January 28, 2002

[General] Hello, there. I'm new here.

Hello, there. I'm new here. Can you tell?

I've tried keeping traditional diaries in the past and always failed pretty miserably. I think I have a total of three paper diaries with a total of, maybe, 50 entries, covering a total of, maybe, 5 months of my 35 years of existence.

The year was 1976. I got a small, white diary for Christmas that year and resolved to write in it every day. I did write in it every day until I stopped which was about 6 days later, I think. I guess I didn't have that much to say at the tender age of 10.

Fast forward to 1984. Freshman year of college. I want to keep a record of everything--parties and boys and stupid fights with my roomate. This time, there are actual things to write about, mostly heartache over a boy but still. I wrote pretty faithfully for about 3 months and then stopped until the following spring. The reason I picked up again was that I went to Manhatten for a week with my roomate and I wanted to chronicle the trip. I actually did a pretty good job of it, from the cute boy in the greek deli who flirted with me every day to the homeless man who stomped on the pastrami sandwich I tried to give him in lieu of money. It's all in there. It really is a blessing because without those stories, I think that that trip would have melted into obscurity long ago. After I got back, though, I discovered that life seemed too painful (more boy stuff) to have to rehash it every night and so I stopped again.

Finally, in 1990 I made the major life change of leaving the real world and going back to school. I was scared and writing down the things I was feeling seemed calming at the time. Again, I lasted for about a month.

So there you have the history of my pathetic attempts at journaling. I am inspired by my friend Oscar, who started a year or so ago, to try it online for a while. We'll see how it goes.

Ah--who am I kidding? It won't last. :)

Posted by Lori at January 28, 2002 2:41 PM