what for am I writing and posting this?

I don't seem to have, at this point, a lot of wisdom on a particular topic, or even much of a focus or prism to organize this with. So why am I doing this?

Because Ellen inspired me to.

Because it helps me to think.

Because it is a way to communicate with farflung friends and family. 

Because it pushes me to articulate things.

Because it is a way and a place to keep track of things, to keep a record.

How is this different from writing e-mail and sending it to everyone I know? Or having different threads of topics that I write to different friends about? 

Maybe this would be a lot more obvious to me if I were a person reading a lot of other blogs. I look at a few sometimes. But I am not in the blog culture.

Here's why I think it's a good thing:

• because I can put out my thoughts, information, data logs, and not have to feel like I'm pushing them on people

• because friends/family can come and look at the blog when they feel like it, and if they don't, can skip over it

• I can even imagine a way that I use this for responding to things that individual people have asked me or talked to me about, or have said that I felt I wanted to respond to, but where it felt, again, pushy to come back with my thoughts - either because too much time has elapsed, or because I'm just not sure how interested the person is in the exchange at that moment

Mostly, though, I'm thinking and hoping this will help me think. Obviously I'd love it if it also helped me connect better / more with my farflung people, whom I am missing. 

The end. Amen. For now.