A word we use all the time is “normal.” In math it means a line going perpendicular to a line or a plane. Until I was sitting here now, I never really asked “why is a normalized database normal?” If you have ever seen a database that is well designed, you can be assured that it is not “normal”, as most well designed databases are on paper, not in code.

In life, we tend to think we want to be normal, or perhaps, specifically not normal. When I searched for “what is a normal life?” Microsoft Copilot jumped in and said: “Normalcy is a fluid and subjective concept that varies across cultures, societies, and individuals.” If that is the case, why does everyone want to just live a normal life? I know when I am crazy busy, I just want life to get back to normal. But if I am honest with myself, I don’t want my normal, I want something else, I want the version of normal I think everyone else is living.

So does everyone else

When I talk to or read stuff from my friends who work in IT, the versions of normal I hear are crazy. Travel half or more of the year, doing conferences regularly, etc. Mind you, I do have a pretty active set of friends who are largely conference speakers outside of my normal working situations (though I do work with someone who is all over the place being awesome a lot!)

I do hear them occasionally discussing it being tiring and wanting things to be “normal” for a while. I bring this up because I went to a lot of conferences the last few months, and as I finished up Scenic City Summit, I realized it was time to get back to normal, which for me means sitting here at my desk clicking on keys to make words appear in WordPress.

I don’t know anyone in my non-conference life who would be sitting down writing blogs all the time (except perhaps my wife, who does some of this for children’s education), but when I think normal, I kind of go back to my family and Dad working a job that was sometimes tough, but that he loved. Then he came home and did normal things (like telling me to clean up, mow the yard, etc. :))

Back to normal for me

My normal for the past 4 years has been sitting here, making my Razer keyboard’s lights dance as I write about technology and my feelings about that subject. Speaking at conferences is still something I like to do, but writing comes a lot easier. If I forget a term or get lost in the process, I can stop, chill out, and then start back up. Speaking takes preparation so I know the words I plan to say, when to say them, and have responses ready.

My normal involves me trying to keep up with a schedule that I made for myself where I write 3 posts a week:

• Editorial (like this one)
• Technical post
• Vlog about writing

But I had to let that go for a while when I was speaking and traveling every other week for a bit. Mostly because I came up with a conference idea that was new this year, and I needed to write it and make it work for 2 different time lengths. I like this normal, as it gives me time to do that, work on a few theme park podcasts I am involved with, and spend some time vegged out on the couch watching mindless TV (not all mindless, but I do like a good game show to just relax and chill to.