Sound & fury

I'M ANYTHING BUT an early adopter. I just don't think it pays. I was the last kid on the block with a cell phone. We had a 19" TV for like 12 years (hey, it still worked). I kept using my old email program, on OS9, for years after I got a new PowerBook. It's not that I'm afraid of change per se. I just think you get a better deal--a better widget, a bigger hard drive, faster whatnots--if you wait for things to settle in bit.

But when I finally do make the leap, I go all the way. Overnight I went from dial-up to wireless DSL. (Now we have two AirPorts.) While all our friends were buying houses, we stayed in the same rent-controlled hovel for 7 years; then we jumped in and bought a loft. I'm sort of manic-depressive (or like Dad: cheap) when it comes to things technical or life-changing.

Then everybody, it seems, got a blog. Kyle (he bakes), and Randolph (he travels), and Kevin (he drinks). And Rebecca, and Emily, and Pete (he worked for Crazianna Huffington). And Nicole and Jenny (they knit).  Jenny's husband Harold even worked for Vox and gave me this account; but still no motivation. I must have thought: Who wants to hear what I have to say? I don't even have much patience for reading blogs myself--why make friends feel guilty for not keeping up with mine?

Then this morning I had an epiphany: Who cares who cares? Nobody paid $5 for this copy of the Sunday Times and will be irritated if my drivel takes up 1/4 of the Opinion page. Nobody's stuck on hold, forced to listen to my Muzak. No focus groups to keep happy here.

That's the beauty of the Interweb: Take it or leave it.

What'll I write about? Who cares? At least it's here when I want to extol or vilify something. And I do tend to have opinions....