TMI?

Tmi. It was used in reference to a series of blogs I just posted. I'm figuring it stands for "too much information". Actually that was sort of the point there, at least in the one called "Medicated Foo'", the array of medications I have to take and the litany of Doctor appointments I've had.

And then it begs the question: how much is too much information? Sort of like the Emperor in the movie Amadeus telling Mozart his Opera has "too many notes".

Well, more notes than one's ear can handle, or more information than one might want to know.

I live in a small city, one with roughly 112,000 residents- and within that, exist in a smaller community of musicians and music-lovers. And I also work in an office with maybe 40 workers total which breaks down into a smaller community of those who work for the same agency under the same manager. As such, both small communities can be very cozy: they become your working family since you see those people day in day out, particularly those you work with. You see them more than your actual family.

And with that you know about the events in their lives, and care about these things since you want the best for these folks(or let's hope anyway!): someone's divorce or new girlfriend or boyfriend, their new babies, surgery or death in the family. And from there it breaks down to their(or your)idiosyncracies: who drinks coffee like a fiend all day, or who is the biggest glutton in the office on Food Day, whose interview style with clients most resembles Simon Legree- or even who is the biggest gossip!

With both the small communities I inhabit: my office and the musical community, there is both a genuine concern for the affairs of its citizens and a constant "smack" being talked about them. This is something I've found bothersome in the milieu of local musicians, one big reason I'm "off and on" as far as being involved in the local scene--besides just the exhaustion of working a daygig plus playing. After awhile it starts to get on my nerves, particularly if some of the "smack" is about me..

But hearing it in the office, particularly in this last year when I've returned there, about everyone there including me, I'm getting a bit more impervious to it. I still consider gossip reprehensible, and try not to engage in it myself, but but am starting to take it less seriously- even when it's about me. Hopefully this burgeoning laissez-faire will carry over into my dealings with the local music community and I won't feel the periodic need to back off.

One method of coping I got from, of all places, a book by Chris Rock. I don't know if he's written more than one, but this one is called Rock This. He talks about celebrities, and their so-called private lives. When you're trying to keep your private life completely private, it's like you're walking around with one hand behind your back. This invites people(okay, The Media) to wonder what if anything you've got hidden back there, and to dig around. Speculating, conjecturing. But if you put it out there, nobody cares. They leave you alone.

As a musician(and erstwhile blogger)I love to communicate. Musical compositions of course. Musical performances on occasion. Ideas, notions, feelings about stuff. I love to communicate with people, and have them communicate with me. But at the same time, I like them to leave me the fuck alone. I don't like people minding my business, and in fact get pretty irate about it. You've got a question, just ask. I'll be glad to answer it. Again, I love to communicate. But don't presume anything. That pisses me off.

So with blogging, I like to put some information out there--whether or not it's deemed "too much" by some. Yes, I had some health issues. Yes I have a girlfriend at the moment. Or, no I'm not dating anybody at the moment and not looking- just enjoying 'baching it'. Or, I'm in perfect health.. That's the paradox: you put at least something out there, and people are more apt to leave you alone.

Or tell you it's "too much information"....