Talk, talk

It was raining here yesterday. I have a lot of photos of wet things now.

Don't worry. I'll space them out a little.

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You know, when I typed the title to this post I fully intended to blather on at length about something that I don't feel like blathering on about now. Funny how quickly a mood can change. Now... oh, now I suppose the challenge is to come up with something in the way of a topic that has at least a bit to do with the title.

What do you mean I could just change the title and talk about something else? You people are no fun.

Ok, let's try this. I ramble on in this space almost everyday. Sometimes it makes sense; sometimes it doesn't. More often than not it's just to keep myself in the habit of doing it.

But why do it in the first place? I don't have an agenda. I never (well, rarely) try to change anyone's mind about whatever subject I'm massacring (geez, does that word ever look wrong in print). I'm not using this as a journal.

Why take up the space, then?

And better still, why start a second blog to add to the pointlessness?

Hmmm. That reminds me. I haven't cleared any more posts from the old blog yet this week. I'll have to do something about that before I shut down.

Let's look at this from a different angle. My internet communication has changed a lot over the years. It started out primarily as occasional e-mails, largely because I had very limited access to the computer. After that I discovered (unfortunately, some might say) the world of chat rooms. Let's call that my cyberworld adolescence. There was no responsibility behind anything I said. Whatever I typed would disappear soon enough, and if I offended anyone I honestly couldn't have given a flying rat's bum.

It didn't take long to get bored with the chat rooms, though. The problem with that kind of communication is that it never really changes. You're generally starting each time with a (fairly) clean slate, yes, but it also means that there's very little moving forward. A bunch of people go online and say a bunch of stupid things, and then they log off and go on with their lives as though that period never existed.

It was different when I later became involved in forums. I was a member of several forums, and I suppose I was lucky in the forums I chose because they were often more than simple entertainment. Since posts were going to be around for a while and read (and possibly misunderstood) by many different people -- and this is where I started to feel like internet interactions were with actual people rather than just personas -- I put more thought into them. I also put more thought into what others were saying. Maybe it wasn't always earth-shattering thought, but somehow in the less temporary world of the forums others' thoughts followed me into the real world a little more.

Sadly, forums tend to get a little circular after a while. Long-term members feel like they've discussed everything already and resent newer members trying to rehash old topics, and newer members feel like they're being punished for trying to speak up. After a while the majority of members just give up trying. It's happened in nearly every forum I've ever been a part of, so I'm not basing this on a single experience.

I used to be a very active participant in the forum world. Now I lurk. And blog.

Obviously I need some kind of talking outlet or I wouldn't be doing this, but I'm not entirely sure how blogging fits on the spectrum of communication. The other examples I'm mentioned had a sense of community, but blogging is, by and large, talking to oneself.

I mean, I know that people read this. I have a counter for a reason. The occasional comment also lets me know if I've struck a chord at all with anybody. I'm not exactly sitting on a deserted island here.

Still, it's like I've lost the desire to have full-on public interaction on the internet lately. I sit here and blather, people care or they don't care, and I'm fine with that.

Should I be?




Maybe instead of thinking about this I should go and find someone to have an actual conversation with. Penny looks like she wants to talk about something.

Penny also happens to be a cat. Conversations with her aren't all that stimulating, frankly.

Maybe I'll just go have lunch instead.




Yeah. That's easier.

You're all capable of using the comment link. Talk at me if you want to.