Overture

Several friends suggested that I blog.

Blogging has been the rage these past few years. It's been one of the many activities that helped usher in a new way of thinking and communicating one's thoughts in this Web 2.0 era. The commercial world is weird that way. What used to be considered an amateurish personal activity is now considered by many as legitimate sources of information.

What was a personal homepage is now a weblog. What was a guestbook is now commenting feature plus new trackback. And what was geocity is now myspace. And so on and so forth. Old ideas recycled as new with cherry-on-top. And similarly millions of dollars once again exchange hands on the back of the Internet and its myriad phenomena. The Internet minted, and continues to mint, a new clique of nouveau riches. But that, of course, isn't the problem, or even a problem for that matter. Money is not the root of evil. Smooth flowing money is not evil. Lack of it and improper use of it could be. But I digress.

The problem is the dilution of information quality. In lieu of quality, we now have vast unquantifiable quantity, most of which don't really offer anything new. What used to take years of hard earned experience, methodical studies, research, and publication has now been reduced to mere opinions. Vox populi, they say is the new currency for one to be taken as either good or bad, right or wrong, somebody or nobody. Oh, don't get me wrong! I understand that some of these blogs in the ocean of all blogs are truly inspired. This blogging phenomenon has opened up new venues which might have otherwise been unavailable for these masters of their domains.

So then what am I doing now? Ironically, I am blogging, aren't I?

Believe me, I have tried to resist for so long, save for the occasional quips here and there that usually amounts to nothing more than just a sentence or two. Most of which aren't even mine, but are words I learned from those who came long before us and who were probably much wiser than I could ever be. My fervent attempt to avoid being a part of the Internet in a public way is rather futile. At one online space, a friend of mine created an account for me for kicks (and testing purposes). That I happily obliged. Another had suggested I publish my knowledge. Still some others did the same just because I sound like I have insights in various matters. Then there is the occasional, personal curiosity in testing whatever may be new (but similar) services on the Internet, usually from the larger and well known Internet companies.

Nevertheless, the result had been, thus far, the same. I am a bystander, an observer, and a consumer simply because I felt there was enough out there without me adding an overinflated 2-cent. Sure, there were the occasional people who nudged me in this direction. But I didn't feel particularly motivated for there was much more things to do with my time in the real world than to spend it blogging, on top of the fact that I never felt (still don't) that I needed to be heard. I am a rather seclusive person (not reclusive). I greatly value my privacy and anonimity. On the same token, I devalue whatever knowledge I may have gained all these academic and professional years, except where it concerns an employment, and help for my fellow beings.

That's the 道 of my being.

At the behest of a friend (among others) who thinks I have something valuable to share with the world at large and since I'm in a bit of a lull these days, I reluctantly formulate this introduction to my joining the blogosphere. There. Now I have embraced blogging and have an excuse to blog about everything I know! (Except where confidentiality matters. There is still such a thing as the respect for confidentiality you know!)

I know everything!

Everything I know amounts to nothing.

Nothing I know may not be worth anything.

But it's all entertainment to me.