one month

i survived my first month on a blog!  first, let me rewind a lil bit.  after christmas, i joined fb.  for the few of you in this day and age who are still clueless as to what fb stands for, it is facebook.  don't worry, i was in your boat.  over the past several years, i've been invited and encouraged to join social networks like friendster, myspace, and eventually, the almighty fb.  i always refused, denying my friends and family that gratification and willed myself to not get sucked into that social fad.

then the holidays of 2009 came and went, and i began to wonder about various people, like i do every year.  i was also looking for something to fill the little extra time i recently acquired.  so i succumbed to the one and only F.B.

i was immediately awestruck!  i found so many people that i haven't seen or heard from since high school.  in the first couple of days, i checked my page every few hours.  who confirmed me as a friend?  i got a friend request!  let me see if so-and-so is on fb.  i was able to update myself on their families and careers merely by reviewing their pages.  i received quick greetings and comments and reciprocated.  it was really interesting and fun.  however, by the fourth day, i realized that fb actually wasn't for me.  i wanted to be able to connect, i mean really connect, with others.  that's the impression i got about social networking whenever someone recommended it.  but you really don't, not with everyone who claims to be your friend.  (by the way, i've seen 100+, 300+, even 500+ friends on various pages.  c'mon, who truly has that many friends?) anyway, yes, i've been in more contact with a several people that i've lost touch with, which makes it worthwhile to keep my page and check-in a few times a week.  but the longer your friends, acquaintence rather, list is, the more difficult it is to keep up with all of the posts and comments that appear on your homepage.  some of those comments are also trite and meaningless - do we really need to know this?

hence, the blog - well, after i watched Julie and Julia, in which the challenge of julie powell's blog and goal intrigued me.  as i mentioned before, though, my mere purpose to blog was to share my life with the freedom to write more than 420 characters at a time, unlike in fb.  and i love it.  i've been challenged with a variety of topics for posts, an array of photos to select from, and layout capabilities/inabilities that drive me insane but keep the wheels in my head turning.  and trust me, i've often felt like my wheels have remained parked for too long at a time.  certainly, my sons constantly keep me going, but that's another kind of wheel-turning.

my blog has been visited several times, and i've earned the respect of a few followers (thank you!).  while i still have long a journey ahead of me before i can make my mark in the blog community, i enjoy blogging.  period.  and at this moment, that is good enough.