Enter Riverpilgrim

All right, now that I’ve gotten that oh-so-somber-pensive-tiresome-but-still-necessarily-autobiographical-very-first-entry part out of my system, it’s time for me to beg you to welcome Riverpilgrim into the wild world of blog! (Why “Riverpilgrim,” you say? To find out, please read said tiresome-but-necessary very-first-blog entry.)

I have been fairly techno-savvy all my adult life, paying bills and sharing photos online, joining e-groups and instant-messaging friends. But I had never thought of blogging, and frankly speaking, had never fully understood its uses nor appreciated its potential. It was O, my beloved husband, who first turned me onto blogging. It happened quite unexpectedly, really. So, for this new venture of mine, we all have him to thank or blame, depending on how you see it.

Now, lest you think (with perfectly reasonable dread):

• that all my blog entries will be as sober, as coherent or as properly composed as the previous one, and that I will never digress, ramble, stray, deviate or otherwise get sidetracked from the topic at hand
• ummm... what was I talking about again? Oh yes… again, lest you think...
• that I will be churning out serious, thought-provoking essays on Christian, existential, moral, ethical, ecological, behavioural, feminist, racist or technological issues
• that I will be channeling what’s left of my creative energy into this blog by mouthing off on Nappies, Homework, UK living, Nature, Environment, Faith, Parenting, Music, Movies, Theatre, Art, Children, Housework, Choices, Books, Life, Love and other stuff that’s close to my heart

--- Well, hah and double hah! Think again, I say. No way! Or as the blokes say it here in England: Bloody 'ell! This early, I am utterly happy to dispel all these lingering fears by assuring you that I will indulge myself in these worthwhile but debatably boring topics only once in a rare while, depending on my mood, hormones and sleep-debt at the time of blogging.

Now that we have all breathed a collective sigh of relief at that candid declaration, let me give you a warning of what you can most likely expect from this blog:

• At times, if I feel like it, I might throw in some recycled, re-written, re-configured old articles (again, for example, see aforementioned tiresome-but-necessary very-first-blog entry) which I wrote in the long-forgotten past, just because, well, I feel like it
  
• Sometimes I may allow myself to be silly, simply because I really AM silly and it’s too much work to hide it from everyone all the time
  
• And sometimes, I might just self-centeredly rattle off about stuff that happened to me during the past day or week, my highs and lows, my triumphs and setbacks
  
• Or I may use my blog to either grouse or go into raptures over movies or TV shows I’ve seen, or fill you in on the latest antics of my sons, B and E, or talk myself out of some wretched leftover neuroses
  
• Most likely, though, I will ask questions. Lots of questions. Questions to which I have no answer, no closure to offer, and questions for which you will either love or hate me for asking
  

All I ask from you, dear bleader (that is to say, blog reader), is not that you like, believe or agree with what I post in this blog, but only that you listen, consider, think, respect, respond, and when necessary, correct.

So there! Those are the ground rules, take ‘em or leave ‘em! What power all bloggers have, don’t you think? How do you feel about blogging, in general, and about this blog’s aims in particular? After reading this, will you still be interested in anything this blog says? Should Riverpilgrim carry on or should it fade quietly into blog-livion?