Obligatory first post which explains why I’m blogging

I used to have a blog, but before that, I didn’t, and then after that, I didn’t again.  My deal was this:  “If I were to ever happen to have a thought or idea that was worth sharing with anyone, I’ll type it in an email and send it to my friends.”  And that served me well for quite a few years.  But then all my friends started blogging (this is where we cue my mother asking me if all my friends jumped off a bridge would I jump off too).  And so, I jumped off the bridge.

Then Twitter and Facebook happened to my blog, and then my deal was this:  “If I were to ever happen to have a thought or idea in 140 characters or less… I wouldn’t even bother involving myself in such a lazy and ridiculous pursuit.”  But then I got lazy and ridiculous, and I got Twitter.  Facebook was a little more complicated than that.  When I worked at the Arkansas Baptist Children’s Home, the director decided to allow the kids to be on Facebook.  Then he required all the house parents to get on Facebook so we could monitor the kids.  I don’t know who was supposed to monitor the house parents.  I will say however, that in the course of being involved with Facebook, I’ve reconnected with a lot of my family that I haven’t seen or talked to in nearly 3 decades, and THAT is a great and wonderful thing.  I also have a number of Facebook friends that have greatly enriched my life… and I’ve not even met most of them in person.  That right there might say things about my social life that I’d rather not face up to.

Anyway, in all this frenetic e-activity my blog got neglected… severely neglected.  I don’t even know where to find my old blog anymore, which is a shame because even though half or more of my posts were written for the sole purpose of starting an argument, there were several that I’m very proud of and would like to re-post here.  We shall see.  But even if I could find it, I don’t know how to get into the thing because of a series of actions taken by my former web host which involved “parking” it somewhere, but I guess it must’ve gotten towed.

So why bother with another blog?  Good question, since I created this one late last year and then didn’t do anything with it for such a long time that about an hour ago I had to request a password reset so I could access it and write this literary gem that all 2 of you are currently reading.  But I have a friend who’s going to be writing a book, and he’s invited me along to help, so I need to start writing things a little more involved than smart aleck Facebook comments and tweets.  And then there’s Bill Bryson.  I was given his book “A Walk in the Woods” (along with the companion audiobook).  It not only hooked me on Bryson, but it reignited my own love for writing that involves more than 2 complete sentences in a row.  The fact that this revelation hit me six days ago and I just now rushed to the keyboard to get started doesn’t sound very encouraging, I know… but Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Or six.

So, nowhere to go from here but up…

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