I’ve been hesitant to start a blog. The whole thing just seems kind of pretentious. Already I’m sitting in a coffee shop, typing on my Mac and using a Derrida reference in my title. And I wouldn’t have a Mac or know anything about Derrida if it wasn’t for my fancy UBC poli sci degree. See, pretty pretentious. I also have a problem with getting too personal over the internet. Blogs are too onesided and instant messaging tries to be more intimate than it has the ability to be. I’ve made a point of only reading blogs whose authors I already know well, mainly Lisa’s Paris blog. Reading a blog is a terrible way to get to know someone. Sarcasm doesn’t always work on the computer and I’m afraid that these entries are going to come off as far more dramatic than I actually am. It’s a light-hearted look at subtle ironies, not cynicism. It’s a tendency to not take myself seriously, not self-deprecation. So this is only going to work if you and I have already established some kind of non-virtual relationship and you have some grasp of what is and isn’t “Lesley.” This is important. Don’t get to know me over this blog, my facebook page is much more representative.
A while ago I was upset over a guy and typed up a message to him that I had no intentions of ever sending or ever showing anyone. I wrote it just to relieve some stress. It was poetry. It was well written, said everything I wanted to say and subtly called him a douche-bag like three times. The whole thing read like a Ferris Beuller rant. Poetry. I woke up the next morning and showed it to Sophia. She told me later that she was surprised by how mean it was. The more I read the letter the more proud I was of it and the more I contemplated sending it to the guy. I came close, but it made me sound like a crazy girl, and I know I’m not a crazy girl. Now I’ve shown the letter to a lot of my friends and it’s been dramatically read aloud by a number of people. I think this blog is going to run a similar course. Entry #1 has been posted. I don’t intend to make this blog super accessible. Tomorrow I might tell Sophia about it, then within a few days I’ll send the link to a couple more people, but by September it will probably be included in my facebook profile. In case you’re wondering, I never sent the crazy girl rant to the guy. Good idea. In a less than dramatic act of liberation I deleted the word document I had it saved in on my desktop. It was very freeing.
There we go. I’ve reluctantly entered the cyper world of bloggers with an entry about how pretentious I think blogs are. This seems like a good current through which to channel my suburban angst and boredom and eventually document some England adventures. Maybe one day I'll post the letter
