After completing the 17th edition of "Palmer's Prattles" I thought it was about time to explain why I decided to write all of this nonsense and post it on my very own blog. For those of you who have actually taken the time to read any of this meaningless drivel I assume that the following questions have been running through your minds:
1. What made him start writing these prattles in the first place?
2. Why does he post this mindless junk on a blog page?
3. Does he really think that this stuff is funny and/or entertaining?
4. Does he actually enjoy doing it?
5. Doesn't he have more important things to do with his time?
Before I answer these questions I first need to provide a history lesson on how this whole blog thing got started. As you will see my explanation has been divided into 3 sections. After reading this information you will hopefully understand the answers I have given to these questions at the end of this prattle.
Phase 1 - The Early Years
A trip back into my past is the first step one must take to understand the reasons why I write and post these stories on a blog. Studies have shown that a person's current behavior can usually be traced back to the experiences they had during their childhood. In my case I developed one of my personality traits by simply observing the behavior of my family during our annual holiday gatherings.
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During these holiday celebrations I would always listen to the countless conversations that my very Scandinavian parents and adult relatives were having while we were eating dinner. Every year without fail several of the same old funny stories about our family were told. The amazing part to me was that everyone would always still laugh at these old tales no matter how many times they were told. It should be noted that my relatives were talking about real things that happened to members of our family as opposed to just telling joke type stories. Even though I didn't initially understand the reasons for repeating these same old stories every year I never questioned it because at the time I was a little soldier boy who kept his mouth shut and respected his elders.
Part of my soldier boy mentality included my need to please my parents and do the right thing. Seeing that my parents and adult relatives were my role models I thought the best way to show my respect for them would be to emulate their behavior. Some of my relatives were great story tellers and I felt in order to gain their approval I needed to learn that skill. My ultimate goal was to become a significant contributor during story time at our family's holiday parties. Once I learned the art of embellishing a story for all it was worth I became a major player at the dinner table every year. Once I got some laughs I was hooked and the entertainment bug was firmly planted embedded in my personality. It wasn't long before I was the main attraction at the dinner table...and I was loving every minute of it.
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Over time I developed the need for more attention because just telling and retelling stories was no longer enough for me. I now wanted to be the "class clown" at these family gatherings. I began making humorous comments and observations on everything that was being discussed. Fortunately my relatives were a great audience and they always laughed at my comments.....which only made me want to find new ways to get more laughs and put all eyes on me...
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As I grew older I took my show on the road and I tried to entertain anyone who would listen. It didn't matter where I was....parties.....bars......work......I was always "on".....the key for me was trying to find new people who had never heard my "stuff" before....
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Over time I gradually developed my own "material." I felt like I now had my own version of a stand-up comedy routine (in my own mind that is). My sense of humor was based on making fun of myself, telling / retelling funny stories about myself and making humorous observations about daily life in general.
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My basic need to entertain people really bubbled over the top in the mid 70's. During the summers of my college years I found a new way to get some laughs at a local watering hole in Zumbrota called the Blue Goose. It was here where I added a new routine to my act. In my effort to find new and different ways to entertain people I began to lip sync the songs on the juke box while dancing on the bar's freezer. These performances were probably not my proudest moments but the regulars at the Blue Goose loved it. This positive feedback from the bar patrons only fueled the fire in me to continue providing these performances on a regular basis. My song list was long but the song titles "Behind Closed Doors" by Charlie Rich became my signature act....it brought the house down every time.
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My success as a story teller and amateur entertainer can be attributed a "go to" formula that I have developed. The name of my formula was derived from theme used when describing the 3 basic requirements of education - The 3 R's - Reading, Riting and Rithmetic
My approach to telling or retelling a funny story is based on what I call the "4 Rs of Story Telling" that I have listed below.
The 4 Rs
1. Recap - review all the facts of the event / story...one by one in detail
2. Rehash - discuss the significance of each component of the story in detail
3. Retell - tell the same story again at a later date....find new ways to embellish the facts
4. Repeat - do steps 1-3 over and over....there is humor in repetition (right?)...creates an endless loop
Phase 2 - Blogging Begins
My blogging career got its start after I attended the very first baseball game ever played at Target Field this past spring (University of Minnesota vs Louisiana Tech). My close friends were very anxious to hear about my first impressions of Target Field. In order to address all of their questions about the new ball park I decided to send them an official "news report" via email. This report included some pictures I had taken along with some of my humorous observations. My friends enjoyed my report and they requested similar reports on the first Twins games that were going to be played at Target Field in early April. (an exhibition game and opening day). I followed through and sent out 2 more reports and again I received high marks for my work. One of my friends jokingly suggested that I should create my own blog and post these reports on it. I thought it was a silly idea and it was something I thought I would never do. Even if I did post the 3 reports, what would I ever add to the blog that anyone would actually read???
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However, after giving this blog idea some more thought I decided it would be fun to do as sort of a parody on bloggers who post stories about their life experiences. Once I found out how easy it was to create my own blog page I posted my three reports on Target Field. I decided to name my blog "Palmersplayground" because my first choice, Palmersprattles, was already being used by someone else. I informed my friends about my new blog and they all got a good laugh out of it and I figured that was the end of it.
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Even though I had made it clear that there were no plans to add anything new to my blog my friends kept requesting more new stories. As I stated earlier I had learned to enjoy telling/retelling stories at an early age and after giving it some thought I decided it might be fun to post some new stories on my blog. The positive feedback I continued to receive for my work made me realize that posting this new material on my blog was a win-win situation for me and my friends. I liked to tell/write my stories and my friends enjoyed reading them (or so they led me to believe). Now I just had to figure out what else I would write about that would be somewhat entertaining.....hmmmmmmmmmm
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Once I got serious about this blog idea I posted several new stories and added some other nonsense to the cover page of the blog (resume, photo gallery and quotes, etc). I figured the key to my success was that my close friends understood my sense of humor....as in "they get it." My stories which I decided to call "Palmer's Prattles" are really like TV episodes of Seinfeld...."stories about nothing."
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A few months after I started writing my blog it was brought to my attention that there had been a security breach and now people outside of my "inner circle" were reading my blog. This surprised me because I couldn't believe that anyone but my close friends would ever bother to read this nonsense. (First Blog entry was made on May 20, 2010)
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I don't know if that number means that several new people are accessing my blog or that my close friends are frequently checking to see if there is a new prattle to read. I find it hard to believe that either scenario is taking place but obviously there are people out there who are at least looking at my blog on a regular basis (probably not actually reading any of it however).
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Summary
Overall the creation of this blog has been good for me because it provides a whole new outlet for satisfying my need to entertain people. I don't need a live audience anymore because I can now send "my show" out into cyberspace. Of course the best feature of my new "on demand" approach to entertaining is that if people don't like my material they don't have to read it. (just turn me off like you do when watching a bad TV show).
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the reasons why I write and post these "prattles" on a blog. My answers to the questions I posed earlier should also make more sense to you now - see below.
Questions / Answers
1. What made him start writing these prattles in the first place? Wanted to entertain my friends and fulfill my need to make people laugh
2. Why does he post this mindless junk on a blog page? To provide "on demand" access to my stories.
3. Does he really think that this stuff is funny and/or entertaining? I do and I know it's problem...seeking professional help...see answer to question #5.
4. Does he actually enjoy doing it? Yes...see answers 1-3.....I blame my relatives who were my enablers
5. Doesn't he have more important things to do with his time? Yes I do.....however my therapist says it's in my best interest to keep doing it.(together with taking my meds)
This picture probably explains everything........
