You And I Get to Decide.
“You must write at least two blog posts every week,” said Ms. P, my English teacher, pointing her finger at me. “Okay. I have chemistry worksheets to finish, everyday quiz in Geography class to study for, AP World History essays to write, and now she wants me to blog. Twice a week. That’s great.”—this is how I reacted in January, 2008.
Let me confess (although the effort that I had put in my blog so far makes the confession quite self-explanatory). I did not take blogging seriously. I thought blogging was boring. I considered writing two posts a week as another burdensome assignment. Yes, honestly, to me, blogging was homework that I had to finish although I hated to do so. But please wait before you (a blogger who worships blogging) condemn me for my past ignorance; and realize how I used past tenses. I repeat. I thought blogging was boring; but not anymore.
It took three days for me to change my mind. First, I changed the theme. I took my time and chose the background design that I was attracted to the most. Changing the theme indeed brought significant impact. The visual attraction stirred up my attention for my own blog site. (I would like to call it as the “visual impact.”) Then, I began exploring blogs of others. Through wordpress.com I searched through people’s blogs looking for common interest; and I found one. I read a blog post title “Lost 4.10” by Billy Liggett who is “a 31-year-old newspaper editor living in Sanford, North Carolina.” He discussed about the tenth episode of Lost, the television series that I go insane about. (I am planning to write a reflection of the episode for myself, so let me set this issue aside.) Visiting other people’s blogs and reading their posts aroused strong motivations—motivations to write posts and to take care of my blog. So I brought such desires into actions. I wrote about subjects that I was recently interested in. People all over the world began responding to my visits. The cluster map soon started to exhibit red dots on various regions.
It was not blogging itself that was boring. It was me. I was the one who made everything tedious. I was a boring blogger. You may think blogging is fun, and you may think it isn’t. But you should remember: you are the decision maker. You have all the authority to make blogging as the most incredible way of expressing yourself or to make it as the most irritating homework assignment ever.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Hey there. Thanks for leaving a comment on my post reviewing Cloverfield. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I am totally new to Wordpress and you were my first ever comment. I’m glad to see you are discovering the excitement in blogging. It’s all about connecting with other people. A Blog is an amazing tool. Use it for whatever you can. It’s all about learning about yourself and others. And please, feel free to stop by my blog anytime to comment and to see what latest movie I am talking about. Check out my review of ‘I Am Legend’. Thanks again. I am glad to have connected with you.
Will (crossmyts)
May 5th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I had the same trouble getting started and getting into it and it wasn’t until I loosened up that I started having a little more fun with it. But then, that’s how I approach blog writing, as a kind of loosened writing. Anyway, that’s just me. I hope you continue having fun with it for as long as it lasts! You’re doing pretty well by the looks of things.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
i definitely agree.
When we just started blogging, it was very annoying (?) because it just felt like an elementary IL GEE to me.
But now, after looking at Andrew’s and your’s my opinion changed.
Blogging is a way to share our ideas to the world!
Anyways, I am very jealous of your cluster map and hope you continue on with your enthusiasm for blogging!
May 6th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
very true. i’ve been blogging since 2003 and have realized that whether the blog becomes boring or not actually depends on how you write things. even the story of you just saw a passing bird can be interesting if you write it that way. *laughs*
oh and btw thanks alot for visiting my blog! i’m glad you found it interesting. keep blogging!
May 7th, 2008 at 4:56 am
hey dabin i think we all can go along now, sharing visitors and making mutual connections with many virtual people out there. And lucky you have some good photoshop skills, which can definitely make your blog prettier and fancier unlike mine.
Anyways I added you to my blogroll and let’s have fun.
and jungary, thanks how my blog helped!
May 7th, 2008 at 8:12 am
It’s quite true.
If you don’t like what’s on your blog or want to read it yourself, who else would?
No one. [ok, ok, it was rhetorical]
May 7th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Nice post…definitely interesting to walk through your thought processes with you. I graduated from Arizona State over a decade ago, and it’s fascinating to see how teachers are using today’s technology to help students learn. Vey cool. No such thing as a blog when I was in high school and college…
Thanks for leaving the comment on my LOST blog, and of course you’re welcome to quote me. I look forward to reading the post you come up with. Best of luck with the blog!
May 12th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Hey Dabin!
I totallyyyyy understand what you’re saying - in fact, I just wrote a blog similar to this one a couple of days ago … at first, I was so sick and tired of our teacher’s constant reminders and her nagging us to blog two times a week - it felt like such a bother, but now that I’ve changed my layout and made it more “me,” and have added the cluster map and have started commenting on others’ blogs, I feel like I’m more into the blog community 
It doesn’t seem like such a boring assignment anymore 
oh and BTW, thanks for the LOST blog link - I was a crazy fan of that show in the States as well 