I bring this up because over the last few days, I’ve started to miss Twitter. That’s weird, in the sense that when I quit it, I did so because it was exactly what I didn’t need, and I didn’t see the long-term benefits (or rather, I understood what people saw as long-term benefits, but didn’t see them as benefits). In short: it was too easily something for people to talk at me and not with me, which is not how I think we should be communicating in general.

What I miss, I think, is a place for short observations that for whatever reason I feel the need to get out of my system, despite my earlier feelings about that sort of thing. Twitter is specifically designed to accept that sort of input, which is why it feels right putting that sort of stuff there. But let’s face it, people following my twitterstream did not need to know in real time that I was once again having issues with one browser or another, or that I was telling someone that I was wearing boxers, or whatever inane/witty thing I thought was witty/inane at that moment.

The visually-excellent WordPress theme The Morning After brought the idea of asides to my attention, which I guess Matt has been doing forever but I never really researched, shame on me. That seems like the perfect thing for this here weblog, given that I’m thinking about a redesign, but putting them inline seems like asking for mediocrity, given how (un)often I update here. This place would become 90% asides or more in no time. Forget that. And a sidebar seems… I don’t know, too kitschy?… since everyone’s all widget-happy these days. I don’t know. Either a solution will present itself or I’ll get over it. Either way.

I think part of what happened with Over Queersville was that I built it in a fit of unemployment and subsequently used it as part of my portfolio when I was applying for my current job. I wasn’t putting anything there that I wouldn’t want anyone at work to read, but I started to become more wary of putting anything up there because of it. Every time I made a post of a personal nature, I was cognizant that at least three coworkers would be reading it. As much as the idea of transparency in weblogging gets lauded almost evangelically, I wanted some separation of work-life and everything-else-life. I mean, in previous weblogs, I used to write some pretty out-there stuff; I don’t think I could have posted something like the tale of my haunted bulbocavernosus muscle if I knew someone at work would read it.

These are the beds we make for ourselves. This time around I’ll stick to available WordPress themes and not put any webdev mojo into it. Besides, I’m not really inclined to work on new designs when I have enough work in front of me. New weblog designs came about when I was unemployed or going through a slow period, go figure, and I’m not experiencing either at the moment, nor have I been in some time. (Work is currently sucking my will to live, but that’s another story.) Besides, everyone reads these things in aggregators/readers, anyway.

Still, “It’s a new year, it’s a new day, welcome to today,” to quote Gallagher. (Yeah, the watermelon-smashing guy. You don’t know this but he’s the guy that first unleased my boisterous laughter as a little kid.)

Another part of it dying off is I get picky about names. I expected to have a lot to say about gay culture in SF when I moved here, hence “Over Queersville,” but really I didn’t. If anything, it’s just holding on more to the “good old days” of the 70s, but just barely. Truth be told, it’s arguable that I’m happier with SF’s queer scene than Chicago’s. One thing I asked there was “why’s it gotta be bars all the time? Where are the queer cafes?” Well, they’re here, for starters. The name felt more like a weight as I spent more time living in this city. I guess as you get older, you can’t be as punk and stand-offish as you once were.

I knew if I was going to ever start again, the URL had to be something generic, the name had to be flexible, it couldn’t be something I could get sick of. “jaschu vs. the 7au” sounds ridiculous and temporary, but every good story has conflict. I’m not even sure a title is necessary. Call it what you want. The URL is solid; the given-name portmanteau-turned-handle I’ve adopted for online identity plus a generic domain name I registered years ago for reasons yet to be revealed… I can’t see how I’ll tire of it.

And let’s be honest. I’m the type who likes to run his mouth off. Not having a personal voice on the web? I was getting twitchy, just like I always do. My 31st birthday is in a couple weeks plus some change. It’s as good a time as any to try to start something new.

Everyone makes a statement of intention when they start these things. This time, I got nothing. Generic first-post denouement? Hello, Internet. I blame you for everything.