why do i write here?
blogging April 7th, 2003
sometimes when i sit down to write an entry for my blog i begin to glaze over and stare off into nowhere. after a while i forget about the topic at hand and my thoughts drift off to questions of why i write on my website in the first place. what makes me tick and why do i want to share my thoughts and ideas with everyone?
i started writing on a web page back in 1994 while i was at the university of michigan. each student was given around 10 mb to use for their personal web pages. at first it started out as a learning thing. a place where i could collect links to things that interested me. don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t that much content on the internet at that time. being a geek within a web of geeks with nothing but geek content, i was in heaven. after a few years that original bookmark site evolved into something much more as did the web itself.
i started using my site for more than geek related things around 1998. at that time i was living in chicago and spent a lot of my time working. in the free time i was able to find i started posting small writings and articles. it was never anything huge, but i enjoyed managing the site, messing around with new web technology, and most of all expressing myself through my writings. i was never very good at it but i enjoyed trying.
growing up i was always kind of shy and was never the kind of person who was “memorable”. that changed a bit in college when i had the opportunity to reinvent myself and break from my stereotypical shy roots. i broke out of my shell around some people but around most others i was still that shy kid. what i realized later was that i found it easier to open myself up to people that i could relate to. people who either liked something i liked, lived the way i lived, or experienced the things i’ve experienced. often times those people were nerds or outcasts like myself.
around january of 2000 i hit a point in my life where i wanted to make a change. i was tired of the same old same old and knew i had to do something to break out of my rut. i was a nerd who was over weight and didn’t have a ton of friends. i know, woe is me right? no !!! i’m not asking for your pity, just telling a story. at this point i decided to stop taking my health and fitness for granted. i started researching different exercise programs and health information. i started putting that information and other tidbits in this blog. over the past few years i’ve detailed my meanderings in health, fitness, love, family, work, and all things useless. i’ve used it as a place to make note of my changes, jot down ideas, post about things that interest me, keep my family up to date, meet new people, and generally try to express myself in writing.
it’s easy to write something about your past but if you really think about it you can easily miss all of the nuances of life. it’s hard to detail things that happened while at the same time express your feelings and thoughts. i know lots of my postings come across as simple notes, i’ll trying to work on that. nevertheless i enjoy using this site as a springboard to express myself.
recently i’ve been trying to see what other people have been doing on their blogs. the number of communities that have developed around this form of expression is truly amazing. you can’t visit a persons site without seeing someone’s blog entries about anything and everything that interests them. from the mundane to the exciting i’ve wondered what people find worthy of reading? what brings people back to someone’s blog? is it that openness of ideas or is it just the same content posted over and over again? are people interested in what like minded netheads are doing or is it fresh ideas that stimulate them?
like i said, things pop in my head at the weirdest times. i just trying to write them down and make sense of them all.
i started writing on a web page back in 1994 while i was at the university of michigan. each student was given around 10 mb to use for their personal web pages. at first it started out as a learning thing. a place where i could collect links to things that interested me. don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t that much content on the internet at that time. being a geek within a web of geeks with nothing but geek content, i was in heaven. after a few years that original bookmark site evolved into something much more as did the web itself.
i started using my site for more than geek related things around 1998. at that time i was living in chicago and spent a lot of my time working. in the free time i was able to find i started posting small writings and articles. it was never anything huge, but i enjoyed managing the site, messing around with new web technology, and most of all expressing myself through my writings. i was never very good at it but i enjoyed trying.
growing up i was always kind of shy and was never the kind of person who was “memorable”. that changed a bit in college when i had the opportunity to reinvent myself and break from my stereotypical shy roots. i broke out of my shell around some people but around most others i was still that shy kid. what i realized later was that i found it easier to open myself up to people that i could relate to. people who either liked something i liked, lived the way i lived, or experienced the things i’ve experienced. often times those people were nerds or outcasts like myself.
around january of 2000 i hit a point in my life where i wanted to make a change. i was tired of the same old same old and knew i had to do something to break out of my rut. i was a nerd who was over weight and didn’t have a ton of friends. i know, woe is me right? no !!! i’m not asking for your pity, just telling a story. at this point i decided to stop taking my health and fitness for granted. i started researching different exercise programs and health information. i started putting that information and other tidbits in this blog. over the past few years i’ve detailed my meanderings in health, fitness, love, family, work, and all things useless. i’ve used it as a place to make note of my changes, jot down ideas, post about things that interest me, keep my family up to date, meet new people, and generally try to express myself in writing.
it’s easy to write something about your past but if you really think about it you can easily miss all of the nuances of life. it’s hard to detail things that happened while at the same time express your feelings and thoughts. i know lots of my postings come across as simple notes, i’ll trying to work on that. nevertheless i enjoy using this site as a springboard to express myself.
recently i’ve been trying to see what other people have been doing on their blogs. the number of communities that have developed around this form of expression is truly amazing. you can’t visit a persons site without seeing someone’s blog entries about anything and everything that interests them. from the mundane to the exciting i’ve wondered what people find worthy of reading? what brings people back to someone’s blog? is it that openness of ideas or is it just the same content posted over and over again? are people interested in what like minded netheads are doing or is it fresh ideas that stimulate them?
like i said, things pop in my head at the weirdest times. i just trying to write them down and make sense of them all.
April 9th, 2003 at 7:01 am Those are great questions