Sunday, March 13, 2005
Why I Blog
I've been thinking lately about how this blog has evolved since its inception. There were several reasons why I decided to start the site, the first being that it was an effort to write a little more, something I really enjoy and had not done since high school (the unfortunate side-effect of lots of AP classes and an engineering major). I also wanted to provide a way for our family and friends to keep up with our lives while we spent two years all the way up in yankee-land. The final big reason to do it was to give a little back and hopefully aid future applicants in their own struggle to find out more about schools and get accepted.
I'd like to think that my writing has improved, at least marginally, by staying in practice a little bit more. A few family members and friends do indeed use the blog to keep up with us, though many more are bizarrely focused on their own lives and don't spend time reading about mine... ;) I think I've also helped a few people along the way, so all in all I would say mission accomplished.
The point of all this, if there is one, is that I have thought several times about discontinuing the blogging business but haven't. It's always weird to know that strangers and unknown classmates are reading my thoughts, and for this reason it just seems easier and less of a hassle to not share my thoughts with who know's who. In the end, though, I've decided that I really enjoy blogging, and so I just keep doing it.
As a side note, it did occur to me that one benefit of shedding anonymity from the start is that you never can say the things that could really get you in trouble. If you start out as an anonymous blogger and then are outed at some point, you likely wrote things from behind your false veil of secrecy that go on to get you in trouble once your identity is known. With no perceived secrecy there is no inclination to say anything really risque, and thus less chance of a blow-up at some point. Of course, you are also adding less value in the meantime, but by blogging more and longer than those who get exposed and have to quit, perhaps I'll make up the difference in the end.
I'd like to think that my writing has improved, at least marginally, by staying in practice a little bit more. A few family members and friends do indeed use the blog to keep up with us, though many more are bizarrely focused on their own lives and don't spend time reading about mine... ;) I think I've also helped a few people along the way, so all in all I would say mission accomplished.
The point of all this, if there is one, is that I have thought several times about discontinuing the blogging business but haven't. It's always weird to know that strangers and unknown classmates are reading my thoughts, and for this reason it just seems easier and less of a hassle to not share my thoughts with who know's who. In the end, though, I've decided that I really enjoy blogging, and so I just keep doing it.
As a side note, it did occur to me that one benefit of shedding anonymity from the start is that you never can say the things that could really get you in trouble. If you start out as an anonymous blogger and then are outed at some point, you likely wrote things from behind your false veil of secrecy that go on to get you in trouble once your identity is known. With no perceived secrecy there is no inclination to say anything really risque, and thus less chance of a blow-up at some point. Of course, you are also adding less value in the meantime, but by blogging more and longer than those who get exposed and have to quit, perhaps I'll make up the difference in the end.
