From Maine to Japan

So I posted an image yesterday of the Three Magi gazing up at the Star of Bethlehem with one of them murmuring, "Oh, I am so blogging about this."

It made me laugh because blogging--and the whole online existence of interacting largely in print--encourages a sort of self-aware distance from one's own experiences. I compose a LOT of blog entries in my head, usually as a sheerly theoretical exercise--"how would I describe this experience? What are the words I would use to capture this?" I almost never post the results, but it's fun to think about. Mind you, this can escalate into narcissism--or worse, Twitterism (I don't get Twitter! I feel like the worst Luddite in the world, but I hate it so much...)--but I do like the extra emotional distance blogging fosters, the ability to step back and narrate your own life a bit. It reminds me of a Zen meditation technique--how you're supposed to step back and think "I'm having a feeling I'm hungry," "I'm having a feeling I'm bored," and be aware that you are not your reactions. A certain ironic distance, a reminder that yours is just one of many stories going on...