Why Blog? My Foray Into the Wide World of Blogging

So this is my first real blog post ever. I have to admit I'm still not entirely sure about this whole blogging thing. Part of me is still thinking what's the point, but then again, it was the same story with facebook, myspace, and twitter. Myspace did turn out to be a bit of a bust, but I shudder to think of the hours I spend wasting away my time on the other two, instead of getting real work done. So, my promise to myself is to at least try, and wait for the reason why to present itself at a later date.

In the absence of any real topic or agenda, I suppose this will be my place for pure unadulterated me. That was how facebook and twitter started, but with the massive influx of family, coworkers and classmates, and even, horrors, bosses to my page, it feels like every thing I post, from status updates, to links, to just-for-the-fun-of-it groups and pages, has to be watered down with an extreme dose of censorship.

I was never a big reader of blogs before, except when a google search inadvertently led me to one. In my foray into the wide world of blogging, however, I've been browsing quite a few of them. I've been impressed, and at times touched, by the level of candor, humor, intimacy and frankness that I've found in some of them. In an age when we are all so caught up in images, appearances, lifestyle, etc., it seems like blogging has the artful capacity to provide a venue for true personal expression. Sure, a blog develops its own persona no different than any other form of writing or expression, but, at least at first glance, the personas I've encountered appear to be less constrained, more open to interpretation, and generated less as products of society than as products of the individual and inner spirit.

So let the grand experiment begin! I'm not sure what exactly I'll be writing about, I'll leave that to tapping of fingers every time I sit down to do it, and see what happens. Today the heat wave (95+) broke, and there is a much-needed torrential downpour streaming past my window and pattering on my roof. It seems to have left me in a rather quiet and reflective mood. Tomorrow maybe I'll give a long-winded treatise on the inherent dangers of drinking unfiltered water. Well, probably not, but who knows?

Photo: View from my office window in the rain.