Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Past, Present and Future

Another year almost gone, I am certainly in a different place today than I was last year on this date.   It’s been a difficult year, starting it alone and on my own, then being forced by necessity back into a situation I didn’t want.     Reconnected with a special someone and lost contact with them all in the space of a few months.   As with many in this economy, I am faced with the probability of losing my job to the outsourcing of much of the IT department to India but 2009 will be the year for that.  

I wish I could say that there was a bright spot out there in 2009, but for now I don’t see it.  

In the world, the economy is bad, the Middle East is in turmoil yet again, we have a new President coming into office soon promising change but the skeptic in my doubts we’ll see any real change.  

Personally speaking, it looks pretty bleak as well but I’m going to do my best to carry on, I’m at that point in my life where I look back upon an expanse of time and wonder why I let it be that way.   And I look forward and realize that, God willing, there is about the same amount of time ahead and I realize that I can’t stay on the same path that I’ve been on these past 45 odd years.  

Dealing with change is hard, creating change on purpose is even harder, but to continue as I have so far is to live an empty life with little joy and happiness.   I am not happy with the man I am and the life he’s let slip by, it’s time to change.

So come on 2009, for me at least you will be a year of change.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Introduction to Sougent

Howdy…my nom de web is Sougent, I’ve fairly consistently used that nickname since I got into the Internet shortly after the “web” became popular.    What does it mean?   It is a shortening of Southern Gentleman, which was the name of a BBS (bulletin board system) that I ran in southeast Georgia in the late 1990’s.   Am I a southern gentleman?   Probably not as much or as often that I ought to be.   My Grandfather was one and it’s his memory that I look to as an example.

The point, if there is any, to this website and this blog in particular is to share my thoughts on whatever subject strikes my fancy.    Whether anyone will ever read it, or find what is posted here of any value, I can’t say, perhaps I’ll be surprised.    This is an age of social networks, blogs, twitter, creating a “brand”, so I guess that’s what I’m doing, creating the brand “Sougent” for whatever that’s worth.   Perhaps I’ll come up with an idea, a concept that I can build upon and that will provide value to others, I don’t know.   I hope anyone who is reading this can find some value to it, practical or entertainment, I may just be vainly shouting into the vastness that is the Internet with no one to see, but shout I shall.  

At the least, this is the record of one man who has lived half his life in one century, and looks toward living the other half in the next.