Everything in moderation?

Blogging is good for you according to a new online survey [insert joke about coals, Newscastle and self-fulfilling prophecies here], making bloggers and other online-journal-keepers feel more organized and less stressed. [via]

I clearly don't do anywhere near enough of the "inner thought" and "innermost feelings" blogging that they're talking about in this article. No, I'm not going to start. This blog serves its purposes quite nicely, as an outlet for political commentary, goofy quizzes, odd observations, poetry, quotations and as a record of the things I've read and given some thought.

There's a higher level discussion of blogging progressive politics going on, but it's mostly the usual "is blogging important? Depends who reads? Who reads? Depends who links? Who links? Bloggers, mostly, which really isn't all that important." circle dance. Not Anne, of course; she, like me, is pretty happy with a small circle of regular readers, though I've been known to do a little self-promotion now and then via (always relevant) carnivals and with other bloggers who I thought would be interested in what I had to say.

I blog because I enjoy blogging. I enjoy reading, thinking, writing, sharing, discussions and arguments. I like broadening my horizons and broadening those of others. I think I have some useful things to say and I like to keep up with what's going on. This is a great way to do it, and it creates this wonderful track record which is, really, the closest thing to an actual diary I've ever had in my life.

It's a very partial record of who I am and what I do. But it's a part of me that wouldn't get properly expressed otherwise, I don't think.