Two weeks late and lots of dollars short

Roughly a hundred years ago now, Anniina tagged me for a meme. I don't get tagged for those sorts of things too terribly often, so I generally have no problem obliging when I do--particularly when it's a pretty easy meme and particularly when it involves enumerating something in five-point form. I have no good excuse for why I ignored this one so long, and Anniina's probably even long since forgotten about it by now, but here it is, for what it's worth...


Five Reasons Why I Blog

1. To encourage myself to write. This was really the only reason I started a blog, many moons ago. It's probably the reason most of us started, and it remains a big part of why I'm still here.
   
   
2. To feel a part of an ever-growing and always entertaining online community. I have some friends who still don't understand "the blog thing," who think it's self-indulgent to publish details about your life online and voyeuristic to read the details other people post about theirs. And maybe it is, to some extent. But mainly it's given me friends and kindred spirits. It's introduced me to people all over the country and the world, and it's taught me that, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions, each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. OK, so I just stole that from The Breakfast Club and it's not even fully true (I am not an athlete even a little bit), but there's a shred of the sentiment I'm looking for in there, anyway. (Did I mention I am writing this well after midnight and two and a half margaritas with friends, under the assumption that it is still Friday somewhere? Perhaps I should mention that right now.)
   
   
3. For valuable product recommendations, book and music reviews, and important news that you won't see on The News. A review from a stranger on Amazon never means as much as a passionate endorsement from one of my blog friends. I love the sharing of knowledge and favorites that happens from blog to blog to blog. I love posting tips myself in the hopes that they're useful to someone. Oh! Here's one, by the way! Did you know that Target is now carrying select Philosophy and Kiehl's products?? Really! I was as surprised as you. No sight of the infamous $11 deodorant yet, but they do have the cucumber eye cream that certain people have mentioned more than once. You know, just in case that sort of info is helpful in any way.
   
   
4. For advice on my often sad and fumbling love life. Really, I'm actually so glad that if I'm going to navigate the often frustrating paths of online dating, I at least have a place to go to document all of it. And I love that when I'm looking for someone to back me up or lend some opposing constructive viewpoint, you people are all over that as well. Hell, it's not even just advice about my love life. Want to know whether potentially-tampered-with instant latte is in fact still safe to drink? Want some easy recipes to facilitate new and exciting adventures in domesticity? The Internet knows everything, and is all too eager to help. (And I thank each and every one of you for that.)
   
   
5. To make new friends. This ties in with #2, of course, but I have to mention it again anyway. I never thought when I started a blog that a year or so later I'd be in regular email correspondence with near-strangers in New York or Virginia or Maryland or Pennsylvania or California (or hell, even right in my hometown--Hi, R!). But here I am, with more than a handful of connections I now consider true and legitimate friends. That is what I'd miss most if I stopped blogging, I'm sure, so that's another big reason I'm still here.