The First

So, I told myself some years ago that I would never start a blog. I mean, not only are blogs time-consuming, but they're a little weird--why would someone spend such time writing about themselves when they can use real-life communication (aka talking...like, face-to-face....electronics not being involved.... ever heard of such a phenomenon? It seems some people haven't...)? Well, though blogs may still be time-consuming and weird, here is my own blog nonetheless. I have decided that it actually makes sense for me to finally get a blog and here are my reasons why... because, apparently I'm supposed to write whatever I want, whether or not it sounds interesting.... right?

First, because I hear it is a good way to keep in touch with friends and I find that I actually like reading my friends' blogs occasionally [note: if you are one of those friends, you probably don't know it. I don't subscribe to blogs, I only blog-stalk randomly... so, you never know who or when or what I'm reading... I know, creepy, right?], so maybe this will get me engaged enough in the blog world to not only keep up more faithfully in what's happening in my friends' lives, but have them keep up in some of what's happening in mine.

Second, I'M GOIN' TA CHINA!!!!!!!!! And I want to remember everything I can and have a lot of memories stashed for after I return in six months. Unfortunately, I'm not so good at regular journal writing, so, I'm hoping that this sort of thing will give me more motivation to write everything down and put up pictures and all of that great, great stuff. Also, I believe in record-keeping for the sake of keeping even memories which aren't associated with China, so I think this will be something good for me to do even after returning.

Third (closely related to the first), sometimes I feel really guilty for being so horrible at keeping in-touch with closer friends [note: I don't really feel bad at all for not keeping in-touch with not-so-close friends.... but, I guess if they want to read this too I have no objections! Who knows, maybe I've read they're blog at some point too  .....  ]. At any rate, I'm hoping this blog will be an easier way to relieve some of that guilt--I'll just hand my blog address out like candy to fat children and feel comforted that people will know what's going on in my life without having to talk to them individually all the time [note: I do not actually think any of my friends are like fat children..... it was just an analogy....].

And, fourth, I think it might actually be kind of fun..... in a weird sort of way... :)

So, in the end, I like to think of this blog as an investment towards my general peace of conscience.