Why blog?

I've always felt that I'm better at expressing myself better through the written word as opposed to the spoken word. Mostly because with writing, I've got an opportunity to think a lot about what to say, how to say it, and how it'll be most effective for whoever ends up being my audience. Speaking out loud doesn't give nearly as much time to think, so while I still try to think before I blurt out things, if I can write it, I feel like I'm getting my point across exactly how I want it.

I have actually been meaning to do something like this for a while, and maybe eventually I'll do video postings as well. I'd still want to write everything out, for the purpose listed above, but for now I'll stick with just text. I don't think this blog has been seen by anyone I don't personally know yet, so with me writing you should all know how I look and sound anyway... Right?
Come to think of it, I actually did try to make a couple video journals in the past. But I didn't end up liking them so much, and I think the biggest reason was just that I'm one of those people that hates the sound of my own voice. (Okay, maybe not hate, but it's just...weird to me. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that experiences that phenomenon.) Eventually I'll have to become a bit more comfortable with it, because there are a couple ideas for shows I want to make on YouTube that I'm pretty serious about that would eventually require some talking, but for now I'll ease into putting my voice on the internet through this blog.

So why a blog? People have numerous other ways of communicating these days, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Pintrest, and most likely a bunch of other outlets that I'm leaving out. A blog, though, feels a lot more organized to me. Again, I can plan out exactly what to say and how to say it, and any time I'd like to share a specific post it's just a matter of looking at the title and clicking on it. It all gets organized by date, not necessarily by tags (I don't think I've bothered putting a single tag on any of these posts yet, to be honest).

On that note, just a little rant (a positive one) about technology these days: it's pretty ridiculous. I know we're still a long way from what the Jetsons had in the old TV show, but with some things we're not too far behind. I was able to write almost all of one of my recent posts from my phone. I saved it, waited until I could get to a computer so I could revise it and include a picture, then put it online and available for anyone to see within seconds. Television comes to us in numerous ways - if we want to watch an episode of our favorite show, we can see it by satellite, cable, or the internet (even if we missed the actual air time). Games have evolved SO much from where they first started - instead of using a controller to move two paddles up and down in a game of Pong, we have wireless controllers with a number of sticks and buttons to control characters that, in certain games, we can even make to look like ourselves. Heck, some games these days don't even NEED controllers! There's simply a camera that watches what we do and mirrors those movements on screen. Then there's the fact that almost all of this can be done not just at home, but on the go as well. People from twenty or thirty years ago would be thoroughly impressed, if not a little scared, with the technological capabilities we have today. Rant over.

Anyway, I feel like blogging is not yet a lost art form. Here I can personalize it to how I want it to look, and I'm free to talk about anything I'd like. Writing gives me freedom, and freedom feels amazing.