Blogging. How romantic. Not.

Well...

I guess since I no longer have a tangible avenue with which to share my thoughts and opinions that I will succumb to the dark side of web logging or blogging as I've heard it referred to as. I decided after my tenure at the University of Mississippi ended earlier today that I would need to continue to hone my writing skills in some facet since The Daily Mississippian can no longer be the source of gainful employment or media exposure that it has conveniently been for the last sixteen months or so. And after an hour plus of fidgeting with all of my options as far as this site's appearance goes, I quickly have realized that I hate blogging. But for your sake, all seven of you, I will persevere and get the ball rolling for my Wednesdays with Warner blog.

So, as it seems pertinent to to the situation at hand, I will address the whole concept of "the blog" in this week's post. A lot of people are using blogs these days. Professors, employers, girls in love with the Jonas Brothers, boys in love with the Jonas Brothers, accountants, lawyers, and so many more have all turned to the trendy and simple life of blogging to share their ideas, secrets, recipes, and fave J Bros. songs and hair do's (personally I really like Jesse McCartney, but you can check out warnysjmacblog.blogspot.com for more info on that topic).

But really, what makes the blog such a great thing? Isn't it just another website that you can update all the time to share useless things with the web using world (see myspace, facebook, and Twitter)? I mean I guess it is easier than learning a whole different language like HTML or those other weird codes that our computer geek friends know and speak to one another. But if we take web design and the like away from them, what are they going to have to be better at than the rest of the world? What if all the techies revolt and kill all the normal people? If we normals continue blogging at the pace we are right now, then life as we know it could be over. So in order to prevent this hostile take over by our computer savvy, pale, nonathletic friends, I will attempt to address some of the blogs out there in cyberspace that are absolutely worthless and others that life wouldn't be the same without...

I'll go ahead and get the one that pisses everyone off out of the way first so you can stop reading and start hating me before wasting any more time.

1) Travel Blogs:
I understand that people love to travel, especially college age people. You love to go abroad and carry your over sized North Face packs around and look very American. You try your hardest to fit in by buying trendy Italian clothes, but you inevitably stick out like sore thumbs, to put it in terms of a terrible cliche. And you miss your friends back at school SO much that you just want to tell them everything. So instead of writing e-mails or even facebook messages or using Skype or even trying your best at handwritten letters, you create blogs. And they always have such deep titles. "Walking into a Spanish Sunset" or "When in Rome..." or "Finally. France." are all such poignant headings over a background of your futile attempts at artsy photography. And you post these blogs on your facebook walls and expect your friends to read them word for word. And when they don't you get offended. Maybe it's because your friends back home don't want to be just another follower of another blog. Or they might want to hear about your great travels when you get home. Or maybe they realize not every freaking detail is important. While they want to know about the crazy train ride across Spain that you almost didn't make, they really could care less about the blister you have on your heel from walking around, all day, every day in your new shoes. So do us a favor all you study abroad bloggers. Spare us the extra website we grudgingly put on our toolbar and write us an email. It means a lot more than typing in a website once every few days to try to keep up with your wicked sweet travels.

2) Life Blogs:
I don't care what time you woke up or where you ate lunch or what you wore to work. And I sure don't care enough to read about it online. If I wanted to know the mundane details of your life, I would call you. And if that is all that is interesting enough to tell people about on a daily or weekly basis, yikes. Good luck with your future endeavors. It's going to be a rough road ahead.

3) Event Blogs:
It might seem easy for weddings and birthday parties and anniversary parties to be put into a blog, but it just seems a bit selfish. This is our story. This is where we got engaged. This is what I want for my birthday. If you feel the need to let the whole world know about all of this, then you're wrong. Again, e-mails and facebook groups are better formats to use to share this info with those that need to know. Sorry to all those of my engaged friends out there.

Now for the blogs we can't go without looking at daily.

1) fmylife.com:
If you haven't been, go now. You will feel much better about your life immediately.

2) textsfromlastnight.com:
Be prepared to laugh until you might throw up. The name explains it all. Text messages ranging from being drunk to having promiscuous sex to overhearing murder confessions can all be found on this life changing blog.

3) Class Blogs:
Professors and teachers should be applauded for going electronic. It is so nice to have a syllabus available online anytime and every assignment posted daily with an e-mail reminder sent to you the day before. It's every slacker's dream and every overachievers most visited site. On behalf of college and high school students everywhere, thank you.

So blogging. Kick ass. I'm not a solution but a part of the problem now. And a hypocrite. But what else is new? Hopefully this blog will be amusing for the few of you that might read it. But probably not. And I'm ok with that. I'll move on. And I'll keep writing despite the fact.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more...
Warner