As anyone who stumbles across my entries (such as they are) can tell, I'm new to the concept of an online journal or blog. I've kept a personal journal sporadically, always beginning with the best of intentions. Eventually the journal peters out into a To Do List or informal calendar, rather than remaining a place to write my thoughts, feelings, etc. I'm kind of wondering if this will be an electronic version of the same. Beyond that, I'm a little worried about TMI. Yes, too much information. In the relative anonymity of the internet, it becomes easy to spew stuff that normally would be held in, or maybe only verbalized to a few people, or even written solely in a journal entry never to be read by another human being. I don't want to rant about politics: they permeate everything, since I'm in the DC Metro area, so I'd like this to be a politics-free zone. I'm not sure that's entirely possible, but I'm going to try. Social commentary? I don't imagine that I "know" the best way to live my life, so it'd be pretty presumptuous for me to write entries criticizing how others live their lives. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm having a hard time figuring out what to put here. I've written and deleted several entries. It's harder than I thought to snark on something without putting too much of myself into it. Maybe surfing more blogs and journal entries will help. Maybe this will end up being just an online counter of the books I've read. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I'm not a coffee drinker, I admit it. If you pour vast quantities of liquor or enough chocolate into a cup of coffee, I might drink it if I'm desperate. I used to use Diet Coke as my morning caffeine jolt, but I've weaned myself from that. I can appreciate that coffee is the drink of choice (and really, breakfast of choice for some) for many, many people. But must coffee drinkers share their consumption with the world? This morning: -On the commuter train, which is always standing room only, someone put his coffee down by his feet and then forgot it. So when he stood up to let someone sit down in the seat next to him, he knocked it over, spilling 12 ounces of java onto all of the shoes of the people surrounding him. Not so good for those of us still clinging to the last vestiges of summer, wearing open toed shoes. Did he bother to wipe up the spill, or even pick up the knocked over cup -- nope. My shoes will never be the same. [And the smell -- the sort of uriney smell of high octane stuff.] -On the Metro, which is plastered with signs saying "No eating, drinking or smoking," there were two people crammed in next to me with the requisite cups of Starbucks' grande-skinny-whatever-flavored Coffee of the Day. Is there some exception for coffee in the general prohibition that non-drinkers don't know about? Where is a Metro ticket writer when you need one? Probably off arresting a kid with french fries. -In the elevator at the office -- you guessed it, another spill. -In line to pick up the transit subsidy, the fellow behind me drank his cup with a full sound effects. The initial slurp of a mouthful, the audible swallow, followed by a moan and a lip-flap afterward. I don't object to people enjoying their liquid breakfast, but must I participate? Must the rules that the rest of commuters are expected to abide by be ignored, as if they don't even apply? Can't coffee be drunk without sound effects? Can coffee-addicts not acknowledge that moving vehicles crowded with large groups of people are not the best places to consume hot, smelly beverages? Okay, rant over. Tomorrow I'll post something less witchy :)