Every time I look at my blog I think, "I need to do more interviews." It's been AGES since the last one. I've contacted a few folk about it but little things like anti-depression medication withdrawal and getting laid off kind of got in the way. Well, that and being a lazy fuck. So while chatting with Adam, International Man of Mystery?, the following occurred.
BRIAN: I need to do an interview. Wanna be interviewed?
ADAM: Sure.
B: Wanna do it now?
A: (laughs) Sure, I've got some time
B: How did you get started blogging?
A: I can't remember what prompted it originally. I'd written a little hand built HTML blog a few times back in 1996-1997, and I've always had a tendency to write journal-like e-mails to people even when I didn't have one. I probably got bored one day, tossed it up on my web server to see how it worked, and it went from there. By the time I started getting any serious amount of comments or traffic, I was hooked.
B: What do you feel is a serious amount of comments or traffic?
A: I just meant the early amounts of traffic. A handful of regular readers, some links to and from a couple of other blogs. It wasn't a lot, but it slowly changed from being a journal written to myself, cast onto the wind...into something more like a performance, in both my writing style and the topics I cover.
B: How would you describe your writing style?
A: Conversational stream of consciousness, I guess. Tongue in cheek, almost always. It takes people a while to get to know me and recognize the sarcasm. I've often written up posts that, read aloud, would clearly be deadpan comedy, but in writing just look like I'm telling the truth. Jonny thought I had herpes for months because I'd thrown it out jokingly at some point.
B: (laughs) How long have you and Jonny been friends?
A: Well, I read his blog the first time somewhere in the vicinity of October 4th, 2003 - because despite seeing no pictures of him and only reading his posts, I had a dream that night about being in a library, bumping into him, and kissing him. He said that that dream intrigued him, and we ended up exchanging e-mails and a series of serial spy novel type messages, where each of us would pick up the next part of the story. I believe we were in a bar in Iceland, and the lights had gone out, and I was about to escape, when we decided to get together the first time in Las Vegas.
B: And then you met other local bloggers?
A: I'm trying to think of the first local blogger I met. I think it was D. She and her friend Amy and I went out to dinner and had a great time. I think I first found you somewhere around that time as well. In general, most Phoenix bloggers hadn't attracted my attention much.
B: Wait. There are other Phoenix bloggers?
A: Yeah, but they're all boring.
B: So, I already know this but I'll ask anyway: Where the hell did "aristoi" and "donut jelly" come from?
A: Aristoi is the title of one of my favorite books. The Aristoi, basically, are the upper echelon of humanity. Intellectually superior, technologically enhanced, they are a small group that dictates the ultimate direction of all humanity. Sort of like a supreme court for humanity. It's hard to admit without sounding arrogant, but I always considered myself something of a renaissance man, especially when most of my friends were either social butterflies or geeks, and I felt like I was one of the few people I knew who managed to be intelligent and still socially capable, if not eccentric. The domain existed for my e-mail long before the blog was born, and "donut jelly" was just the product of some random neurons firing. Movable Type said, "Blog Title," and I thought, "Uhh...."
B: What do you think about privacy and blogging. You are pretty open about sharing your life. Ever thought it was too much?
A: Oh, sure, on a pretty regular basis. I constantly reevaluate the level of honesty I exhibit on the blog. In the beginning, it was 100% honest because nobody else was reading. Then, it was 100% honest because nobody I knew was reading. And now? It's not dishonest, but just about everyone I know and am friends with reads it, so there are certain things I keep quiet. I miss being able to really cut loose, honestly. I still write drafts sometimes that never get posted, or get posted retroactively, just when I need to get something off my chest. It took a while to learn the lesson that my passive-aggressive were best not splayed out across the blog the way they used to be. I don't confront people via the blog anymore, although I do take the occasional subtle jab.
B: Do all your friends know you blog?
A: As far as I know, yeah. Many of my good friends who are out of town now use it to keep track of what's up in my life. Some of them I've met via the blog, so of course they know about it. And over time, everyone else has generally discovered it. It's not hard to find. My mom reads. I've had old high school teachers stumble across it. Coworkers. The whole bit. I can only think of one person who seems uncomfortable with the idea; she always skirts around the subject if I mention it or bring it up.
B: Is the purity filter for you mom?
A: Ahhh, yes, the purity filter which nobody uses. That was a deal I struck with myself, sort of. My mom told me once that she stopped reading it because she read something pretty graphic and it freaked her out. So I figured I've got friends and family who I'd like to be able to read my blog, but I don't want them to be dodging landmines of sexual content, so I created an opt-out system. It's kind of fun sometimes just to read the crude stuff, actually.
B: It's not like you blog like Geekslut.
A: Nah. Just when I started leaning toward getting more graphic is when all the People I Know? started showing up and crashing the party, so I had to cut that shit out. I still occasionally mention the rare clandestine rendezvous. Maybe if I got laid as much as GeekSlut, I'd write more sexual content.
B: If you do get laid more, please don't post about like Geekslut, but promise to tell me all the details.
A: Oh, alright.
B: So the holidays are upon us Adam. Any seasonal message you want to deliver to my faithful devoted readers?
A: Happy Kwanzaa! I dunno. I'm not much for seasonal messages.
B: Hmpf! You are no fun.
A: Let me think. Jingle bells, Batman smells. Robin laid an egg. The Batmobile lost a wheel, and the Joker does ballet.
B: Oh never mind! Ready for the Final Four?
A: Four? Okay.
B: Whom do you admire most? In what way does that person inspire you?
A: Pass.
B: What do you mean pass?
A: This is like $10,000 Pyramid, right?
B: NO! Answer the question Claire!
A: (thinking)
B: Oh alright! You can pass. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one ability or quality, what would it be?
A: I'd like to have more willpower, and more control over myself. I can't hold a routine to save my life. My interests and focus are very erratic and sometimes I just wish I could force myself to hold still.
B: For what in life do you feel most grateful?
A: I really don't have an easy time coming up with any item that's the "most" of something. My favorite thing, the person I admire most, even my favorite food or experience or place or experience. I love it all.
B: You are just a big gushing heart of gooey-ness....aren't you?
A: Kinda, I guess. Even the bad is good, because the good wouldn't be good without the bad.
B: Very Zen of you Adam. Here's the final of the Final Four: If you were guaranteed honest responses to any three questions, who would you question and what would you ask?
A: Ya know... that's tricky. When I was a kid, I always thought the dude who found the genie lamp was a whack job for being so impulsive. I'd save those wishes, store them away! And I'd probably do the same with my questions. That said, can I ask questions of a metaphysical nature? 'Cause that's all I'd really want to know. But even that... I'm not sure I'd want to know. "Is there life after death?" I don't really think I need to know the answer to that until I get there. "What's next in my life?" I don't want to know that either, I just want to experience it. Perhaps I could ask some sort of questions about the stock market and use them to acquire great wealth. (evil laugh)
B: (laughs)
A: I can't think of anything, really.
B: Okay....I get it. no more questions.
Many months ago, 
You scored as alternative. You're partially respected for being an individual in a conformist world yet others take you as a radical. You have no place in society because you choose not to belong there - you're the luckiest of them all, even if your parents are completely ashamed of you. Just don't take drugs ok? 
