Yes, I have one of these now.

I feel like I'm succumbing to every part of the weird online culture that we live in-- Facebook, Twitter, now a blog... we're seeing the future through a backlight screen. I don't know how I feel about this. While it does facilitate so much, is it cheapening the human experience into a few Youtube videos? Probably. But there have probably been at least 4 New York Times articles on this in the past year, so I won't dwell on this and limit myself to saying that the world is best experienced in full 3-D.

The only real reason I can think of for doing this is catharsis-- unloading whatever variety of angst I have on Monday vs the joy I have on Thursday. Accountability too: by writing here, and creating some sort of expectation from people that I actually have something to say, and that I have done something worth reading about, I'll feel more motivated to lead a more fulfilling life. We shirk the difficult for what's easy, we don't train for a marathon because the couch feels so much better. We don't write the novel that we've been planning in our head for 6 months because the TV is on. We live in a convenient world that rewards passivity and complicates exertion. Why throw my voice into the slew of the internet? While I may not say anything enlightening, at least I'll be trying. I'll be making sense of the 21st century hurricane that's engulfing us, or at least I'll cut a tiny piece of it apart and sew it back together in some better form. Beyond whatever books, TV shows, or funny experiences I write about will be some attempt to explain our existence, which is what everything is trying to do-- science, religion, art-- and why not be a part of that conversation?

At the end of it all, what do I want to be able to say? At least I tried. And this here, this is one minuscule way to do that. Read, don't read, it really doesn't matter to me. I'm here to inspire myself, and anyone who's open for inspiration-- in any form. I'm not the next Faulkner or Scorsese (at least not yet) but I can promise that this will be something of value. Until next time.