Kid and Caboodle

Finally got a chance to write a new blog post for work. You can read it here:

Democracy Through the Eyes of a Child

Hopefully I’ll be able to carve out more time to blog this year — at work and at home!

For some reason, rainy days inspire creative fits in me. Here’s a haiku I came up with during my walk from the subway station to the office:

Red, green, blue and white
Umbrellas bloom like flowers
Welcoming the rain.

I have no idea how this person found my blog to ask me to participate in a survey, but she looks like a legitimate researcher. She seems to need more people, so if you’re a female blogger and want to participate, I post the full text of her note below:

I’m a mom, a blogger, and a Ph.D. student, and I need your help. I’m doing a study about why women blog, and you have been selected at random to participate in a short survey about what motivates you to blog and what you get out of blogging.

Here is the link: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/231228/women-bloggers

Thanks in advance for your help. Feel free to contact me at gmmasull@syr.edu if you have any questions.

Gina Chen
Ph.D. student
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University

Apparently this blog has at least one regular reader. (Hi!) She has yet to comment on anything I’ve written, though. Lurker!

I’m enjoying a few hours of time to myself this morning because Chris volunteered to take A.J. to his Saturday classes in return for my packing away the Christmas ornaments. Deal! So, while Chris is braving the cold and driving around town, I’m lingering over breakfast before tackling the tree and other housework. Hopefully I’ll have enough spare time to finish off a few blog entries for work and another site, too.

Good husband!

Sometimes I look at the things I write in this blog and think, “Gah! How boring! Why would anyone want to read this stuff?” Then I remember that the purpose of this blog is not to show off my writing skills to others, but rather to help me remember things: When did I take that trip? What was the name of that restaurant? Who is in that picture? This is my blog (Web log) and is liable to contain shopping lists and statistics as often as it does amusing anecdotes or heartfelt essays. If people happen to find what I write interesting or entertaining, then great. But people shouldn’t look here for samples of polished writing from me. If you want that sort of thing, go look at my writing page instead.

Despair, Inc.’s Web site has a demotivator poster about blogging. Oh dear!

I’ve been looking at various Web sites and newspapers all week trying to find inspiration for a new post for the group blog I contribute to at work. No luck yet. I’ve noticed that lately I’ve been having bouts of writer’s block more and more often.

Well, perhaps that’s not quite accurate. What I think is happening is that I’m beginning to censor myself. I’ll read about something and think, “That’s interesting!” But then I’ll say to myself, “My blog entry has to be about democracy, human rights, or government. I can’t see how this fits with any of those topics.” At other times I’ll think, “I wrote about that already; I shouldn’t repeat myself.”

I wonder if these concerns are really important, though. Why not let the blog facilitator decide if a potential blog entry is too tangential? So far my track record has been excellent; I’ve had only one blog entry rejected as too far off-topic. True, it was annoying to have all the time I spent writing that piece wasted, but perhaps I should trust myself more. And what’s wrong with going back to an issue and exploring a different angle or looking at it in more depth? The way the blog is structured, with different writers taking turns, it might be fine to write on a specific theme for a while and have some continuity.

One complication with the blog is that I don’t exactly know when a specific blog entry will be posted. This has made me reluctant to write anything time-sensitive. But I suppose scheduling is really the job of the blog facilitator, not mine. My job is to write.

But I still don’t know what to write about this week ….

Ok, I’ve just finished transferring all my entries and comments from my old LiveJournal blog. Let’s see how this one does!

For those who may be looking for my personal Web site, Peggy Hu’s Notebook, an explanation. Due to the recent closure of Geocities, which had been hosting my site for more than 13 years, I’ve had to transfer my files to a new domain. You can still read my old stories, book reviews, poems and other material on http://www.peggyhu.com/, but it may take me a while to make any updates to the site as I deal with technical issues. If you notice any broken links, please let me know!

Well, it finally happened: an electronic magazine I’ve been helping write since 2005 officially folded this week. I’m a little sad, but I’m proud of the work we did for so long. I’m also a little relieved I don’t have to face writer’s block every month anymore! In memory of the column I used to write, I’ve now changed my blog to the same name, “Kid and Caboodle.” Even though the E-zine is no more, my random musings will continue. Ha ha ha!