The Challenge and Self Inflicted Isolation

I'm definitely feeling like an outsider in my own community... and it's entirely my own fault! To what am I referring I hear you ask? The Analogue Painting Challenge of course! I'm an utter fool for not having entered this years challenge and now I'm kicking myself on an almost daily basis for chickening out for the second year in a row. The irony is my painting output has been quite respectable recently (at least by my slovenly standards) and if I had entered I would easily have racked up my first 100 points by now. I'd never be in the top ten, but then, for most entrants, that isn't the real goal of the Challenge. 

I have followed every twist and turn of the challenge so far with great enthusiasm. I use the Feedly App to help me follow all the blogs I read and the Analogue Challenge has a folder set aside all to itself - it has to, with dozens of posts on a daily basis! I usually log-in over my morning coffee and again at lunchtime, with an hour set aside for a longer peruse and read of the days postings in the evening. I use the G+ button a lot to highlight the stuff I like (which is most of it) but if I'm honest I probably ought to leave more comments as well.

As well as using Feedly on my Tablet I also have it on my phone so I'm often scan the latest posts on that too. In fact my wife commented the other day "your always playing with your phone", occasionally smiling to myself, chuckling over some witty remark or exclaiming "Oooo" when I see something that is particularly inspiring. When my she asks me what I'm doing I just say "nothing dear" and put the phone away before I get in any more trouble. My poor wife probably thinks I'm having an affair!!

The quality of the entries this year has been excellent and I'm loving the side duels and the bonus rounds. I think everyone taking part should be giving themselves a big pat on the back for making this years event such a huge success...its just a pity I'm not among you this time. Given that some participants have not yet racked up any points, and that the point of the challenge isn't the points (if you get my point), I really ought to have taken part this year, even though I knew I would end up in bottom half of the table.

So let me be the first to sign-up for next years Challenge (assuming Curt has the energy for a 7th event!). No matter what my situation next year in terms of time commitments, I simply can't miss out on being part of that growing federation of participants old and new.