Purposes

This post has been inspired by a frie...by someone I know. This person does an op ed column in a (very) small newspaper. She and her husband blog about...themselves. She's on Twitter. And basically, she likes to indirectly tell the world she's a genius. In reality, she's a colossal jewel of glittering ignorance, but I bet you could guess I was thinking that...

Quick aside: What's the deal with young married couples doing shared blogs about their lives? Who gives a S%*&? What is the thought process going on there? "Hey, we got married, let's tell everyone about what our lives are like now because we're the first people in the history of the planet who've gone through this!"

My blog doesn't exist because I think people care about what I think. Let me be honest: I'm not exactly inundated by people asking my opinions on current events. I also don't consider myself an expert on most of the things I write about---I simply try to stay informed and educated about issues and then use common sense to determine where I stand. I'm also pretty sure that the world doesn't need another blog. In fact, I read earlier this week or last week that someone predicted that the web will run out of available addresses soon. I'm pretty sure I'm not helping the situation by taking up this space.

The point of this blog isn't because I think I have a talent to share with the world. I don't. In any discernible area of talent you could think of, I'm average at best. Trust me, that's not me running myself down or being self-effacing. If I was really good at any one thing, I would be off doing it and would have less time for this.

So why am I here? I'm here for an outlet. It's kind of fun and even a little therapeutic to get things off my chest and rant a little on the things I'm thinking about or that affect me. And I like to make fun of things that are looney or diffuse irritating situations by making fun of them, and I need an avenue for that. So here I am.

Twitter's pretty much the same thing. I got on for work initially, then I started following people I'm actually interested in. Then I started throwing out comments about politics or sports or whatever else for basically the same reasons as I do my blog (and decided I needed to cut off anything work related from it, because those worlds don't mix). Twitter's a little different in that I have a number of people I know personally that follow me, but my take on it is they do so at their own risk. I try not to be too opinionated on Facebook where I'm connected with tons of people. If anyone latches on to me at Twitter, they're getting the less filtered version of me.

You'll notice that on here I don't talk much, if at all, about my personal life. It's not that it's super-great and I don't want to brag, and it's also not because it's a meaningless existence and there's nothing to write about. It's just not that interesting and there are a few things I want to keep private. With Twitter, it's a little more personal, but not much. I might mention weekend plans or when I'm looking forward to sleeping, but that's about it. I don't describe what I'm having for breakfast and I don't post pictures of me pouring milk on my Post Toasties. No one gives a crap. I'm sure you put your own socks on in the morning and are comfortable assuming I do the same thing, so I'll spare you the play-by-play.

I make observations and (lame) jokes for my own satisfaction. A (very) few have latched on and listened (read?), and I'm really thankful a few people agree or enjoy it. But really, this is for my own amusement or blowing off steam.

And yes, I realize I just made a huge post railing against narcissism and self importance. Either I'm a hypocrite or it's amusingly ironic.