So why I am starting a blog site?

To be honest, as I write this first posting, I'm still wrestling with the answer to why I am doing this.  I think the answer stems largely from a desire to be better connected with friends and family than I have been, and also, to better preserve my "bits and pieces" in hopes that their inevitable transformation to dust may happen later rather than sooner.  Maybe the answer will become perfectly clear when I write my final blog post.

Why don't I just get with the times, and put my whole life on facebook?  Since I'm retired now, one would think that there is no shortage of time with which to keep up with every picnic that every acquaintance posts to facebook, to say nothing of posting something facebook worthy every time I walk our dog.  However, among the things I've learned about myself, the following personal traits  do not seem very compatible with most forms of social media.  I certainly don't tout these as virtues, and realistically, they lean more towards being character faults.

1.  I'm a bit of an introvert, or perhaps quite a bit of one, and feel very comfortable spending time alone with my own interests.  I don't want to be viewed as anti-social since I enjoy time with family and friends tremendously.  However, when left to my own devices, most of my time is spent just being with myself.

2.  Related to item 1, I've never gotten over being inherently shy among people I see rarely.  So I don't really feel comfortable broadcasting Christmas cards that chronicle each year of highlights to friends I haven't seen for years.  Certainly, I am not very symmetric in this respect, since I very much enjoy reading such accounts from others, but I lack the motivation or nerve to do it myself.

3.  It strikes me that if there is some tidbit I want to share with friends, it should be done in the manner I choose, and not be bound by a bunch of random constraints that some canned application has baked in.  If I don't feel like I have reasonable control over what is seen at the receiving end, I just choose not to attempt posting anything.

I've made some half-hearted attempts to become a facebook aficionado, but I always end up feeling stressed out as if I am suffering from ADHD.  I try to follow some story, but then am distracted by ten other chaotic pictures or headlines that are seeking attention.  Rather than ask for a Ritalin prescription, I choose to make only infrequent and brief forays into facebook land.  When I occasionally do open up facebook, I am usually a fly on the wall, taking in the view of all the great stuff my friends are up to, but rarely transmitting my own stuff.

Many years ago, a friend of mine (named Araf) used to always refer to his "bits and pieces."  He would mention how he needs to return to Varanasi (in India), for example, to collect the bits and pieces he left there on a previous trip.  The world seemed to be scattered with his miscellaneous possessions, and he spent considerable effort trying to keep tabs on all of his piles of stuff.  I've adapted the term "bits and pieces" for my own purposes to refer to the little fragments of information that make up my life experiences.  Some of these are simple stories from the past.  Others might be photos or videos that help to capture some person, venture or event.  Others still relate to my thoughts about some matter or my attempts to ferment pickles.  These amount to the various bits and pieces I call my own.

My hope, therefore, is to capture at least some of my bits and pieces in this blog and have some fun in the process.  I have very little idea where this may lead since I am only just beginning, but I hope it may be of interest for those who choose to poke around here.  If it may also lead to me conversing with people besides myself more often, so much the better.