Why blog?

I would like to say that I'm starting a new blog here - that this is a fresh page, a new leaf, a brand new start, blah blah blah. But really, it's not. I'm the same person as I was at all my other blogs, and if the new name and template alone don't urge me past the blissful honeymoon stage of blogging, then I have failed as a blogger.

Whoa... draft auto-save? Sorry, I got a little distracted there. Why didn't they have that on Xanga? This is great!

Anyway, as a form of introduction, I am Laura. I've been blogging/diarying since I was 16, but anything produced within 2-3 years of that time was so hideously awful and melodramatic that I can only hope none of it shall ever see the light of day again.

I've really only kept 2 blogs before with any great regularity. The first one that stuck was on the little-known site of Diaryland, begun at the age of 17. I'll probably never leave it. A girl needs to have her roots, ya know. My other main one was Xanga. Myspace came along and left very quickly *shudders*. So basically, for the past few years, Xanga has been my public blog, and Diaryland the one that only good friends or complete strangers ever visit. I'll probably never abandon Xanga completely. I just like this format better, and honestly, most of the friends I signed onto Xanga to follow have since ceased blogging there. Somehow this template makes me feel more serious and will therefore hopefully contribute to a stronger sense of motivation when it comes to writing.

Writing has always been one of my preferred methods of communication. I haven't always been good at it (much carefully-censored proof of that fact still exists), but really, the only way to become good at something is to just keep doing it. I use blogs to communicate things I couldn't say in person, either to the right people, or at all.

Not to wax too philosophical or contemplative, but what is communication? My good friend dictionary.com defines it thusly:

"the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs."

That's the second definition. The first one was one of those lame definitions that uses the base of the word to define itself, which has never helped me out very much.

Anyway...good definition. However, I'd like to propose another one, and this is not something I thought up, but rather one that was shared by a professor of a class I took called "interpersonal communication." He defined communication as simply "a sharing of experience."

At first that seems far too general. I've always seen communication as more of a linear transfer - as in, me somehow imparting my knowledge into your head, via speech, writing, "body language," or ESP (just kidding). But I like seeing it as more than that. This definition opens it up into something that sounds far more communal than linear, and I like that. Experience isn't limited to cold hard facts, or bubbly emotional expressions. It encompasses just about everything you do, everyone you interact with. I want to communicate, but even more important, I want to be more valuable to the communities I exist within, and if something as minor as a blog can assist with that, then I shall take the plunge once again.
Blog on!