No, I don't mean I dislike it - I seriously hate journaling. Is that even a word? Isn't it just taking a noun, adding the "ing" suffix in the hope of turning it into an activity that millions of people will blindly acquiesce to in the hopes of great self-awareness?? I'd much rather be into lunch-ing. In fact, I am much more into lunch-ing...or dinner-ing...or supper-ing...breakfast-ing takes a little more effort. I digress.

Anyway, back to "journal-ing" - ask my mother. I never kept a real diary. I'd start to, and then I'd lose interest. Diary never wrote back, that jerk. You can only write so many "Dear Diary" letters as a child and just be disappointed that you got nothing from Diary in return. Diary clearly did not like the art of "journal-ing" either.

You can ask my junior high English teacher - I distinctly remember one of my required journal entries being a big...and I mean BIG...picture of a sad face with two words: "Polly died." It was actually a sad thing - a girl in my school had been chosen to perform in the Des Moines ballet performance of the Nutcracker, and on her way to/fro, their car skid on ice and she died from the accident. Instead of writing all this, however, I figured the round sad teary face would say enough. WRONG! I didn't exactly fare well with the grading on that weeks entries let's just say.

Now, we've created the blog-o-sphere in the hopes that dazzling us with lurid not-so-new technologies will make us journal-ing skeptics take to the masses and scream "I've seen the light!" Well, I can tell you that after many failed attempts at keeping a blog on any given topic, BZZZZZZZZZZZ. Wrong answer. It's just electrified, not-so-private, share your thoughts and opinions on anything you like whether you're qualified or not.....journal-ing.

So, why am I here, you ask? I've decided to stop hating blogging. (Even though it, like its paper counterpart, took a noun and made it a verb. Somehow in the electronic format it seems less offensive.) I may still dislike it, but I think what draws me away from it is a lack of discipline. I'd rather just stare senselessly on Facebook for hours than sit and blog for a half hour. So, in my attempts to be more productive and less ... well, let's face it - lazy ... I've started a blog for me. If others read it, well, that's their business. For now, it's my attempt to try to recap my life so I know I'm living one and not just letting things pass by.

Journal-ing...well, I've taken it under re-consideration, and in the interest of being charitable, let's just say the jury is still out.