(Almost) 5 reasons

Maria asked for 5 reasons why I blog. First, I should apologize to Maria for taking so long to get to this little assignment. Better late than never? I hope so. Here goes...

1. I started the blog as a virtual corkboard of sorts. I wanted to hang an actual corkboard in my room. I felt like I needed a place to stick great poetry (mostly song lyrics, as I have no time to actually read poetry) and my own thoughts.

But, last summer, using several hours and most of my roommates office supplies, I hung this big fabric thingy in the corner of my room. I say thingy not because I can't think of a better word, but because if you saw it, you would say, "Oh, look, it's some sort of fabric thingy." Anyway, it hangs there as a constant reminder of what happens when I decide I'm going to HGTV up the joint. So, staring at this one night and thinking about hanging a corkboard, I decided instead to just start a blog.


So, that's why I started this blog. The other 4 out of 5 will be about why I continue to blog. They're not likely to make as much sense as the first point. I wrote #1 sober. Numbers 2 through 5 will be soaked in red wine. (Unless, of course, the migraine I will inevitably get from drinking these sulfites knocks me on my ass before I finish.)

2. I'm a very private person. No one I go to school with knows a damn thing about me. With the exception of Lolita, everyone thinks I've got it all together all the time. They tell me so. They think this because I don't share my personal life with them. If I were to share, I may say, "I suffered through 5 years of a terrible marriage. I'm not over that. I'm still terrified of him. When I hear things go bump in the night, I wake up expecting to find him over top of me with a hand gun. I'm not dating because I secretly suspect that every man who's interested in me is just angling for a chance to be that bump in the night."

And that, friends, is just not much of a conversation starter. So, instead, I rely on my sense of humor and my sarcasm to interact with the world. I don't share.

Except here. Here, I sometimes share. In fact, if you read this, you know more about me than my family and most of my friends.

3. I share because I've been able to carve out a rather safe space for myself here. One of the great things about blogging is that you don't have to see people walk away. There are probably many people who stumble upon this verbal diarrhea every day, roll their eyes, and never return. But, I don't have to watch any of that.

4. That brings me to those who don't just walk away. This has been the most surprising thing to me about blogging--the stranger-friends who comment. I have met the most amazing people here. When I blogged about my court date, for example, and then everyone commented with such generous support, I cried. And I'm not a crier. It was just so amazing, and humbling, and empowering.

On a lighter note, while a few of you expressed shock and horror at my confessed crush on Richard Gere, no one questioned my lust for k.d. lang. That's what I love about you people. You are so unlike everyone in the hilljack town where I'm currently serving time. Your comments are always a breath of fresh air.


That's it. I guess I don't have 5 reasons why I blog, so I'm just going to stick with those 4. I don't even have 4 reasons for most of the stuff I do, so really, I feel like I'm doing pretty well here.

Too drunk to tag too many, I'll just pass this one on to Proxima.
P, why do you blog?