6:21 p.m. - 23 March 2003
J is for Journal
J is for Journal
I may not have written an entry for yesterday, but I did spend a lot of time on this journal. Sort of. I've spent many hours over the last few days looking for a template that I like, and I haven't really found one yet. I'm just about resigned to attempting to make my own, but I'm not sure I want to subject myself to that much irritation.
I've also been thinking about why I even do this in the first place. I've been reading online journals for a lot longer than I've been keeping one myself, and it just seemed like something I'd enjoy. I started keeping a journal as a requirement for a class in middle school, I think, and it was something that I just kept doing, albeit sporadically. I did pretty well through high school, but once I went to college I sort of fell out of the habit. Starting this site at diaryland was like coming home, really, although my archives prove that sporadic is a generous term to describe my updating over the last two and a half years.
That's a big reason why I decided to participate in the AlphaBytes collaboration – I knew I'd have to write at least 26 entries, especially since I can be fairly OCD about completing sets of things. I think I may have to make March have 32 days in order to get all the entries in, but I do intend to write an entry for each letter of the alphabet. That was the other draw for me: I love words, and this would give me a chance to express some of that love. I adore GAMES magazine and the crosswords and other word puzzles it contains every month.
This space also lets me vent about what's going on without irritating Lee, who's heard it all. He does read this occasionally, so there are a few subjects I avoid, but I'd likely avoid them even if he didn't read this because I don't think they'd be polite. Besides, my exhibitionist tendencies only go so far.
Finally, and probably the reason that keeps me going, it's a way for some of my favorite people in the whole entire world to see what I'm thinking about, how I'm doing, etc. It's easier than sending a mass email, although I usually send an email as well, since not everyone I keep up with reads this. But I can work through what I want to say here, as well as polish a few turns of phrase. And if other people read what I write and enjoy it, that's just a bonus.
