Two months ago I slapped down my credit card and made a purchase that I had been planning for some time.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20101006045123im_/http://www.scottbridges.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ticketfinal.jpg)
India. One-way.
This plane ticket, and everything it represents, is more important to me right now than anything; everything in my life at the moment is viewed in the context of my plans to travel through India and the middle east next year. As a true Leftist I’ve even been learning Arabic since February.
For this reason I’ve decided to close GrodsCorp.
In late 2003 I started GrodsCorp for much the same reasons as any other blogger: I wanted a place to dump my thoughts and opinions in the vain hope that someone, anyone might read them. The very first iteration of GrodsCorp was built with hand-coded HTML — a skill I learned (badly) by trial-and-error during long, boring overnight shifts in television back in 1998. After transitioning through various content management systems and designs, GrodsCorp ended up as the Wordpress blog with the orange and blue theme (thanks, silpheed!) that you all know today.
The dude with the sunnies in the header has been GrodsCorp’s mascot for most of the site’s history, and there is no truth in the claim that GrodsCorp’s mascot is similar and/or identical to that of Austrian pretzel company Soletti. Here’s me on the ski fields of New Zealand daring Soletti’s lawyers to bring it on by strapping Joe to my backpack while snowboarding.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20101006045123im_/http://www.grods.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/joefinal.jpg)
You go faster with a stuffed toy on your back.
And here’s me defending the Soletti vs. GrodsCorp case in the Supreme Court of Teh Blogosphere.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20101006045123im_/http://www.grods.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/scottqc.jpg)
The restitution prosts, your Majestness.
In the five-and-a-half years since I first uploaded this site to the intertubes via my dialup connection, GrodsCorp grew into a community of hundreds of people who contributed, read and commented. Over 2,600 posts, 30-odd podcasts, 40 episodes of Lachlan Connor, Independent, and four episodes of Let’s Cook! With Craig later, it is the community that made GrodsCorp so much more than the sum of its parts. Of that content, some was shithouse, some was okay, some was pretty good, and some was fucking awesome, but no matter what was published we always had a good laugh and even managed to debate some important stuff along the way.
Through GrodsCorp I’ve made real-life friends, bloggosphere (sic) enemies, attracted a creepy stalker who likes to send emails to my boss, and discovered Iain Hall. The Internet: there’s nothing else quite like it.
The literally thousands of hours that I’ve spent building, maintaining, moderating and writing for GrodsCorp were worth it because of the community of people who hung out on the site or lurked in the background — youse are such a bunch of funny, pernicious bastards and I can’t thank you enough. Writing is fun, but writing for an audience is funner.
But most of all I’d like to thank the dozen or so people who wrote for GrodsCorp at some stage during its life, and especially the five contributors who rounded out the GrodsTeam until the end: John Surname, Bridgit Gread, Ant Rogenous, Bron and Jason. A finer bunch of Leftists I’ll never meet, and superb writers to boot. Except John Surname.
I’m going to keep writing at a new, personal blog: scottbridges.id.au. The new blog is not Grods2.0, rather a place for me to intermittently publish longer-form stuff, my writing at Crikey, newmatilda.com etc., and telegrams from my travels next year. I’d love it if you all dropped in to say hello sometime.
A few members of the GrodsTeam have asked to publish personal farewells.
John Surname:
Tell my loyal fans that I will be releasing a compilation of my best posts entitled Journey To The Centre of John Surname.
Bridgit Gread:
So, at last it’s come to this – such is blogging. This is like the last Chooklotto on the last episode of “Hey Hey It’s Saturday!” except that Scott is Daryl Somers, Ant is John Blackman, I’m Jacqui McDonald and John Surname is Plucka Duck.
It’s been a rollercoaster few years. I’ve laughed and gasped and cringed; I’ve ridiculed all manner of fools and freaks; and above all I’ve had fun. Together we’ve all done made a blog that people like reading – and even when you’ve spent most of your time writing for a living, that’s a feeling you still enjoy. My thanks to Scott for hosting Grods, for making it shine and for allowing me to be a part of it – and for enduring the river of shite that being a blog owner invites. You can teach my kids Marxist theory or “The Internationale” anytime, comprade. Thanks also to my fellow team members: the loveable Ant ‘George’ Rogenous; the irrepressible John Surname, the concupiscient Bron and the gorgeous Jason. And to the host of regular Grods commenters: Chuck, Wah, confessions, silpheed, JT, phyllis stein, Tobias Ziegler, dribble, michelle, even bloody Fang and Ray bloody Dixon from bloody Bright.
I feel like I’m losing a friend – quite a few friends actually – but like the ‘existential Buddhist’ I am, I know they won’t be gone forever. Good people and good humour never die, they just take a holiday and come back wearing cheap Hawaiian shirts and with a thousand digital pictures.
Now it’s time to down my last McMuffin, hotwire the Noddy car and hit the wide open road. To borrow some parting words, “I’m just going out and may be gone some time.”
Bridgit
Bron:
Well, this is sad and unexpected, but I take great comfort in knowing that Grods is going out on top. No matter the reason for its departure, it is still the best fucking blog in the blogosphere [sic]. Of course, I could just be biased.
The authors of Grods have made it what it was — but most of all, it was the community we created, beginning with Scott. The community is one of the biggest things I’m going to miss.
I have met a lot of wonderful people via Grods — and have had the opportunity to meet some of them in real life who I know will always be friends. And then there are those who I care about deeply, although they may not fully realise it right now. You know who you are.
I will be around reading and occasionally commenting on blogs that some of you have and I hope to see the rest of you around very soon. In fact, I have a new blog that I will start writing in again someday – A Fresh Start In August.
Don’t think of this as an ending — but rather as an opportunity for a fresh start.
Ting tong, tingtong,
Bron.
PS Hey, that rhymes! Oh, the shame! Damn you Michelle for saying that to me! I never wanted to be linked to that shithouse poem! Even though it’s the best fucking poem I’ve ever read!!!
PPS Cosmicjester, tha bastard son. I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you but it’s actually spelled T-H-E.
PPPS Oh, nothing. Just checkin’ to see if you’re still reading. Fuck off, now. No, really.
PPPPS First warning, Scott.
So I guess that’s it. My sincere best wishes to each of you.
Cheers,
Scott
sdebridges@gmail.com