...about a blog...

So what is it with this world changing technology anyway? I’ve been twitter-pated but never twittered about it, I’ve been bogged down but haven’t yet blogged, read faces and books but I don’t have a facebook account. I am, however, well aware that “THE BLOGOSPHERE!” is here, and I want to be a part of the revolution! “THE BLOGOSPHERE!” must be presented in CAPITAL LETTERS, in “quotations”, in bold, it must be italicized and followed by an exclamation point!, because only by using superlatives can the ultimate importance of this cutting edge medium be duly emphasized. “THE BLOGOSHPERE!” has changed the way the world accesses information! It provides unfiltered access to a sea of wisdom that was previously unavailable! It democratizes media, allowing the least among us the opportunity to broadcast our views to all of the inter-webs! In other words, “THE BLOGOSHPERE!” is mostly over-hyped and underdeveloped. But these overblown shortcomings are also why it’s so important!

So as an active participant in “THE BLOGOSHPERE!”, this first post is my blog’s preamble, detailing why I am writing a blog, what it will (and will not) contain, and finally what I hope to accomplish with it. That way if you’re not interested in any of the following you can go along your merry way and direct your attention to websites and distractions more worth your while.

1) Why I am making a blog
I love to read, I love to learn, and I aspire to write. I have thus far under-utilized time that could have been spent writing. Writing something. Writing anything. And now I have resigned myself to writing a few lines here and there on an anonymous blog. It allows me to create an imaginary audience and that because of this audience—even an imaginary one—I am required to put thought and effort into what I will post, to read and learn about these things before I write about them. I will try to glean important info from reputable sources and incorporate it into whatever is posted, thereby making the posts worth the time it takes one to read them. If they aren’t worth your while I promise you a money-back guarantee.

2) What this blog will (and will not) contain
This blog will be just as it says in the heading, “one blogger’s personal musings, thoughts, discoveries, creations and opinnuendo.” It will be at times humorous, serious, insightful, inflammatory, inspiring, depressing, interesting, boring, or a combination of a number of these things, depending on the day. It may contain items both factual and fictional, events current and/or archaic, informative or artistic. In essence it will be whatever piques my interest at that moment, and whatever I manage to organize into a presentable message. And I hope it will eventually contain some ideas.
If that wasn’t ambiguous enough then here is what the blog will not contain. This blog will not contain snarky criticisms. It will refrain from self promotion and boring the reader with the useless details of my daily life (I will not let you know my potty schedule or what I had for lunch). It will not contain forwarded (read: useless) emails. There will be no smarmy pyramid-schemes or preachy self-righteousness. And finally, this blog will not be a chronicle of our family events, mainly because my wife is much better at doing that than I could ever be.

3) What I hope to accomplish with this blog
I’ve already confessed that this blog will be an exercise in writing for me, and that it will require actual thought and energy. I’ve also admitted in part here (in the blog’s title) that I’d like to think of myself as an idealist of some sorts, so through my writing exercises I want to convey a sense that there is truth to be found daily by living under the influence of one’s ideals, that we each are the authors of our own storybook and that narrative is as incredible as we allow it to be. We can all be happy more often than not. Making these great things happen wrests entirely on your own shoulders and how you view the world, we can decorate our lives however we would like. So my goal is to weave some unabashed idealism into my posts without being too naïve about it.

In closing, thank you, my imaginary audience, for allowing me to conjure you into existence. Thank you for challenging me with your intelligence, for humoring me with your attention. Thank you for giving me a forum with which I can bore you with the ridiculous ideas I hope to have and for the imaginary feedback you may one day provide. It seems that “THE BLOGOSPHERE!” will be a good way for me to stop talking to myself and start speaking to imagined readers. Welcome to wherever you are.