Yes, it’s true, I have started a weblog. I felt somewhat apprehensive about it at first, seeing as how I had always had a bit of a disdain for people with weblogs… I regarded them as people with too much free time on their hands and scoffed at them and their silly ‘blogs.’ And now look, the great irony, here I am with one of my own.
The main reason why I decided to start one is because after about six months of not writing in my journal, I decided I should start again. But after writing for about ten minutes a few nights ago, I remembered why I had stopped writing in my journal six months ago. I can’t write for more than a few minutes without my hand cramping up and my handwriting degenerating to the point of illegibility due to the pain! I don’t know what my problem is; I don’t know if it’s due to all the time I’ve spent at the computer, typing, over the years, or what… though I think that can’t be it, since senior year of high school I kept a journal faithfully, writing pages and pages every night with no problem. Very early symptoms of arthritis, perhaps?
Anyway. That is neither here nor there. So, here I am with a weblog. I had thought of keeping my journal on the computer before (I actually did, back in 9th grade, but that was eons ago) but somehow typing out my thoughts in Appleworks didn’t seem appealing. Number one, handwriting conveys a lot - and I know there are a lot of crazy fonts out there, but they can only go so far. Number two, the thought of having my journal on the computer just seems kind of distasteful because it feels, I don’t know, impermanent in a way. There’s something special about a nice little book that you write in and keep, and years later you can go back and read it. (It’s also more aesthetically pleasing than a glaring computer screen.)
So it would appear that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Ideally, what I need is a little keyboard that attaches to my journal (the book, I mean) and somehow interfaces with it in such a way that what I type gets printed on the page in my handwriting. But, until someone invents such a device, a weblog will have to do.
Somehow the nice, neat Blogger template is more pleasing and motivating to me than a plain ol’ Appleworks document. (Although, I think I may have to alter this template or just make one of my own, because this one has style sheets and - gasp! - VBScript. And you know what a purist I am. [Or if you don't, it will readily become apparent.])
[sarcasm] So you can visit this site every day to read my innermost thoughts, and wait with bated breath for the next thrilling installment. [/sarcasm] I don’t actually expect anyone to sit down and read this… my life just isn’t interesting enough. But maybe some bored and/or procrastinating people will read it - I’ve been known to wander aimlessly through the internet reading random crap when I should be, say, working on a paper or something. Of course, the really personal stuff won’t get uploaded. And because of my fear of impermanence, I will probably be really anal about making backups, to various sorts of media, and I will probably end up printing it all out like a dork and keeping it all in a binder or something, thereby defeating the purpose (depending on whom you talk to) of a “paperless” journal.
And if I can ramble this much just about starting a weblog, hoo boy, wait for the real thing!!
READ ME: Disclaimer