{"id":1298,"date":"2011-05-02T08:31:10","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T15:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/?p=1298"},"modified":"2011-05-02T10:19:50","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T17:19:50","slug":"okay-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/?p=1298","title":{"rendered":"Okay, now what?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1304 alignleft\" title=\"Work point compressed\" src=\"http:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Work-point-compressed-300x190.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Work-point-compressed-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Work-point-compressed.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/>This is supposed to be a reflection on the \u00a0A-Z challenge, what it has meant to me, what I&#8217;ve learned, what I planted in the back yard because, really, isn&#8217;t that what blogging is all about after all?<\/p>\n<p>There is a difficulty today to say anything of significance in the face of headlines in typeface reserved for the outbreak of war and the abdication of royal heads of state. There is a delirium right now over the death of the face of terrorism to the western world. It is ignoring a couple of things: terrorist organizations still thrive, the conditions which gave rise to them still exist and Osama was long ago placed in the position of a figurehead. This senseless blood feud will continue as\u00a0jihadis\u00a0seek revenge:\u00a0US soldiers are still in Iraq,\u00a0US and its allies (including Canada) still have soldiers on the ground in\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>As Churchill said, in 1942, to mark the Allied Victory in the defeat of the Axis in North Africa and the victory at El Alamein, <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/aPMw6vuhV-4\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I think this is the one thing I&#8217;ve learned about blogging during the past month, it is a fluid thing. In the weeks leading up to April 1 I noted ideas for different letters of the alphabet, composed a few posts and scheduled them for the specific dates. But as the month itself progressed there were many days where it was a matter of applying discipline to construct a post. Those days, in my opinion, are when I learned the most about writing and expressing myself.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1302\" title=\"Bosleys window resized\" src=\"http:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Bosleys-window-resized-271x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"271\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Bosleys-window-resized-271x300.jpg 271w, https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Bosleys-window-resized.jpg 723w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 271px) 100vw, 271px\" \/>Of course it is important to plan ahead, to have &#8216;one in the chamber&#8217; at all times and to show up no matter what. The time to polish, I&#8217;ve always known, is important, no less so in blogging but perhaps a more delicate procedure to maintain the sense of immediacy, a record of the day, the moment. The bottom line is I have quite a few ideas to explore over the next months. They seemed like good ideas until the morning dawned and a better\/different one showed up on my doorstep looking for a new home.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, <a href=\"http:\/\/tossingitout.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Arlee<\/a>. I don&#8217;t know what brought me to your blog in the first place but I am glad that I did. The feeling of having others pacing with me around the track through the month of April was unique in my experience of writing.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s election day in Canada. Considering the events of last night, I can think of no better way to celebrate the great democratic tradition, planted as a seed on the battlefield of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/treasures\/magnacarta\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Runnymede<\/a> in 1215 and improved upon over the centuries than to get out and vote for the candidate of my choice.<\/p>\n<p>See you next year&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tossingitout.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/very-special-and-exciting-announcement.html\" target=\"_self\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tossingitout.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/very-special-and-exciting-announcement.html\" target=\"_self\"> <\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-KbtxYdGu_AE\/Tb2AxGXqWNI\/AAAAAAAABoE\/IDeqIytGKBY\/s1600\/WinnerBadge.jpg\"><img src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-qCS-Ga2DRsI\/Tb36t7LQQsI\/AAAAAAAABoc\/E8zkZSmPLpI\/s240\/WinnerBadge.jpg\" alt=\"Blogging from A to Z Winner\\\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-KbtxYdGu_AE\/Tb2AxGXqWNI\/AAAAAAAABoE\/IDeqIytGKBY\/s200\/WinnerBadge.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tossingitout.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/very-special-and-exciting-announcement.html\" target=\"_self\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tossingitout.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/very-special-and-exciting-announcement.html\" target=\"_self\"> <\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-KbtxYdGu_AE\/Tb2AxGXqWNI\/AAAAAAAABoE\/IDeqIytGKBY\/s1600\/WinnerBadge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-KbtxYdGu_AE\/Tb2AxGXqWNI\/AAAAAAAABoE\/IDeqIytGKBY\/s200\/WinnerBadge.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is supposed to be a reflection on the \u00a0A-Z challenge, what it has meant to me, what I&#8217;ve learned, what I planted in the back yard because, really, isn&#8217;t that what blogging is all about after all? There is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/?p=1298\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[108,1],"tags":[785,321,322,323,320],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1298"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1314,"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298\/revisions\/1314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suddenalarm.blaseckie.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}