Sunday, 21^st November 2004 | 11:30 PM
Four years on, if only they knew

I wrote a proper entry earlier. Scroll back one entry to check this out.

Just wanted to thank everyone who's complimented me on my fourth year on D*land, and on the new design. Wish I could take credit for the design, but the truth is I just used someone else's. I modified it a little to suit my site, of course. I had a tough time with my older entries page, because I was planning to use the drop-down list I had before. Trouble was, I couldn't remember how to work the script, and I couldn't remember where I got the script. And to top it all, I deleted the previous layout codes, so I had nothing to refer to. Smart of me, I know.

I haven't really been very prolific in my years at Diaryland. I'm currently averaging a lowly 100 entries per year, if you check out my profile. I'm sure the hiatus I took from July 2002 to July 2003 didn't help either. But I like writing here, and the friendships I've established here remain one strong reason pull factor for me to remain here.

I'm considering moving though - someplace where it's easier for me to manage and control my site content. I am paying for a domain name and some server space currently. But I'm too lazy to host my diary site there.

These days everyone around me is into blogging. To tell you the truth, I don't check out their blogs much. I suppose I have a weird system where I containerise my real life from my online life. I'm not sure whether that's wise or silly. They all ask me if I have a blog, and I just said no. I don't wish for them to find this site. The last blog I had which I didn't mind people from my real life finding it (but back then most of them have no idea what a blog was), I've neglected for the past two years or so. They all keep bugging me to start a blog now.

If only they knew.

I've tried blogging. It's cool in some ways, but I guess I've outgrown that format. I've always preferred the online journal format, which is why my blog has been neglected and I keep coming back here. Writing in a journal format lets me compose my thoughts better. It allows me to better reflect on what I'm writing.

Blogging, on the other hand, is so easy, and reading the results of other people blogging can be quite frustrating. Blogging makes it easier for people to post a lot of their "brain farts" I think. Those inane, short one-liner posts. It's very democratic, but recently I've just been frustrated with the quality of blogs I've found online. Seems to me only teenagers write. Nothing wrong with that, but they seem to be teens who can't spell or are colour-blind or something.

That brings me to another point. I work in books, and I'm saddened to be surprised when I find someone in Singapore who loves books as much as I do. I always gripe that we are not a reading society. Even the educated don't really like to read. The most common line among my friends on friendster under the books heading says "no time to read these days" or "I'm not so much into books." I don't look down on them. It's just that... I think it's a pity. And I'm just baffled at why people don't bother with it.

Reading offers me windows to other worlds. Reading hones my imagination and helps my mind to flourish. Reading improves my language, and helps me write and communicate better. Reading helps me to better understand the world.

Maybe I'm as baffled as them as they are with me. I remember once when I was a teenager, I was reading my lit text while waiting for the bus. It was a pretty thick copy of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities." There was a couple beside me, and they were talking about me, teasing me in a not so nice way. I was a bit slighted. There's something wrong with the world if pre-teens are allowed to grope each other in public and no one bothers to say anything, but a teenager reading quietly to herself becomes the easy target of mockery.

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recent entries:

Monday, 27^th February 2006 - My house of cards finally comes down

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006 - Books and fitness

Thursday, 23^rd February 2006 - Still fat and sleepless

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Sunday, 5^th February 2006 - It's more than just cartoons