"OMG we get to BLOG?!"

By: Tina Larm
TE- 13 & 14

So I've been blogging or online journaling for about seven years. I recently realized this when I made the decision to download all of my entries and delete my online journal. I started out with a LiveJournal to gossip about other people in my middle school and read what other people had to say about me. Then I felt like everyone was using my own words against me and I rethought what I wanted my LiveJournal experience to be. I learned to keep my mouth shut if I had nothing nice to say and to try to see the good in others.

So I switched to a Blurty since no one else had one. This was my own forum for really opinionated and political thoughts. It actually became really popular and by this time, the news had a special segment where they would Google for people's blogs and read them on air. Mine was read a few times, then hacked into by other politically involved individuals and messed up. The most vivid memory I have of my short career in amateur political commentary was when I wrote an article about the War in Iraq and my blog was hacked into and turned into a Neo-Nazi site.

That was when I decided to switch yet again to a Xanga for college. I kept it in private and this was mainly a place where only my closest friends were allowed into my life at NYU. I wrote about my experiences, opinions, awesome professors, horrible TAs, and I received responses from all those friends with either words of encouragement, comments or advice. This was a very important way for me to keep in contact with all those friends who were thousands of miles away since I wasn't always able to call them or write each of them individual emails.

Now I call my friends more often and journaling has become a private affair for me especially since I'm the topic of several conversations around here and still at home. Being an RA has put all the RAs into a "fish bowl". All of our residents know everything that's going on in our lives or if we do something out of the ordinary, then the residents seems to know. We don't mind this at all but we know that it happens. We love the fact that our residents know us and feel like the can approach us. That's what we're here for!

Why I tell you my online journaling life story? Because I know that the majority of those who are veterans of blogging went through some of the same things and want to encourage you to keep in touch with the world through this fantastic medium. I thought that I was going to stop but then Rob presented this wonderful idea of keeping touch with our Third North world through the internet and I must not only agree with him but I must participate.

For those of you who don't usually blog, there are two reasons to read this one: 1) you get to be updated on all the happenings of Third North and what your RAs are planning for the future and 2) there is PacMan on the side! And I'm a huge fan of pictures so if you check back a few times, you may see pics of yourselves at our events. So that's three reasons.

I also encourage you all to online journal or to at least keep a journal either in a traditional book or in your computer under a passworded file (like I do). I know that I encourage my friends and residents to do the same and they have a blast. They are making the NYU transition easier because they do get to keep in touch with loved ones at home; relieve stress by using it as a coping/venting mechanism; they are managing their time more wisely because when they sit down and think about their day, they see why they didn't get enough time to study for their midterm and; I know that they sleep better because they release a burden when they write down their to-do lists and such.

I think that I've typed enough for now. Back to work.