Many of you will not know what this is. A very few of you will have a very momentary feeling of déjà vu, as if you have seen or experienced something vaguely like this before; but that will quickly dissipate. If there is any one out there who immediately recognizes this and has any kind of familiar reaction to it (whether of welcome or disgust), I would be surprised. In fact, I myself have trouble reacquainting myself with what this is, even though I probably should know it best.
I will say it slowly, lest the brain of the reader not be able to process it all at once. Well, actually, I will type it at normal speed and ask the reader to read it slowly lest they not be able to process it all at once.
This is a blog entry.
Some of you will have completely collapsed out of your computer chair at this point. Depending on your frame of mind and on your personal level of clumsiness, you will also have knocked the computer chair itself over, or caused the computer monitor to shake (or even fall over), or thrown the computer tower onto the floor, or ripped the mouse out of the USB port in the back of the computer, or hurled the keyboard up into the air, or spit out whatever it was you were drinking or eating all over the keyboard or monitor. If this is indeed the case, I will pause (or ask the reader to pause, since word processing is not at all like music and cannot stop for anyone) and allow the shocked reader to take the necessary measures to restore their computer area to some semblance of normalcy.
Now then, I will repeat it – this is a blog entry. There was a time – long, long ago – when I used to publish such things rather regularly. I have so completely fallen out of that habit as to run the risk of forgetting how to write and of convincing my former readers that I had given up the activity forever. The purpose of this particular blog entry is to break that vicious cycle, begin the old habit anew, recover and restore my writing ability, and assure the not-so-crowded public square that I have not and shall not give up writing.
It shouldn’t be surprising that things got this way. Amid all the getting up early two out of five weekdays to go to school, spending all day at school once I’m there, reading in my free time, working on assignments, and studying for or taking tests, I have a lot less time than I used to have for thinking of and writing new blog entries. It’s not that I have a shortage of material, but a shortage of time. I am sure there are plenty of things I could write about at least a couple times a week. Even if there weren’t, my readers know well my penchant for what we in the business call a placebo – a misleadingly dressed-up version of the real thing that really has no substance to it.*
In any event, this blog entry represents a renewal of my efforts to write more regularly. That is not to say that it is a good entry, for anytime you are coming off a couple of months in which you published all of two blog entries, you do not exactly have a wealth of momentum at your back. I am writing, shall we say, with that same spirit that swells in the heart of the one who, not having had a campfire in a long time, decides to build one in his backyard.** The effect is nothing like the real thing, but it so sufficiently reminds one of the real thing that he or she immediately purposes that they will go camping in the near future, and that they shall have a real campfire, rain or shine.
And so, I hope, future blog entries will soon seem more like real blog entries. I hope to make time to write and eventually get back into the old swing of things. It always does me good to fashion my impressions of everyday life into something I can share with others. My days have been a little less enriched for not having done so as often as before. Here’s hoping I can get back in the habit in earnest.
*Author’s Note: I am fully aware that “placebo” is a term used only in the medical profession. I do not mean to imply that I am a doctor, nor that I play one on television. Literalists should note that the sentence herein duly noted by the author is what we in the business call a tongue-in-cheek joke – one that you either get or don’t get. Whether you do or don’t is out of the author’s hands.
**Author’s Note: Some of you may be taken aback (or even appalled) at the idea that any civilized person could or would make a campfire in their backyard. As a denizen of that most uncivilized place, Rosharon, let me assure you that it is not as uncommon as all that. In our neighborhood, fires in backyards are as common as automobiles on cement blocks and old refrigerators on front porches. We burn wood, trash, grass, and anything else we may not need or want at the moment. And I have actually had a campfire in my front yard. I believe it was on Christmas Day, at that.
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