What Do I Do This For?

The internet age is bumming me out. Yesterday I recieved a surprise late birthday card in the mail from a friend and was touched and even a bit choked up enough to think that he bothered to send me a hand written note. It's true that a written letter carries a lot more meaning and sentiment than an email - not only is a letter tangible, but it carries traces of the person who wrote it ... little spelling mistakes, a smudge of ink, a doodle in the margin. Email could never be as personal because it's so standardized. If I had recieved the same note in my inbox this morning, I might have never really stopped to consider it, to hold it in my hands, to re-read the funny parts, to tuck it away in a special box in my room.

Most things of value to me are located on my computer. Instead of a CD rack, I have an .mp3 library. Instead of photo albums, I have a "my pictures" folder. Instead of love letters, I have emails - hundreds of homogenous notes, indiscernable from one another with the exception of the address in the "from" box.

It's strange that none of these things actually EXIST, y'know? I can't hold them or rearrange them or show them off. Some things, maybe, were never meant to be ushered into the modern age. While I can't argue with the convenience of having my entire music library at the touch of a button, I do miss writing and recieving letters from people. I think I will write a note back to that friend of mine, spelling mistakes, ink smudges and all, and thank him for taking the time to remind me of something that is important to me.

Am I a total hypocrite, praising the hand-written word and then recording my life in a blog on the internet for the entire universe's potential perusal? I guess so. I still write daily in a personal journal, but for the sake of sheer convenience (and due to the fact that I have a bit of an ego), I like this blogging thing. I just think that balance is key for me - having cds, pictures and letters that I can hold is important to me

I feel OOOOOOLD. Like a 90 year old lady who refuses to stop listening to her record player, and has one of those huge VCRs from the 1980s :P

I guess this is the end of my post. I am, for the record, going to make a point of writing more here - it's important to me, as busy as I have been lately!