Tuesday Tidbits: I am a unique snowflake

Snowflake created by Petr Kratochvil

GoPro cameras annoy me.  As do most adventure photo blogs, and similar stuff.  Why?  Because it's all about bragging about the awesome things you do.

LOOK AT ME! The GoPro-er cries.  I DO REALLY INTERESTING AND UNIQUE THINGS AND MUST BROADCAST IT TO THE WORLD!

Look.  I get it.  I'm a pilot.  I've done rock climbing.  I've canyoneered through some of the canyons of Zion National Park.  When we do these things, we're doing awesome things, and we want the rest of the world to share in it.  But really, when you are doing a blog or a video post that is nothing but you sitting at the controls of your Cessna 172, or climbing up a rock wall that many others have climbed, there's little to no value add that you're bringing to the table.

I mean really.  Go to youtube and do a search for Cessna 172 and you'll find hundreds of videos.

Check out my blog where I post
photos of cool places I've spent money at!

Most of it is unedited footage showing someone doing loops around their home airport, or traveling from one popular location to another popular location.  While it's useful to have some data to check out when planning out one's flight, there's really little left there except ego stroking.  The world really doesn't need yet another rich person showing off their Cirrus SR-22 and bragging about how awesome they are when they fly.

What we need is value addition.  Comment on it.  Talk about it.  Do analysis.  Check out Flight Chops.  Now there's a guy that adds something to his GoPro videos.  Great editing, and great analysis.  A willingness to self-criticize and self-analyze.  There's something there to learn from.  It's extra material.  Do something more than just record yourself doing something.  You're not unique.  You're not special.  You're doing something that hundreds of people do.  You're not a unique snowflake.  While it's really awesome that you're a pilot/rock climber/skiier/whatever, unless you're doing really amazing stunts, there's just not a lot of value for most people, most of the time.

That's why I don't ever want this blog to devolve into me just bragging about the cool games I've played or cool stuff I've done.  I want to do reviews, analysis, and other critical thinking pieces.

I am not a unique snowflake.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people just like me writing blogs about their hobbies, or making videos, etc.  Many add much more value to those presentations than I ever hope to add.  But I've got some thoughts to share, and I really enjoy writing, so here you go.

I promise to try my best to add value to my experiences in this blog, rather than just reporting on those experiences.  Although part of what I want to capture are "first time" experiences doing things, so I may blog about those things a bit more personally.  But there, I hope the value add is that I am providing a newbie's perspective on something.