To Think Again

A forsaken method of expression returns to a new platform

For those who are unaware, I used to be an avid blogger. While other people my age sold unclipped foot photos and/or became consumers of Whippet cartridges, I spent my free time writing about anything that deserved a post of its own on the internet. It was a certainly a fascinating way to pass the time as a teenager, especially since my life was not interesting enough to be writing about on a daily basis. Well, now situated in a new life chapter, it feels right to bring this thing back— and I think for good this time.¹

Ton Thoughts began in the fall of 2014 on the dated— then and certainly now— Blogger platform, its name derived from a scene in The Office where Ryan helped Creed set up his very own blog.² For almost ten years, with breaks in between, Ton Thoughts served as a vessel for publishing all kinds of observations and commentary— some regrettable, some impressionable, all original.

A screen capture from Creed’s blog. That must have been a costly domain.

For many years, blogging was a crucial part of my identity. This project of mine began shortly after I discovered my eighth-grade history teacher was a blogger himself.³ For the first several months, Ton Thoughts was a way for me to practice my writing and to better connect with Mr. Freed, telling him through my posts that I had many more dimensions than just being an annoying and overly ambitious eighth-grader. In a way to keep me going at this, unless he thought there was nothing to contribute to, Mr. Freed would always leave a comment on these poorly written entries. Many of these comments were positively snarky, but a memorable handful were rather heartwarming. As my friends began to learn of my side gig, the blog started gaining traction. Soon, to my surprise and to the delight of my ego, colleagues and even teachers began praising some of my work. As I look back on those first years of operation, I must say those readers were likely just being too friendly or laughing at the whole thing as some kind of schtick. It was likely both; I cannot imagine anything of literary praise stemming from a middle schooler providing social commentary.

As the years went by, the viewership picked up— at a much higher pace than the blog’s quality. Imagine my joy as a 15-year-old writer learning that someone in Serbia was reading my daily musings Allegedly, there were readers as south as Guatemala, as crude as the French, and as far east as Japan. Or so I thought. It was quite the wake-up call when the readers turned into commenters, leaving messages behind about comfortable mattresses offered at foreign deals. Whether or not those were real readers remains to be definitively answered, but I am going to hedge my bets that my blog had a massive AI following before it was even a thing.

Aside from the robo-spam, there truly was a nice contingent of readers who made my blog a part of their routine. My girlfriend at the time claims to have read my blog anytime she could, particularly enjoying those posts where she served as the muse or ones focused on the brother-sister duo, Carpenters. One friend-turned-reader went out of his way to make an account impersonating Mr. Freed, leaving humorous yet uncharacteristically blunt critiques about my prose. Perhaps most wonderful was a grandmother who stumbled upon my blog from Mr. Freed’s. She always inquired privately to Mr. Freed about my whereabouts when I had taken an extended break⁴ and made a touching habit of comparing me, a person she had and has never met before, to her adored grandson.

Owing largely to writer’s bloc and other life responsibilities, those extended breaks occurred more often than I liked. For the span of some months, I was able to do the whole “writing daily” thing, although the quality of those posts likely suffered beyond whatever grammatical neglect was already endured. Additionally, writing everyday made blogging seem more like a chore than an actual hobby or pass time. Eventually, as I transitioned into college, I moved Ton Thoughts to the back of my priorities. By the winter of my second year, it was nothing but a former activity. Of course, I told Mr. Freed, but I never got a chance to update that grandmother on my retirement from the blogging world—nor did I tell the legion of mattress sellers in eastern Europe.

Between my last blog post and now, my life has undergone some pretty big updates. I finished college last June and am now happily employed at another university back home in Pasadena, California. Pretty major right? In working a regular 8-to-5 gig, I find myself (at least now) with more time to explore my the things I enjoy— some new, most old. Of course, it is always fun when you can find a way to make anew the bygone.

In the fall of last year, I experimented with bringing back Ton Thoughts through short writing pieces posted on Canva graphics and shared through Instagram stories.⁵ As in the past, the topics in this series revival had quite the range; and, in following with tradition, they were posted on a rather inconsistent schedule. There was a popular commentary on the dilapidated state of Ross stores and the disappointment of testing CDs in one’s car. To the chagrin of some, I briefly returned to political punditry, writing about the weird fascination of young men toward “alpha male” grifters and pseudo-intellectuals with podcast contracts. For what it was worth, these minimized blog postings were produced with an eye towards quality, developed from my time in actual writing classes. And, to my surprise, the writing was met with a generous amount of positive feedback. It was one form of satisfaction to be able to write again and share posts that were not singularly created for the purpose of achieving an academic grade or professional task. It is simply another form of joy to know that someone genuinely enjoyed the content I was putting out there, again.

In deciding to bring back Ton Thoughts, I had to reckon with the fact that Blogger may not be where all the cool kids dwell anymore. (Frankly, I don’t think the cool kids ever went to Blogger to begin with). While Substack has been known to be the platform for artists and writers to bank in on their products, I decided to keep my writing free to read.⁶ I have no writing awards of any sort, so charging a subscription fee seems a bit nasty for me to do. I'd rather you spend your hard-earned money on eggs.

To the old readers of Ton Thoughts, welcome back. For the new ones, I hope you find a way to make this a part of your weekly routine. Let’s see how far I take this. Either it’s going to be like Brooklyn Nine-Nine moving from Fox to NBC or it’s going to resemble that singular year when Punk’d got revived on Quibi.⁷ Frankly, I’m okay with either endings.

---

1. I paid $50 to get my custom domain linked to this thing.

2. Creed Thoughts, for those who forget, was held away from public view as it was relegated to a Microsoft Word document. That was probably for the better.

3. During the day, Mr. Freed taught American history to a group of rambunctious students at Woodrow Wilson Middle School. On his time off, he ran two blogs: one on daily observations and another on passages in the bible. Both are regularly updated, both are clearly a product of his love for writing. To this day, I remain great friends with this man— albeit no longer that frequent of a reader for his literary products.

4. I still think about that lady now and then. It’s nice having caring strangers in your life.

5. This short series of Instagram posts began with a post condemning Kanye West for his anti-Semitism. In oh-so-many words, I asked Donald Fagen to revoke Mr. West’s sampling of Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” on the latter’s 2006 record “Champion.”

6. If I can find a way to charge the foreign robo-readers exclusively, I will.

7. For this analogy, I considered referencing Teen Titans Go!, but then I learned that that clusterfuck of a reboot is still running— ten years in with new episodes!