I, sheep

Well, I finally did it.

I opened a blog account.

The ego trip status-symbol du jour.

Actually, the phrase "du jour" itself seems to be the phrase du jour nowadays.

For the uninitiated, du jour sort of refers to the trend "of the moment".

Think: "What's in", "What's hot" , "Coffee of the day" or "The it-thing."
All terms which mean the same thing but are soooo 5 minutes ago.

Like Friendster. I suppose. (Yesterday's ego trip du jour.)

I'll probably wear out that term if I keep using it.

Du jour du jour du jour....

Blog- which I've learned is a shortened nickname for web log-actually seems like a bad sound effect to me.

"It was late and McKenzie was typing away at his web journal. Lost in his thoughts, our hero failed to sense the sinister figure approach him from behind. Blog! When McKenzie awoke, he was in a dark cramped compartment. Perhaps the trunk of a moving automobile. He could hear the speed bumps as his captors raced through the city."

"Ka-blog. Ka-blog. Ka-blog."

Here's something else this late bloomer discovered: Blogs have been around for years! So if you were blogging as early as 1985 or whenever it was that this thing was invented, you are not sheep. You might even be considered pioneers.

Much like a person wearing tie dyed shirts and listening to Usher in the mid 1800s.

I, on the other hand, jumped on this bandwagon just as blogs were already everywhere. Doing my bit to clog up the information superhighway (information superhighway-buzzword du jour circa 1997) with more traffic.

Now, don't get me wrong. Blogs can be useful.

Distinguished journalists and some of today's greatest minds use blogs to share their deep insights and eye opening perspectives with the web surfing public.

However, it also provides an avenue for the not-so-great minds to spew their self indulgent garbage for all the world to see.

Case in point: Me.

What did I do to earn the right to broadcast my random drivel? I had an email address- Now the only pre-requisite for owning a soap box or pulpit.

I wish getting a loan approval was this easy.

You realize this means that if the late, great Andy Warhol were around today, and he made that 15 minutes crack, it wouldn't be so impressive.

AW: "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."

US: "Shut up you over-moussed freak."

Then again, if he were around today. He wouldn't even bother to say it. He'd just post it on his blog.

A lot of people use blogs as online diaries. Which, while very respectful, begs the question: Wasn't there a time when diaries weren't meant to be read by other folks? Still, it is always nice to keep a journal of your personal thoughts or views. And there really is nothing wrong with opening it up for all the world to see.

Except if you're a complete moron. In which case it's better to keep your inane ravings to yourself. (*mandatory comeback: author should take his own advice)

But hey, that's technology for you. To embrace it is to use it for both great things, and for trivial affairs of the self.

To be sure, I am in no way discouraging my fellow bloggers (for one thing, it's a little late in the game to be a self righteous prick... not to mention hypocritical)

However I would like to point out that we are all just a few letters removed from "boogers"

So here I am. Wasting MY time so that someday (should you chance upon this entry) I could waste yours as well.