why we blog.

have i ever not posted for one week? i dunno, and frankly (my name is not frank) i dun really care. but well...the mind is telling me to go blog again, so here i am giving u readers out there something to read again. I have come up with another reason why people shld blog. and that blogging shld always be done in a community, with all the links and tag boards for ppl to make their comments. have u ever thot it to be really beneficial to blog? firstly, it makes u write. ok this may not be the typical GP stuffs where u have to go thru lots of thinking before u pen it down. But at the very least, it makes u write. its just like writing a diary, letters, etc. so long as u're constantly in touch wif the written language, u dun get rusty so easily. it provides an avenue for different writing styles and experimentation of different effects that can be achieved by the playful use of words. Hmm..remember 'happy' and 'sad'? chris once told me that in her sec skl days these 2 words are BANNED or rather barred from their essays because the teachers wanted them to use other more bombastic words that could be easily available from the thesaurus. frankly (my name is not frank) i dun agree at all. instead of jus putting these words into the dungeon and shutting them out eternally, shldnt the teachers be telling the students the purpose of using other words, without undermining the place of the simpler root words like 'happy' and 'sad'? i feel that its totally irresponsibility on the teacher's part. well so much talked just to proved that words can achieve great effects if properly used even if its jus a very simple word. in fact the simpler the word, the more challenging it is to really bring out its true meaning. jus to impress the examiners, the teachers have really forgotten the fact each word was oredi there for centuries past. for such a system, i must say its really sad. period.

enuff of babbling, my GP teacher always remind us of proper paragraphing so that readers wont be lost in ur thinking without directions. anyway, the second use of blogging is of coz reading! heh thats kinda obvious isnt it? when u blog, u tend to become part of the community and u start reading wat others are writing as well (jus like u readers out there). its an exchange of information, or if u read too much SISEDs where information tend to be corrupted, den at least get a good luff and make urself enjoy reading even more. it sort of trains analytical skills doesnt it? why people do such things etc etc...provides an early field of training for psychologist-wannabes. again-exchange of information which might prove to be useful for GP input. one very good blog to get such useful and perhaps insightful perceptions is actually biao's blog. (biao dunnit to thank me) over time, this sort of becomes a responsibility, where every member of the blog community have to actively blog for the benefit of others -and self- so that this network can stay alive. this, altho its not really written as a rule, is often tacit and disappointment dawns upon readers who visits to see a post thats 3 weeks old. one often feels cheated, and over time starts to lose interest in that blog. Of coz it can be argued that i can simply go around reading other people's blog without actually contributing any myself -and they would not know. Hmm...there's always a flaw in every system and this perhaps is the one. but then, try to think abt it, jus reading and not actually practising urself. would this be as effective as peer learning and experimenting? i beg to differ. if one follows another's blog long enuff, he/she would actually notice a significant change in blog styles over time. perhaps the difference can only be felt when u look back at the archive and read a post that dates 3 months back. isnt this constant improvement? ok maybe change does not necessarily equate to progress, but it sure does allow the writers to slowly fine tune their writing style and then home in on the one that they're most comfortable with. the change is much more natural when its done over a long period of time; when one if forced to change his/her writing styles with very chance to try and err, it would not flow and remnant of his/her past writing style could still be detected without much effort. linking back to GP, do ur teachers always say things like..."u need to be more formal in ur writing, u're talking abt global issues here, learn to more diplomatic in ur use of terms" or on the other extreme..."ur sentences are too structured, sounds like point form. try to make them more fluid so that readers would find more ease and pleasure reading ur essay." so now u see? blogging adds substance to ur writing, and makes u explore different areas of knowledge, and at the same time giving u chance to write in different styles. blogging is good. *cj, if u wanna improve on ur GP, first thing u must do is to start a blog and stop wasting so much of ur time online playing games!!! u'll love blogging and its almost natural once u find ur style.*