When my friends and I left for college, we started LiveJournals so that we wouldn't fall out of touch with each other. It's cheaper than the phone, and everyone gets the original version of the story instead of the version that went through three other people first. That's where it started for me, anyway. Now, I don't really care if anyone reads it; though I know that people do, it has become, first and foremost, something I do for myself.

Presently, I think of my journal as serving a much more ephemeral purpose than my Web site; it's an outlet for me to be happy, silly, angry, or sad as the moment demands it, and it probably spares the people in RinkChat a lot of stupid stuff. Furthermore, going back and rereading parts reminds me of little things that might have slid off the radar of my memory otherwise, small blessings that I'd do well to remember. It makes me a more grateful person.

Keeping this online journal has also made me much better at keeping a paper one when I go on trips and things, though I must also credit Ellmyruh with inspiring me on that front. It's given me a bit of discipline.

As for privacy issues, I don't post anything I wouldn't say in ordinary conversation in my journal, but I've always been a relatively open person.

-Cynth"and the little bouncy alien mood icons on my journal are so very cute"ia