When I’m working with someone who wants to start a blog, there are typically two rules I suggest they follow because they are the rules everyone says people should follow.
- Be consistent by update regularly and chronologically.
- Stay on topic or follow established, rotating topics.
Ironically, on my blog I follow neither of these rules. I post about things that are going to happen next week, followed by a post of what happend last month. The next post might be a review of some gadget or perhaps a political rant. With me at the helm, there really is no rhyme or reason to my blog. Though I do sometimes post some of the photos I’ve taken that I’m actually proud of.
I love how disorienting this photo is. It’s like Escher himself created this room, or this blog post for that matter. Let the fun continue!I guess the only thing that is consistent about my blog is its inconsistency (yes, I went there), its attempt at honesty and its representation of my voice. I am in real life the same person I am on this blog.
Over the last few months I have bumped into a few people who, in my mind, are really awesome. Remember that I am a nerd and don’t be confused if you don’t know any of these people.
- Ryan Block from Engadget but now from GDGT
- Veronica Belmont from Tekzilla
- Leo Laporte from TWiT
- Tyler Oakley from YouTube
I totally randomly bumped into Ryan and Veronica at Four Barrel coffee a few weeks ago with my friend Steven. I was starstruck and I knew immediately that I was a fool for being so nervous and excited. They were very nice to me, despite my nerdgasm, and Veronica even tweeted at me later. Swoon.
A month or so before, I met Leo Laporte and posted about it here on the blog. Such an incredibly genuine guy, so nice, so fun, so down to earth and awesome.
And then just a couple of weeks ago I went out to a club in San Francisco called Trigger with Jeremy while he was in town. Before we got there, I was telling Jeremy how I feel like, at any moment, I’m going to bump into Tyler Oakley, one of my favorite YouTube personalities. Not an hour later we are dancing at Trigger when I come face to face with Tyler.
He was much shorter in real life than he appears on YouTube. Luckily, I didn’t say that. Instead I did my best to play it cool and say, “Oh hey Tyler, I’m Justin. Love your videos.” I was so sauve, which was so unlike me in these situations. Well at least the vodka I was drinking told me I was sauve.
Tyler responds kindly, we talk a bit about the city, how his move here was, where he was living (just two blocks from my apartment) and the usual obligatory small talk. We make mention of meeting up for coffee sometime or maybe even joining in one of my wine nights.
I guess what I’m getting at, in a roundabout sort of way is… there are two rules.
- Learn to break the rules.
- Include as many non sequitur allegories in your blog as possible. It makes it terribly random and confusing.
Here’s a YouTube video to round this out because, why the hell not?
Oh yeah, the third rule. Name drop.
