  Blogs are weird concepts. The idea of posting random thoughts, observations and ideas in one place is attractive to be for a few reasons: One, I'm random. Two, I'm a writer who finds peace in compiling my thoughts. Three, I'm anal (I guess the nice phrase would be a "perfect melancholy with some "powerful choleric"...) so I like the built-in organization. Also, I like feeling like I have an audience. Yes, I write for myself and could careless if anyone reads it, but from classes in writing I want to have a defined audience.
A letter is addressed to a specific person. My newspaper stories are written to the community. My blog is written to an audience of sorts, even if it borders on undefined and possibly non-existent. Throughout my life I've kept journals. Sometimes I write poems. Sometimes I babble seemingly endlessly.
Other times I just chronicle events. I share feelings. I quote people I admire or words I like. My traditional journals have been neglected. It's easier to go back and read this. It's all in one place, not separate books on the shelf or in boxes.
I just like everything this blog brings together. And I like making this 21st century noun "blog" into a verb, "bloggin'. " Blogs are sort of entries into people's mind. Maybe as close as we'll ever get. A few of my friends have blogs, and they are a convenient, much-too-modern way to keep up with people. Take Ryan for instance.
Quick history: We worked together at The Park at Middletown, a small amusement, miniature golf facility in Louisville. We were friends there, but really got to be friends via e-mail my freshman year of college. He was a senior at St. Xavier High School and I was at Murray State. Somehow we bonded that way, probably because we are both much better at expressing ourselves through these modern forms of communication. He even drove to Murray once to visit. (Although I don't think that will ever happen again because he thinks Murray and Cincinnati are worlds apart.
) He moved to Cincinnati, went to college for awhile, started working... I visited him there a few times, saw some Reds-Cardinals games, rode roller coasters at Kings Island, fought with his former roommate Justin. We'd hang out in Louisville sometimes, usually at Denny's. OK, that's not such a quick history. But there you have it. Well, I sure wished we talked more.
I mean, I could tell you a little bit about his baseball team in a northern Kentucky league or about his girlfriend Ann. I know he's alive and I assume well. But even a blog doesn't substitute for friendship. I was hoping I'd get to see him when I go with some friends to Kings Island at the end of the month, but he's going to a wedding of some friends. Sometimes timing and distance hinder good ideas. Memories are good because those are the moments that teach us a little bit more about who we are, who we want to be, where we're going and where we've been.
Friends are friends for a reason, and it's good to know nobody can change how we got to where we are. I've also been thinking about the twisted concept of blogs because of Jessica Cutler and her scandalous Capital Hill sexual activity with only God knows who, all of which was documented on a blog. I talk a lot and let a lot of people into my life on here, but some things probably should be kept inside one's mind and life. Anyway, from articles and interviews I've read about her, I'm fairly certain she loves every ounce of attention she's gotten since leaving her cushy, $25,000-a-year job in D.C. for who knows what beyond a book deal in New York. I just blogged about bloggin'. 
