This One Goes to Eleven

It has occurred to me, first as a dating person and then as a married person, that we all have different “settings.” This is obvious in many ways—“taking it slow” in a relationship means different things to different people, as does "good Italian food”—and completely surprising in others (e.g., one’s way of winding down before going to sleep, the desire for conversation or silence while cooking, etc.).

I’ve been thinking a lot about blogging and why it’s so appealing to write about my life and read other peoples’ writing about their lives. I’m sure part of it is linked to an inner exhibitionist/voyeur, but that’s not a strong enough force to explain it all.

With blogging, there is a rawness to the written word. Our posts aren’t generally tempered by an outside editor. Therefore, people whose settings may be a little more extreme than the norm can publish without going through the filter of someone else’s normal, professional settings. When you think about it, it’s really quite revolutionary. Even great historical diaries have gone through an editing process prior to publication, and have been filtered by others. This instant-self-publication medium makes blogging totally unique.

I don’t recall the source, but I’ve heard some variation of “May you live in exciting times” as an old curse. Perhaps exciting times aren’t all a curse.

Right now, I’m tempted to run this post by C.S., because I can’t think of a neat conclusion. I won’t, though, especially since I’ve just written about raw, unfiltered blogging. I’m doing this at the start of a busy day and don’t really have the time it would take to make it perfect. I like the idea of my writing’s rough edges being put out there, also, for your (hopeful) enjoyment.