i'll admit it: me starting a blog in 2011 seems a bit daft, at least on the surface. blogs were at least two waves of internet communication ago, right? but i'm not doing this to be fashionable, and as far as i can tell, people do still read words on the internet. here's the simple reason that i'm doing it: i need a venue for medium-format writing. at this stage in my life, i'm writing in two sizes: dauntingly long (read "dissertation") and very short (read "tweets"). everything else falls between the cracks. dozens of interesting ideas have simply gone down the drain after i realize that they're longer than 140 or 280 characters. maybe i'll expound on whatever i'm thinking about to my officemates or friends at the bar, but if nobody's around, i think "oh i'll get back to that", which is like filing my notes in the shredder.

in the past, blogging has been something i've desperately wanted to do, but also something that, without fail, turned into a chore at some point. in retrospect, i've experienced two clear causes for blog-killing malaise.

being on a schedule. nothing kills my desire to see the new post window than requiring daily writing of myself. even worse if it's about time-sensitive information. if i skip a day, suddenly i have a backlog, imperfect coverage, and guilt.
Blogger sucks. hardcore. i don't know how many of my linguablog posts never made it because i got fed up with piece of crap editing software. i'm on WordPress now, which i've liked when i've used it in the past. (all of my WP blogs have died due to reason (1) above.)

that's basically as far as i've planned this. if you like the random assortment of content that comes through my twitter feed, or you like me in person, you'll probably like what i write here. the rest of the internet is welcome to jump on board too, but i have no expectations that they will. let the bloggery begin!