Why I succumbed to the urge to create a weblog

I just wanna be part of the party. Yep, there are lots of other people out there with funnier, more original things to say, I'm sure. But there are also people out there just yakking away and not saying anything. And people still read what they write. So I figure I'll write too, and then I'll at least be part of the party.

Recently I noticed that the only thing I write anymore is our annual family New Year's letter. And sometimes not even annually. All of my writing skill has been going into much-too-well-crafted emails that aren't even personal. That makes me feel responsible, but not very happy. So I'm gonna try doing things that make me happy.

At the end of a visit recently, my mom got teary-eyed telling me how important it is for her to feel included. I got teary-eyed too, because I'm the same way. And dangit, moms have a real knack for showing you how most of what you do is just derivative. That smirk? The world has seen it-- it was hers first. The way your daughter hrmphs at you when she doesn't wanna do what you asked? Well, the world knows where she got that-- you, sucker. Thinking about that today made me realize that it's not about originality-- it's about participation. You can't be a part of something until you step up and participate. It got me thinking about other stuff too, like fractals, but I don't really have the vocabulary to write about that. So I'll stick with this inclusiony participationy thought.

No promises of being insightful or funny. No promises of frequency of posts. Just me sharing. The blogs I read and watch and enjoy the most are the ones that just tell me a short story of what happened to someone I like that day. And I'll admit that I usually enjoy the posts more when there are pictures. I'm trying to learn from this-- so I'll aim to take more pictures and include them.

Here's the first.