Saving myself from incipient vapidity

I must admit that lately I seem to have all the powers of concentration of a flea. And my recent writing on this blog – if you can call it writing – shows it.

Oh, the vapidity!

Alas, ever since the turn of the year, my schedule has achieved a supremely high level of hecticity (I have exactly three jobs right now, not including neglected housework) and I find that devoting more than a few minutes of my time across a span of demands has had me writing in terms of blips and bytes instead of the usual loquacious syllogisms.

Which is why there are some days in which, when I have spare moments between a slough of unreal expectations, I find Twitter to be a very balancing, and refreshing, destination. In addition to being a highly conversational and collaborative community, it is also rather “sound byte” oriented in that I am limited to only 140 characters with which to make a statement – any kind of statement. It’s kind of like IM’ing except that all of your friends can share in your multiple enthusiasms. Or lack thereof.

Writing tweets on Twitter focuses the mind. Yet doing so also somehow soothes my heavily-pinged synapses. In this way, it’s kind of like mental Alka Seltzer. Or doppio espresso. There’s even a site called tweet140.com that keeps track of all registered twitterers (a.k.a. twits) who wish – for no explicable reason – to showcase their 140-character proclivities for all to see. Try as I might, however, I apparently suck at twooshing: I only have an overall twooshrate of 65%. But the tweet140 folks tell me (in exactly 140 characters, of course) that I tweet like a falcon, so that’s something. I think.

I probably can’t explain to the uninitiated why I enjoy this Twitter exercise; it’s the kind of pastime you either immerse yourself into or you don’t – kind of like Sudoku or crocheting doilies. I do know that I enjoy engaging with my fellow Twitterers, most of whom are solid members of the wine blogging community – though there are some avid hiking types who enjoy these virtual birdcalls too. Heck, we all jump in and out of it together, daily.

The crux of Twitter, for me, is that I’m making new friends and solidifying current relationships more quickly and in more satisfying ways than this blog, up until now, has been able to accomplish. I seem to have garnered more followers on Twitter in six months’ time than I have subscribers on my blog in two and a half years! And therefore I have another reason to consider why this Twitter thing, to me, should be a valid pastime.

Ah, Twitter: it’s a heady wine! And Geez Louise, I’m up to almost 1000 tweets since August 2007. As if I’d rather tweet than blog!

Lo my friends, fret not, for I shall return to a more consistent brand of essayist witiculture ’round the next bend in the winehiking trail.

Yep, you guessed it: that last sentence was exactly 140 characters.

~winehiker

Related posts:

• New year, new world, new camaraderie
• The 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference: a foundation for raising the collective spirit
• Open That Bottle Night: 2003 Sarah’s Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm and is filed under grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.