Return to blogging

I often enjoy reading the fluff articles in the Style pages in the New York Times, but today there were two doozies of articles that were so poorly conceived, researched and executed, and that had such a strong bearing on my life, that I just had to write about them.

The first of these articles, "What's your backup plan?" had the writer pursuing three possible dream careers that someone in a high stress office position might envision embarking upon. As one of the major questions I was struggling with when I began this blog was regarding what career path I wanted to choose, I read this article with great interest. I found it ridiculously superficial, and even insulting to anyone who does have an honest desire to strike out on their own. Certainly, to succeed in any form of entrepreneurship one must be living their dream, and that is why I have stuck to my current path in academic sciences. The writer of this article was such a dilettante in their one-day attempts at other careers it does not even rise to the level of being worthy of cocktail party discussion. Is it not blatantly obvious that if a job were particularly easier and more generally satisfying that playing Solitaire in a cubicle, a lot more people would have that career?

The second article dealt with the number of languishing blogs on the internet, "Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest". It has brought me to a new hypothesis, any title that makes a reference to the proverbial tree falling in a wood will not be worth reading. Unfortunately, to test this theory I would actually have to read such articles.Hmm, a conundrum. Returning to this particular article, no insight is brought into the drive of people to blog, or the reasons they leave blogging. I do not, and cannot believe that most people planned to blog for financial considerations. On the other hand, though I do not think I am alone in my reasons for blogging, I also do not think that I am in the majority.

Although there are many contributing factors to my blogging- to stay in touch with distant friends, and maybe make new ones, it's relative ease compared to journalling- my primary reason for blogging has been loneliness. In geographical and mental locations, I feel like I do not have the correct group of people to share my thoughts and opinions with. This first began when my boyfriend moved overseas and daily communications were difficult, and were exacerbated by his inability to have protracted theoretical discussions about the future. So I set up two blogs, one for the minutiae of life- the books, TV, movie, music, food and events- and this one, for my inner life. But then I became busy, no longer felt so alone, coordinated better transatlantic communication, and stopped blogging. Now, after the end of that relationship, a return to blogging, and perhaps even an expansion of it, seems desirable. But I do not expect it to last.

On the other hand, I do enjoy Twitter and sharing the little things that strike me during the day, and I feel that my most successful action today was adding my Twitter feed to my blog pages. (And apparently most Twitter accounts are languishing too.)