Well, I was hoping to get one more substantial post in before the end of the year, but I was having a moment of nostalgia and bought a train ticket to New York. I have in my drafts folder some musings about social and political issues regarding race and two more installments of my memories. However, I’d been planning for a few weeks now to do a New Year’s post because I put up my first post on the first of January last year, making it also the anniversary of my blog, which was a sort of little birthday present for myself.

Blogging has been interesting, a little bit of failure and a little bit of success. I believe that my personality comes through on my blog far more than I could have anticipated. I’ve always known that I was emotionally volatile in person and tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, but I thought I would be more distanced on my blog. It shouldn’t surprise me that it didn’t work out that way, but it does. I had intended originally to post everyday, which I did for the first half of the year. Although I did not succeed in that goal, the reason I set that goal in the first place was because previous attempts at blogging resulted in zombie blogs after half a dozen sporadic posts. Now that the pattern has been established, I think I can continue to write without hanging onto that self-imposed discipline.

I’m still struggling with trying to be a better commenter, trying to conduct myself as a guest when visiting other people’s blogs. I’ve found that my humor works on my own blog, but it’s problematic in the comments elsewhere.

It would be nice to develop a thicker skin, but it might not be advisable. I think being overly sensitive, in all meanings of the word, has its advantages from an aesthetic perspective and I’m not sure that I wouldn’t lose something. On the other hand, I really do need to learn to let things go, to shrug off small slights.

One of the nicest surprises about blogging is that I’ve met a few great people I wouldn’t have otherwise met. I have also been surprised by the degree to which my musings and anecdotes have been read. One engages in amateur blogging in the hopes that there are out there, somewhere, a few sympatico individuals.

If I am correct, Socrates is credited with having said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Examining one’s is central to blogging, where we do it visually with photos, or literarily.

In the coming year, I hope to get back on track with recounting my memories. I’ve actually come to the juncture of an unpleasant point in my life and writing it down has been difficult. In the end, though, it is only three posts at most, so I think I should be able to push through it and get on with telling my story.

I also hope to do more sketches and drawings.

Have a Happy New Year!