How does one start a blog? Probably not with the words “how does one start a blog?” but it’s too late for that now.
My name is Jack McCrea and I’m a Computer Science student at The University of Bristol. Once upon a time I might have considered myself a stereotypical computer scientist, but if university has taught me anything thus far, it’s that I lack the qualifications for such a title – mainly due to my hatred of Star Wars and inability to say things like “I compiled all the HTML into the PHP file then, like, injected it into his server with these protocols and firewalls and stuff!” without dying a little inside. I do however feel obliged to follow the crowd and write a blog – which is why you are reading this now (or not).
One might assume that my blog would be about programming or mathematics, but I realise that a mass of articles about functions and data types doesn’t make for an interesting read (not that I think for a moment that what I am writing now is a significant improvement). In order to explain what I do intend to write about, allow me to go into the dull, uneventful tale that is the back-story behind my blog:
Around two and a half years ago I found myself with an awful lot of time on my hands and, being a programmer, I spent my time writing software. Notice how I said ‘programmer’ and not ‘designer’? When I found myself wanting to write a blog I wrote a blogging application but when it came to designing a layout, I rejected each one I devised on the grounds that it didn’t look like a ‘real website’. Needless to say that my blog, lacking any real layout, sat on my web server exhibiting my finest debug lines for a year and a half before I gave in and accepted that an existing blogging application may be the way forward. Planning to talk about the joys of being a Computer Science student (or lack thereof), I installed WordPress shortly before leaving for Bristol, then put off writing anything on it for the entire year. The reason for this is that writing an initial post is a daunting task; not only does an initial post set the tone for all future writing, it also requires that one justifies the existence of their blog and makes one’s self seem interesting (two things which I am seemingly failing to accomplish). After finishing my first year at university I decided enough was enough and bought the domain name ‘TMinusWizard.com’ and installed a WordPress instance to point it to, before setting about the task of writing a first post. Now that you’re up to speed (and none the wiser about what this blog will be about) allow me to briefly state what I think I’ll write about in future, whilst this chunk of text makes me feel like I’ve explained it in great detail.
Whilst I am, of course, interested in programming (and in Computer Science in general), I rarely feel like writing about the joys of programming. I do, however, often feel like writing about various other things which interest me in everyday life: be they music, politics or misplaced apostrophes (I shall endeavor to keep talk of grammar to a minimum). With that said, expect the typical musings of an average geek pretending to be a CompSci.
All in all, don’t take this post to be representative of anything to come – even I can’t keep up this level of mundanity for much longer.
The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I mean, I know it was my selection to read, but I actually thought youd have some thing fascinating to say. All I hear is usually a bunch of whining about something which you could fix in case you werent too busy seeking for attention. wareplant.
The next time I read a comment on my blog, I hope it isn’t one which makes wild assumptions about content to come based solely on a single post which states, quite clearly, that it isn’t representative of anything to come.
I also hope (for the sake of humanity) that it’s written in better English than yours.
Kind regards,
– Jack McCrea