The Joy of Blogging

I've been blogging for nearly six months now, much longer than I had anticipated I would still be doing it. I have found it to be a source of joy that I had previously all but forgotten about, namely writing. I used to do quite a bit of it in high school and in my early college days. But as my studies in computer science took up more and more of time, so my devotion to writing began to wane. The well-formed multi-page essays gave way to quick reactionary comments on Internet message boards. Quality gave way to quantity.

But now that trend has begun to reverse itself. While I still prowl my favorite boards sporting for indepth political discussions, I also make sure to set aside at least a few hours each week to blogging. Some of that time is spent pondering my next piece but a good chunk of it is used on editing what I've written. Spelling errors, grammar mistakes and misused tenses pepper my first drafts. Not only that but simply getting the wording right can take up to five or six drafts. Usually by then though, I feel that it is as polished as it's going to get.

I have also been putting my writing skills to use in the workplace. What should sound like dessicated documentation instead reads like a strange mixture of prose and programming. Though I doubt many will ever read those particular works, if I can manage to bring even a hint of a smile to some future employee who expected something much blander then I will be glad for it.

One other aspect of blogging that I've experienced firsthand recently is notoriety. It seems that some of my former co-workers have discovered the site and while most just lurk, one took the opportunity today to attempt to anonymously post a nasty and rather personal comment. I bolded anonymously because the Internet is anything but. Thanks to some excellent logging utilities I was able to get the physical location of the IP address and from there it was as simple as cross-referencing it with the Yellow Pages to discover the true identity of the culprit. What's funny is that this person had claimed to be my friend yet I knew otherwise. I can only hope that posting meaningless comments to my blog doesn't become a habit for her.

But let's not end this entry on such a down note. As it is, I shared this information with some of my other former co-workers and we all had a good laugh about it. It just goes to show that you can't take the Internet too seriously. The things people say from behind the thin veil of their browser window is rarely anything like what they would say to you in real life. So laugh about it and move on.

Here's to another six months of blogging!