Tragedy In Blog World

The tragedy of this blog is that I’m actually using it as a substitute for real conversation. I have found myself, over the past few weeks, skipping over information that people could find on the blog and continuing stories from where my writing left off. Yesterday I was talking to my dad and the conversation went something like this:

Me: “I’m trying to get Griff to come out here to go backpacking in May but I don’t think it’s going to happen because of that trip to China.”

Dad: “Oh, Griff’s going to China? For what?”

Me: silence
And then (admittedly a bit accusatorily): “You haven’t read my blog lately have you?”

Oh, the nerve of him!! Ha ha. I realized after I hung up the phone how horrible it was to just assume that he looks at it every day. (Sorry Dad!) I have become a victim of technology and the information age. It is a little sad to realize that the majority of my interactions with the people I love most in the world have been diminished to a few words that I type and publish on the internet – what Blake calls “the most un-intimate of places.”

Lately I have really been weighing the pros and cons of this type of communication. I mean, is a blog really any different than the letters that people print out and place in Christmas cards? While those types of correspondence are very informative and a much more efficient way to explain events of the previous year, the typed print really lacks the beauty and exclusivity of a handwritten letter. (Sorry this time to anyone who puts those letters in the cards.)

It also has become again apparent to me how much the time difference itself affects my ability to communicate with people. When I first moved here it was only two hours; I was on Mountain Time as I was in Yellowstone and the gap wasn’t too large. Now, since for some unknown reason Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, I am three hours behind Eastern Standard – technically once again on Pacific (California) Time. This makes life so much more difficult because when I get home at 6 it is 9 in Michigan and people are getting ready for bed or it just feels too late to call.

For me the blog seems to be useful mostly as a result of time management. I don’t have the time to write every person a letter to explain everything. And when they finally received the letter in the mail it would be outdated anyway. As we grow up we have such a small amount of time to spend sharing our lives with each other and I love the idea of catching up this way – people can read my blog when they get an extra moment and respond with a comment or email when they have the time.

And as much as I love to talk, it has been great to not have to explain the same stories over and over again. I enjoy calling a friend or my fam and having them already know what’s going on without needing to spend the time explaining it. The blog has allowed much more meaningful conversations to develop with the people who are important in my life. For the most part the quality of my conversations has not suffered and has in fact become better.

But there are times when the information someone reads on my blog might be a good filler. For instance sometimes my conversations with Griff end this way:

Me. “Do you have anything else to tell me?”

Griff: “I got nothing, Beans.”

Me: “Ok, well I guess I’ll let you go then.”

So sad.

What I’ve decided after all of this is that the blog has its good points and it’s bad ones. This is an easy way to communicate that isn’t hindered by time differences or conflicting schedules. But more personal forms of communication are definitely better. From now on I’m going to make an honest effort to take the time and hand write a few letters or cards every week. Just like the rest of life, this has to be a balance. While my blog can provide useful information and also serve as documentation of my new life here, I should supplement it with more personalized correspondence. So I’m going to work on that.

It is 88 degrees at 5:30 pm. Nuts.