“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”
”Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”
— from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
Again, here I am starting and restarting my blog... and again the line above from Dante’s Inferno comes to my mind for any unwary web surfer who stumbles across my blog.
What usually prevents me from going through with it is not really lack of time, as blogging can be as short as doing a status update in Facebook, but rather being a perfectionist and my own worst critic, hesitating to post something that may displease someone in the world. As it is impossible to please everyone... I just decided to go ahead and turn off user comments... :-)
Why start again now? This is the direct result of a conversation with my high school daughter which goes something like:
Me: "You know, if you want to improve your vocabulary, not only should you read profusely, but you should also write."
Her: "But what will I write about?"
Me:"Why don't you make a blog, and write about your day, just like the classic diary, except a blog is public so you have to be creative in writing stuff that shows your feelings, be politically correct and will not incriminate you in anything."
She: "What for, no one will read my blog anyway?"
Me: "So what, at least it's good practice for you, but then what if people do read it and you become famous and then make money from it?!"
That's when I stop and think, "Hmmm, why not?"
And so, here we are again... another blog attempt to set down some of my thoughts regarding life as a Urologist, Father of three, Husband, Gadgeteer, Apple Fanboy, medical informaticist, Foodie, Wine Connoisseur, Pig Farmer, Art Galerie Groupie, World Traveler, shutterbug, and Information Junkie... (Note that this list is a work in progress…)
Thus, here's to not caring whether anyone comes and reads this... but for those who do, "À votre santé" with a glass of Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé, my favorite wine that I can actually afford!
