In the book, Bryson devotes a number of pages to Calvin Coolidge, the president at the time who also happened to spend much of that summer wearing a ridiculous cowboy outfit and grinning like a schoolboy. These days, when anyone thinks of Coolidge, they most likely think of 'Silent Cal' who was famous for ability to refrain from talking for long periods of time. However, Bryson points out that what most defined Coolidge was his obsession with doing absolutely nothing. Indeed, he is noteworthy for his obstinate refusal to do just about anything, to the point where he spent much of his presidency asleep, on vacation, or both.
This blog is my Calvin Coolidge. I'll explain.
You may notice on the right hand sidebar there that I last blogged in October 2014. It's now 2017. You may also notice that 2014 and 2017 are not consecutive.
So what happened? I would love to say that I spent the previous couple of years engaging in other creative endeavors, and that you can look forward to a film based on my screenplay Love My Face, or that my cookbook Sweet and Savory is currently for sale on Amazon and at fine booksellers near you. But I can't do that, because those things do not exist.
Instead, for much of the previous two years, my various hobbies and creative projects took a back seat to work, whether that work was teaching English as a second language or doing online content writing, both for far less money than I probably was worth.
Now, that's not to say that I didn't do anything. I still did as much travelling as I could; since my previous blog post I have been to interesting and exotic places like Bulgaria, Bangkok, Vietnam, Budapest, Venice, and Ostrava. I've still tried cooking new things, and even took up a new hobby of making my own hot sauce.
But I also spent a whole lot of time working and when I wasn't working, I developed a stubborn reticence to doing things which would have made Mr. Coolidge proud.
And although it may have been cool to 'Keep Cool with Coolidge' in 1924, it's time to come in from the cool and start doing the things I want to do, but which had been hampered by my own intransigence.
I recently started a new job which should afford me more time for myself, as well as a slighter better salary to enjoy that time with. So there really is no excuse, is there?
This blog is the first step, and even if no one reads anything on here (except for my quitting smoking post, which amazingly continues to prove popular) the simple act of writing it is enough to affect change and move me forward once again.
In fact, I've already begun to plan future posts on topics as varied as: hot sauces, voting, gluten-free living in Brno (sorry about that), pin collecting, and the weird lady down the street who possibly thinks that her dog is actually her husband.
I guess the only thing left to say is: So long, President Coolidge.