A Disclaimer

I Gorilla, hear me RAWR against blogs (and simultaneously become a total hypocrite). 

In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I have always been suspicious of blogs and by extension bloggers. 

To start, blogging is completely presumptuous. When a person blogs about their life and opinions it is with the assumption that other people will be interested. 

There is certainly a place for this brazenness. Lisa Ling is justified in thinking that her 10 day stint shadowing an LA gang member is worth attention. But Lisa's blog is an exception to the rule. Picture how interesting it would be to watch a catatonic snail try to finish a marathon. Now halve that amount, halve 20 more times, and multiply it by .5 (gotcha!) and thats about how interesting most blog fodder is. The exact time the blogger awakes, their anguish when discovering that someone has finished off the Fruit Loops, and the regularity and appearance of their bodily functions are archetypal blog topics. 

And then there's blog jargon. For me, the word "blog" conjures up a vision of a jiggly gelatinous puddle sort of like Flubber except the color of mud. Similarly "blogger" makes me think of a Frosty-esque creature comprised of one larger mud-colored, jiggly, gelatinous ball and one smaller, head sized sphere with stick arms and stick legs - more the stuff of nightmares than a "jolly, happy" image. 

After my diatribe against blogs and bloggers you're probably wondering what changed my mind and convinced me to join the ranks of the sludge fiends? I assure its not because I suddenly think you'll be interested in what temperature my shower was this morning (104, just in case), what i had for lunch (turkey sandwich), or the super long line at the coffee shop this afternoon (although it was really long). I have to apologize because in fact its much more boring than that. I am starting a blog to hold myself accountable for recording my experiences Down Under (and wherever else I travel in the future) in a hopefully articulate and cohesive way. Even if not a single pair of eyes other than my own reaches this blog (although that would be very sad considering i have a mother and a father and two brothers who at least pretend to love me) the mere possibility that someone might read it will force me to organize my thoughts, edit my words and thus improve my travel writing. So thanks imaginary readers!

Here goes...