostly take the form of sharing links rather than writing long posts. (I've realized there's no point in me writing long political posts.  Everything I want to say has already been said, and said better, by someone else on the Internet.  So linking to an article or video is just as good as me taking the time to write something myself.)   But I'm going to start sharing links to various things again on this blog.  And perhaps bring back Interesting Random Facts.  (I'm going to try to avoid the temptation to turn the Interesting Random Facts entries into long posts--as they sometimes have a tendency to do--and just make them brief factoids.)

I may also bring back Sharing Music I Like.  Again, with the goal being not to overdo it.   But the occasional post should do no harm.

And bring back the Hey! I know that guy! links.

And possibly at some point in the future start doing Travelogues again.  This last one is iffy because:

1) Travelogues take up a long time to make by the time I sort out my photos and write about the trip.  And although I am loosening up my rules, my goal is to still limit my blogging time and only blog in moderation. Plus...

2) Since Google Photos changed their storage policy, I'm going to be in danger of running out of storage soon if I post a lot of photos.

But, I do really like Travelogues just as a way to keep my own travel memories.  So I may experiment with doing them again someday in the future.

So, that's the update.

As always, the amount of time I spend on this blog will vary from week to week depending on my mood and my free time, etc.  But I'm giving myself permission to return to self-indulgent blogging.  The overall goal will still be to reduce the amount of time I spend on this blog, but it will be more of a guiding principal rather than a strict rule.

You should be seeing a lot more links to random stuff in the future.