WHY?

Most journalists are restless voyeurs who see the warts on the world, the imperfections of people and places. Gloom is their game, the spectacle their passion, normality their nemesis. ~ Gay Talese

My plans for this morning were to sleep in. I have yet to determine whether I accomplished my goal or not. I am usually up around 6 so sleeping until after 7 is later than normal, but nothing luxuriously decadent. To me, sleeping in is anything later than 9 and then lying in bed to watch junk on tv or read a book. Since I awoke at 7 something and then checked the sickening number of unread emails in my inbox, I hardly qualify this as sleeping in. It also gave me no excuse to miss exercise class for yet another Saturday. The cold temperature wasn't even a good enough excuse. I really enjoyed going back to class and chatting with Jazzy and Ethel. During class discussion arose about my blog. We explained to another class attendee what the blog was and reminisced about some people unknown to us who have posted comments here. The classmate asked, "Why do you do that?"...as if this were a bad thing. Of course that started making me think,"Why DO I post this stuff about my personal life that ANYONE can read?" Am I some kind of freak, inviting the voyeurs of the world to examine my life? Am I some weirdo exhibitionist? I think the most basic answer is that I have always expressed myself best with written words. Formal writing is not enjoyable to me but informal writing is an outlet for my thoughts. It is a way I can clear my brain. Additionally, I believe that writing deserves an audience. It is not nearly as effective when it is kept secret. I choose this avenue of sharing my writing because people can CHOOSE to read it or not. If I wrote all this crap out and then emailed it to my friends, I would feel as though I was force-feeding them my drivel (no, GP...that's not how I feel about your email). Blogging keeps me in touch with friends and family. Unfortunately life is so busy that I cannot always speak with everyone as much as I would like (believe me...I am more of a talker than a writer). I believe that this is a way to keep everyone abreast of what I am up to.....this way, I have time to share all the really obnoxious stuff I refuse to post when I see or speak to someone. Blogging isn't for everyone, but it satisfies my desire to write and share. THAT'S WHY!!!