Ch-Ch-Changes

Changes by David Bowie (excerpt of lyrics)

I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time…..

Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I’m going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Oh, look out you rock ‘n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you’re gonna get a little older
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can’t trace time

Did you know that I always thought David Bowie was singing (Turn and face the strange)?  But I also thought CCR was singing “There’s a bathroom on the right” and Manfred Mann’s (originally written and released by Bruce Springsteen)Blinded by the Light was “wrapped up like a douche another runner in the night”.  Don’t ever ask me what the lyrics to a song are, I’ll make it up, even if it doesn’t make sense, and sing it with confidence.

My bad lyric’s interpretations is not what this post is about.  It is about changes.  Changes which I’m sure you have already noticed.  The Kitchen Witch has a new look.  It’s funny (not haha funny, different funny) that sometimes we start something with one intent and end with another and sometimes we just want changes.  In this case I wanted a change and had noticed a change (errr, more of a lack of change) in my blog.

Originally when I started blogging, I wasn’t sure of my intent.  I knew that:

1. I wanted to post and share recipes.
2. That it is impossible for me to confine myself to doing just one thing.

That started the direction of Recipes and Ramblings.  Then I thought, hey, I need to lose weight, maybe if I have a page chronicling my struggles and posting my fat stats, I’d actually stick with it.  It’s almost a year later and public humiliation has not worked so I’ve decided to let that dead horse roll over and lie down.

Freshly out of the constraints of the Air Force, I was totally expanding my ability to “Glam” it up.  Less than conservative, make-up, jewelry and hair was so much fun, so I made a page for that too.  However, I only dabbled in it.  I’m not really a high maintenance glam girl.  I’m just a girly girl that isn’t prissy. Dabbling is done, I’m two years retired now and the “glam” charm has faded.

I’ve been blogging for nearly a year and something about impending anniversaries/New Year’s that tend to make me somewhat reflective.  Actually it started a littler early at the Foodbuzz Festival in November.  I listened to and talked to many successful bloggers and tried to connect what made their blogs interesting and sometimes quite successful.  There were a few common themes:

1. They blogged about something they were passionate about.
2. They had a unique/individual view on what they were doing.
3. There was an audience that was interested in what they were blogging.

I asked myself “are you blogging about something that you are passionate about?”, the answer was “partially”.

I asked myself “do you have a unique/individual view on what you are doing?”, the answer was “sometimes”.

And I asked myself “is there an audience that was interested in what you blog about?”, the answer was “yes, if friends and family count” ;o)

Perfectly ambiguous answers! Then I had to ask, oh yes I did, I asked myself “Why”?  Maybe the most difficult question of all time is “why?”, usually because we (I mean me) do things without a good reason “why”.  My favorite response to “why?” is “It just seemed right at the time”.

Almost a year ago I started to blog, not a whole lot of thought went into it, or a whole lot of structure.  Why?  It just seemed right at the time.  Guess what?  I still love it although I’m still floundering around and probably always will be. However, change is a good thing. I’ve made some changes based on my three common themes that I had come up with and the “whys” I asked myself.

I have a split personality!  On one side I’m a good Mom (I might be a little presumptuous here), manager, domestic queen.  I follow the rules like a good girl (that’s from 22 years of military training), and then there is the other side of me.  The side where I relax, clear my mind, stop following the rules.  The part where I “am”.  That part of me is when I’m riding my motorcycle, when I hanging out with other bikers, when my work glam fades and leather and t-shirts emerge.  Being a biker is as much a part of me as being a domestic goddess and a good little worker.

So there’s my real answer to “why” I only partially blog about what I’m passionate for…I’ve left out the other half of my personality.  I’m not sure if a biker chick that cooks view fulfills “what I’m doing is unique”, and there may not even be an audience (except for the said friends and family) that are interested in a biker chick that cooks.  It doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that I writing about what my passions are, it’s my passions that make it uniquely me.

I love and adore everyone who has read/is reading by blog, those whom I know and those whom I don’t know.  I hope that you enjoy the changes and enjoy getting to know the other side of my personality!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the people who helped me. Matt and Karen from ShortGrass Web Development were infinitely patient with me.  I only kinda knew what I wanted. Every time they would do/suggest something, I’d come back with “I like that but can we do this or this?

Some of you may remember that I posted ages ago (April 18, 2010) about my new logo.  I’ve used it only in a limited way, mostly because I don’t have the computer savvy nor the time to figure out how to incorporate it into my blog.  This is where I gave up and went to the professionals at ShortGrass. I wanted the front page to have 3 buttons, the Recipes, Ramblings and Rhonda (nice alliteration, I thought), as we came up with the design there became a need for a picture in each of my leather patches. Karen put a few in there for me, I liked the little clip art for the biker chick but wanted different pictures for Recipes and Rhonda.  Naturally I went back to Svetlana and in my “I’m not really sure what, I want can you do something along these lines” way, she came up with more fabulous art work.  Again, not accepting a penny for her work.  Thank you Svetlana, your talent continues to amaze me.

I’m not sure what the next year will bring  “time may change me” but I can guarantee that I will “turn and face the strain strange”.

Keep the rubber side down,

Rhonda