I've kept diaries since I was 10. I'm really glad I did because I can be very nostalgic and it tells me a lot about myself to read over old entries. I used to write in them every day, but I don't anymore... these days I document myself in an array of blogs, emails, and only occasionally in a pen-and-paper journal. It feels good whenever I can write, and can organize and clear out all the thoughts in my head, so to speak, but I really don't do it often enough.

The good and bad thing about blogging is that blogs aren't diaries. The blog convention is article-inspired, with titles and topics and tags, and so are at best a snapshot of life. Even bloggers who write daily are encouraged to focus on an area of dissertation or two, or otherwise they title their post "random".

My blog really says very little about what goes on in my daily life or what I am doing... but it contains what I think. So in that sense it shows who I am, but only partially.

Blogging is nowhere near as comprehensive or expurgatory as "traditional" diary entries, where I would evaluate the entire day's events and sum up my thoughts and feelings. Blogging and twittering are the products of the spur of the moment, probably the best we can make do with in our modern life, but still, it's only make-do.