Why Would Anyone Write A Blog

A few minutes ago I finished cleaning the inside of the Ford Taurus. That is a story in itself because I do it about every six months. I've found petrified eggs and baby turtles in it. Anyway, while picking up peanuts from under the front seat, passenger side seat and back seats I started asking myself why I've continued to write for the past six years.

I do have a few consistent readers. My Storm Lake correspondent is a viewer as is my Wisconsin cousin. There's a listing of favorite readers but some have fallen by the wayside. Radu from Philadelphia is one. I wish I knew his whereabouts. He's sort of like where's Waldo.

At any rate,(my buddy in Oklahoma starts every statement with this intro) my enjoyment of trying to use different words is intriguing. Why, once in awhile I'll even pull out Roget's Thesaurus. I remember the first time I ever heard of the book. It was in Ruth Behren's 10th grade English class. I purchased it, took a look, then put it away. Heck, I thought it told a story and I only bought it wanted to be a suck up.

I write because it's cleansing making fun of myself at my own expense. It doesn't bother me that I've made a buffoon of myself more times than I want to remember. Let's talk about the time I drove our car through our garage door--the same day it was built. Whenever I have a contest with people about stupid things we've done I win hands down.

If there is one skill I'm proud of and my wife will verify this I am an excellent extemporaneous public speaker. As Walter Brennan in The Guns of Will Sonnet said, "No brag, just fact". My largest crowd was around 2,000. The most difficult speech was the day after 9/11. I'm happy to say I pulled it off without a hitch. If I can't give speeches verbally the next best substitute is the written word.

Public speaking came easy to me, most likely, because I got my career start as a high school teacher. I always told myself from the beginning, "Don't try to kid kids. They are smarter than you think". One other aspect of being an instructor that helped was I never taught at my desk. I always walked around the classroom. There's a reason for this. I drank coffee by the gallons. You can read into that what you desire.

Sometimes, when writing, I offer opinions but I do so in the hope the reader thinks about my thoughts. I don't want to start arguments. When it came to that I learned from the best---my dad. If a day went by and he didn't get into an argument it was a wasted day. I might also add he got his ass kicked more often than the world's worst boxer.

Trivia is fun to write about; little known facts that have absolutely nothing to do with anything. And I always start off with, "Did you know". If I'm aware the person I'm talking to is Mensa material then I'll say, "You probably already know this but did you know"

Writing a blog can be an ego trip but I tend to not get gassy about that. Two days ago my blog received 515 page views. My highest ever was 845 and that was three weeks ago. I'm not certain how this works because I don't even know what an app is nor how it works and, furthermore, I don't care.

Lastly, and possibly most important, I write blogs to pass the time while watching The Partridge Family, Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best on Me TV.