Thursday, August 20, 2009

Here comes the future

Welcome to my new blog! As I embark on this latest online journaling venture, I am about to enter my senior year at Dordt College in NW Iowa. I move back up there on Monday, and I'm pretty psyched to see all my old friends again and settle in.

Last year, one of those friends said, "You know what Joel? You should have a blog." Since this friend is quite a good writer, I took it as a compliment. This friend may or may not know that this is the fifth blog I have started. The first fizzled out fairly quickly after I got busy at school. The second, at the Des Moines Register's website, was fun for a while, but after about two years, the cost/benefit ratio failed to compute. The third and fourth were travelogues of a kind about my experiences in Washington DC and the Middle East. This blog, I hope, will be a little more permanent.

It's been said that having a blog is a sign of narcissism - that to blast your thoughts and opinions all over the interweb is a sign of a dangerously high regard for your own thoughts and opinions. Let me assure you all, this is not the case. I have no desire to force my thoughts on anyone. If ever you find these scrivenings the least bit boring, go somewhere else. I will post here for four reasons and four reasons alone: 1) to vent, 2) to keep friends and family updated on my life's goings-on, in case they are interested, 3) to pass on amusing things, and 4) so that if, years from now, I ever want to remember the things I thought when I was in my early 20s, I can come back here and read what I thought.

That's about the long and short of it. Hopefully this will be an enjoyable enterprise. Thanks for stopping by!

مح السالمة

(Go with peace)

6 comments:

  1. I look forward to what will doubtless be well reasoned thoughts and enjoyable writing. (Also to KC and Seatle, inshallah)

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  2. Gottcha in my feed reader---looking forward to what you'll have to say.

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  3. Softie... I'll decide how I feel after I see how it works...

    Enshallah, brotha. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

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  4. I'm excited for this blog, Joel.
    "I've got with me all that I need..." I like it.

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  5. Hey awesome...I'll be a fan dude. Hey and I like your, "Go with Peace" in Hebrew...how do you do "safe" in Hebrew?

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  6. Thanks, all.

    And thanks Mr. Elgersma. It's actually in Arabic, which I'm kinda/sorta trying to learn. (It's how they say "goodbye," pronounced "ma salaama.") "Safe" would be أمان or "amaan."

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