Let's Go Back in Time!

I hope this isn't overkill, because I actually wrote this post a few days ago when I was reflecting on Hot Toddy's Toaster Oven and blogs in general.

Your comments from the last post have officially humbled me. I could never be as good as your comments make me feel. Thank you for your generous spirits, dear readers and friends.

I need to update you on seeing the hilarious Kathy Griffin on Saturday night, and I also should tell you about the latest fun episode of the Todd & Pony Show. But I will have to save that for another day, because right now I wanna talk about the distant past.

In February of 2004, I wrote about why I write.

I mean:
I wrote about the reason I write in February 2004.

Uh:
It was February 2004 when I posted my reasons for writing.

No:
Back in February of 2004, I shared my reasons for blogging.

I do that all the time. If you blog, I'll bet you do it too. C'mon, admit it. You edit yourself too, right? Surely I can't be alone in this.

Sometimes it gets frustrating. I'll have to write a sentence three or four different ways before it sounds okay. (That's another thing - you don't really know how it sounds unless you read it out loud - so really I'm just talking about how it sounds in my head - by the way I have such a sexy voice in my own mind - you wouldn't even believe it!)

Did you see the way I employed parentheses in that last paragraph? It is astounding, isn't it? I have always felt that my use of parentheses at Hot Toddy's Toaster Oven is somewhat revolutionary. I am the Che Guevara of grammar. (Not really.)

Anyway - do you wanna see what I wrote in February 2004? No? Okay see you later!

Thanks for sticking around. You're my favorite reader. I can't stand those impatient ones who surf away just because I threaten to share material that is almost three years old.

Here is what I wrote way, way back in the beginning...

[Insert dreamy time travel music here, and stare straight ahead really hard for a couple seconds until your vision goes blurry. This will increase your enjoyment of the rest of this post, because you will actually feel as if you have traveled back to February of 2004.]

[[Oh, one more thing - Do not try this if you are operating heavy machinery - although I think you are safe if you are just sitting at your computer - which is, technically, heavy machinery, I guess - but I think the warning generally applies to bulldozers and stuff like that. Anyway - back to the dreamy time travel thing....]]

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

What Sort of Diary?

I went a bit link crazy today. No, a LOT link crazy.

I finally got around to seeing The Hours. I was probably one of the first to read the book. But, in spite of my love for all things Streep, I didn't see the movie until last night.

The DVD had some great special features, and I was particularly pleased with the Virginia Woolf biography.

I know these words have been posted on countless blogs before, but Virginia Woolf's thoughts on keeping a diary are so applicable to so many of us who blog. If you've seen this before, just consider it a reminder.

What sort of diary should I like mine to be?

Something loose-knit and yet not slovenly,
so elastic that it will embrace anything solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind.

I should like it to resemble some deep, old desk,
a capacious hold-all in which one flings a mass of
odds and ends without looking them through.

I should like to come back after a year or two
and find that the collection had sorted itself and
refined itself and coalesced -- as such deposits so mysteriously do -- into a mold,
transparent enough to reflect the light of our life
and yet steady, tranquil compounds
with the aloofness of a work of art.- - Virginia Woolf

The pressure is off. I don't have to be as politically savvy as Adam or top (no pun intended) Ryan's steamy exploits.

I can't begin to arrange my words as artfully as he can.

My life is nowhere near as exciting as his or his.

I am not as funny as Skot or Greg. But, damn, I want to be.

My blog is ugly and bland when compared to...well, most people's, but especially Philo's.

But Toaster Oven is mine, all mine. I am so pleased to be part of such a creative and stimulating dialogue. I had no idea that blogging would enhance my life so much. I think differently and am conversing with interesting people and learning new things every day.

It is a bit scary to have Virginia Woolf as a role model, I admit. There are rivers galore in Portland, and the temptation to drown myself pulls at me every time George W. opens his mouth. But, thankfully, I have a source of comfort Virginia Woolf never had.

[Insert dreamy "return to present day" music here so readers understand they are no longer back in February 2004]

Well, at least I can say that my blog is no longer ugly and bland, thanks to Pony's design!

Several of the people I linked to in that post are no longer blogging. If you want to, you can go back and check the links in the original post, but you'll run into a lot of dead ends. Even the link about my source of comfort has vanished, and I have no idea what I was referring to. But it was probably a picture of a ketchup bottle.