Why have there been no new entries in this blog for a very long time?
My few, and even more beloved subscribers, like the rest of the dear readers of my blog, must have noticed that I haven’t had a single new entry for a very long time. The last time I made a post was almost a year ago and since then I have been silent. Although most likely, just out of respect for my readers, I would have to explain this silence mode. I’m probably ready to do it now…
No, in fact, everything is quite prosaic, there is no stunning story here. To some extent, I just stopped considering my blog on the Medium as really a reflection of my thoughts and interests. There are several reasons for this, and perhaps their sequence and general plexus made me take my hands off the keyboard.
I will try to explain myself today and list these reasons:
1) I love and respect my reader, but sometimes the letters and messages I received in response to publications were frankly distressing in their tone. I was definitely ready for this, in general criticism is normal, it’s good, because it gives rise to self-education. But the aggressive imposition of some slogans on me that do not correspond to what I see with my own eyes, especially by people who have an idea of the topic being discussed exclusively from TV and newspapers, upsets me. As well as the distortion of historical facts. I understand and respect the controversy with references to reliable and respected sources. But when they try to prove to me that black is white, because his favorite media told the debater so, I get bored and sad from the lack of logic in such slogans and disappointment in the interlocutor overtakes me.
What I have just written is one of the reasons for the cooling of my interest in the blog. Not even the reason rather, but a small brick somewhere on the edge. I just thought it necessary to mention this in order to be honest and frank.
As I have already said, I was definitely ready for a very different reader, including an aggressively populist one. Rather, it just connected a little with two subsequent reasons…
2) The reason is banal, the interests of the blogger have shifted somewhat away from the originally stated ones. I planned this blog primarily as travel notes, about interesting places. In these records, some of my dreams of traveling were hidden, which bloomed like a secret garden to themselves somewhere in the depths of my soul after 2016. Attentive readers may remember that I mentioned a car accident on my last trip to Kyrgyzstan, which greatly affected my health. So, last summer, unfortunately, I must have been overtaken by an inner understanding that I had already said goodbye to active tourism forever. A kind of emptiness came. I felt that the blog no longer reflected my interests, but I couldn’t even formulate my interests for myself…
With such thoughts, the autumn of last year passed. In parallel with this, a third reason for the decline in my interest in the current blog format has clearly appeared:
3) The accelerated aggravation of the political situation in the world, sharply manifested in disgusting forms of mutual intolerance. Now, after another six months, I see the interim results of this in the form of a completely rabid and insane Russophobia, which only confirms my sad premonitions of last autumn. I originally conceived this blog outside of politics, political topics have never really been particularly interesting to me, although I can’t say that I didn’t understand this issue. Rather, on the contrary, as a lover of the history of my country since school (which obviously became one of the pillars of my passion for tourism and travel at the time) I have analyzed external information, thought about it, and consider myself well versed in the main aspects. In the autumn I had plans for a series of blog entries on the history of the USSR and Russia, but as I said, the growing anti-Russian controversy dissuaded me.
And since this is an absolutely non-commercial blog, to which no monetization is connected (I even refused the proposed advertising of some travel companies in the articles of my blog, simply because I myself do not know what kind of companies they are, whether they work well. Mentioning these companies by me in the articles would look like a recommendation for the reader, and it would be a deception in my opinion, to recommend something that you don’t know yourself), I was not bound by obligations to regularly support the blog, then because of the above reasons I stopped making new entries, periodically only thinking about some new format blog.
And then December 2021 came and the covid-19 epidemic finally overtook our family. Of us, only my wife had been vaccinated by this time, since she works at school and this is mandatory. My mom and I didn’t have time to get vaccinated, although we planned. As a result, my wife suffered covid-19 at home in a mild form, and my mother and I were hospitalized in a serious condition. I was lucky to get out, but unfortunately my mother could not cope with the disease. Bright memory to her! She was a Person with a capital letter!
I came out of the hospital — mourning, funeral arrangements. Rehabilitation after the disease is still going on — it seems that the disease will not pass for me without a trace. And this is another big step in the opposite direction to tourism. For me, leaving home now is already a small journey…
Meanwhile, I have formed some ideas about the reformation of the blog, about changing the main idea, subject matter. I realized that it is simply impossible to give up political topics, because, judging by the letters of my readers, this is what worries them in the first place. The main direction of the blog I wanted to make by my own example is simply the life and way of life of an ordinary person living in a closed town somewhere in the center of Siberia, equidistant from both Moscow and Vladivostok. Just some sketches that I see on the street, what lies on the shelves of stores, how much gasoline costs at the gas station, and similar trifles. Even if he would show his fluffy cat, why not :) In general, just different ordinary things with your own eyes — perhaps such a simple format would be interesting to the reader who wants to see life in this incomprehensible and strange Russia as it is, without decorations and gloss, without blackness and reservations. Compare with the familiar world around you and understand what is the difference, and in what we are very similar. I would not like to impose my political views, but if someone would be interested, I would answer the questions directly. I also did not refuse a number of articles on historical topics. Dear reader, would you be interested in such a blog format?
More about myself …, perhaps as part of the search for myself and filling the void inside after my mother’s death (perhaps a psychologist would have explained this to me if I had gone to a doctor), I revived an active interest in video games. I have already mentioned on the blog pages that both retro and modern games are in my interests. But it was somehow forgotten for almost two decades, and then it was resurrected again. I bought myself a playstation 3 modified, fortunately they are now inexpensive, I make up for the missed impressions of the year so in 2004 :)
I especially like games with large open worlds, apparently this is again a subconscious substitution of a passion for tourism. I’m traveling in virtual worlds now… Maybe I would make a separate section on this topic, or rather a separate blog. With the name something like “grandpa is playing …” :)
But laughter is laughter, and the Third World War has begun in the world. And it all became somehow meaningless. It has not ceased to be a part of my daily life, but apparently it has ceased to be an actual topic for something to read…
And in general, judging by the channels of Russian bloggers on YouTube, Facebook and other platforms, judging by the political coloring in the articles on the Medium, this blog will simply be deleted, because it most likely does not reflect the “correct” opinion imposed from above. Now, as I see it, everything Russian that does not criticize Russia is subjected to total obstruction. Even if the work of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy or Pushkin is the subject of someone’s discord, what can we say about the writings of some noname blogger from Russia. That’s why I’m silent…
Thank you to all my readers for being there!
