Everyone keeps telling me, "you should have a blog!" I, of course, immediately wonder, "how many dead or moribund blogs are floating around in cyberspace because of those words? Do I really need to add one more to the list?" Really, how many people have started a blog with high hopes, encouraged by their friends and acquaintances (and possible taking note of the financial success of such blogs as Orangette, Chocolate and Zucchini, and the Julie/Julia Project)? And how many of those blogs, like the 19th century journals they replace, have slunk ignominously into the dark, trailing a sad little tail of short "I can't think of anything today; I'll write something later" posts that finally end in nothing? Does human culture, not to mention the "blogosphere" need yet another one of those tragic abortive beasts? I've always thought not.
And of course, there's always the question: "what do I have to say to the world?" Or perhaps, more accurately, "what do I have to say to the world that the world really wants to hear?" Anyone who knows me (and that would include those people who keep urging me to start a blog) knows that I have a lot to say. I'm fairly opinionated. In fact, as I write that phrase, due honesty compels me to admit that I probably go far beyond "fairly" and have, by now, merrily danced my way into the realm of "frighteningly" or at least "annoyingly" opinionated. It occurs to me that perhaps some of my well-wishers are simply hoping that a blog will divert some of my opinions and make me a more charming and agreeable conversationalist. I have one thing to say to that: "HA!" From scorn, I am laughing. Have you ever met any blogger who got less opinionated as they wrote? I certainly haven't.
So, let's consider my trepidations. Prime: there is the commitment to the blog. Do I really have it in me to keep writing over a long period of time (for example, will I actually post something tomorrow or even next week?) Seconde: Will anyone care to read what I do have to say? Tierce: What in the name of all that is holy will I write about? I guess I could do a sort of Joycean stream of consciousness approach and just write about whatever crosses my mind at the time, but that seems like the easy way out (and possibly also the easy way to join the slithering hordes of dead blogs out there in the darkness). I can write about specific topics, but my obsessions tend to be oddly unrelated. Is the world really ready for a blog that is dedicated to the culinary arts, architecture, language, and religious philosophy? Especially if I throw in the occasional field trip into modern etiquette, book reviews, non-architectural art, traditional handicrafts, and my occasional bouts of pseudo-nostalgia for things that I never actually got to experience the first time around. Gods! I'm starting to look like someone who has managed to combine Attention Deficit Disorder with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and thrown the combination into the academic world. Oh, wait, that is me! Well, now you know. Be warned.
So, by now, if you are still with me, you are no doubt asking, in tones that hint at varying degrees of dwindling patience, "Okay, so what does this have to do with a perfect storm." Okay, here's the answer: it's snowing. Actually, that's misleading. Outside my window right now, the snow is coming down at what the weather service estimates is a rate of one to three inches per hour. It is landing on the twenty-one inches of snow that is already there. One phrase that has been bandied about in the news reports is that we are experiencing a "historical weather event." So, on a Saturday, when I could be out shopping or doing other fun things, I'm sitting on my comfy Ikea loveseat, looking out the window at the--oh god, it's actually falling faster now--snow. I just got off the phone with my dad where we were joking and talking about his many attempts at maintaining a blog (he's a brilliant software engineer and has no problem maintaining the blog in the technical sense, but he's one of those "every three years, I add a post, whether it needs it or not" type of blog writers). He's always telling me that I should write a blog (yes, he's one of "them!") At the same time, I've been reading some great books and, as I usually do when I read great books, I've been having opinions about them. Plus, I've recently had several culinary experiences that have left me with more than a few mental diatribes. Suddenly, a blog seems possible. I have topics to write about, people encouraging me to write, and a weather system that is determined to keep me from doing anything else.
So, avanti! Let's see what the future brings...
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