Doctor, I have this.... blog spot on my neck

This "web-log" is a very interesting concept for me.

I never kept a journal or anything like that when I was younger. In high school, a lot of people I knew kept Live Journals or Xangas... and let's be honest for a minute, they were all very boring (the journals, not the people.... in most cases). I think there's only so much teen angst we can handle.

Personally, I can't recall a time when I walked into Honors Calc. and everyone was abuzz with talk of Danielle's latest journal entry:

"And the part where she talked about being depressed because she failed parallel parking? I related to that!"

When I went to Ireland in 2006, I wanted to give my family an interesting way of keeping tabs on my personal, internationally flavored, betterment. But more importantly, I wanted to log it for myself. I was capturing the opportunity in real time, but one day I figured I'd want to look back on it, and see if I had really become the better person I had idealized at the time. I had read other people's abroad emails. Interesting stuff.

I wrote about what I was learning, about new people and places, of my budding interests and experiences; the things that seemed important to me. People seemed to like it, but it was still just for me. Seriously, count the number of times I have already used "I" or "me" in this entry, and you'll see what I mean. I'm not playing around.

Today, two years later, I think I've exhausted the concept. Or outgrown it. Blogging has gained an interesting reputation over the years, and I'm not entirely down with it.

Every living organism under the sun has a blog now. Corporations, politicians, other websites, cars, TV shows, fictional characters, babies (written by their parents, but with the literary voice of a baby, of course). Music blogs, fashion blogs, industry blogs. Oprah's blog. Rosie's blog. Martha's blog. I even write an agency blog now, which I really like. It serves a purpose. And that's cool. But they have all put the personal blog in a somewhat awkward position.

People get kind of funny around bloggers now.

It goes like this:

conversation conversation conversation.....

"...I also have a blog."

"Oh really? What kind of blog?"

"It's just about, you know, my life, and my thoughts on the day to day."

"Oh...." And they do that thing where they pretend to smile for a second, then look away and scratch their neck uncomfortably, wondering where the guy with the tray of shrimp went.

I never wanted to be that guy.

I haven't written anything in a while. And that's not to say things haven't been happening. I moved. Work has been busy. I've been very busy. Busy doing. Not so busy writing.

And a little piece of me felt guilty for a while about not keeping my readers in tune with my whereabouts...

Then I remembered there are only about 9 of you, who I talk to on a fairly regular basis. I didn't feel so bad anymore after that.

I gave an interview last year in one of the Boston University magazines about blogging, written by the famously talented Maura McGreevy, where I talk about the future of the eVsperience. In it, I basically said that I didn't think life after college would provide as much time or opportunity for witty musings as life in college would.

Turns out I was right.

Have a good one!