"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To speak of many things..."

Greetings.

I have always decided against starting an online journal because:
1) For inexplicable reasons, the word "blog" makes me cringe.
2) The whole idea of online journals seems like yet another step towards impersonality in the isolating process that is internet communication. If I know that my friends and family can fill themselves in on what I'm up to on their own time, will it make even more lazy about establishing actual contact with them?
3) Call me old-fashioned, but I feel like a journal is something that deserves to be handwritten, be it in a fine leather-bound book or hastily jotted on a napkin.

However, as you can see, these misgivings have been outweighed, thanks to the following factors:
1) Many of my email-update recipients are not on Facebook and thus don't have access to any pictures I get around to posting.
2) People have told me "Hey, you should start a blog."
3) In the "use it or lose it" mentality, I'm attempting to get back into the writing mode. Similarly, as my daily life takes place in German, I am trying to ensure that I maintain a native speaker's grasp on the English language.
4) In the past couple of years, I've had many meaningful, enjoyable, or just plain funny experiences that I keep meaning to write down so that I can remember them. I, of course, never get around to it, though, and they are sliding bit by bit from my memory. My hope is that writing with the goal of informing others, I will be better about taking the time to reflect and record.  So really, this effort is just for my own sake.

So there you have it: the entire thought process behind the starting of this journal. As you may have noticed, I like lists, and I tend to ramble. You've been warned.