X for II

It's been two years since I first sat down at this computer and decided to start a blog. I had seen Vincci's and thought that it might be an easier alternative to the various journals and diaries that I had written over the years. It was certainly more university-like, or at least I thought so at the time. Over those two years, I have changed, and the blog has changed. At first I was not entirely sure what I wanted to write here, and the posts, modelled after Vincci's, were mostly recounts of mundane events, with a little bit of extra analysis thrown in. As I became more comfortable with the blogging environment, I began to write posts that were more like what i had previously written in journals. They were personal, convoluted and mostly about girls. Over time, this blog changed again, into what I believe it to be now.
It all started back in Philosophy 200, where I started seeing connections between different essays that i had been writing. I saw that my theories on Philosophy connected with my political and moral beliefs as well. I wondered to myself if someday I could write a book, a treatise if you like, that included all my opinions and views, forged into a coherent whole, an expression of my worldview. I told myself at the time that I would only have the opportunity to do something like that if I ended up being famous and had a chance to write memoirs. However, as second year progressed, I realized, that with no history, polisci or philosophy courses, I no longer had a forum to present my ideas. That bothered me, and I started looking for a solution.
I also noticed around the same time that the entries in this blog were starting to be a little bit redundant. They were personal, vague and more than a little melodramatic. That's all well and good if only I am going to be reading them, but I realized that this blog has a dual purpose. As well as being a place for my personal reflection, it is a way for me to speak to an audience, even if it's a small one, and that I should structure my posts in such a way that they do not lose their internal value but are more interesting for an outside audience to read.
After a while, I realized that all these issues could be resolved through this blog. It could become my treatise, my Empire of Ideas (the title I concieved for my hypothetical book in Phil 200). That is what I hope to make it in the long run, a complete, or at least extensive, collection on my morals, beliefs, experiences(still room for melodrama), theories, political views and my goals. That would allow it to achieve its dual purpose, being a "frontier" for personal development and also being (hopefully) engaging and interesting to read for an outside audience. As always, I welcome ideas on this topic. I would like to end, as I often do, with a list. This one is of the ten posts that I consider to be my best. They are the the most illuminating, the best written, the most creative, the ones that answered the most questions, and most of all, the ones I am most proud of writing over the last two years.

I. Assumptions [9/05]
II. The Altar of Freedom [8/06]
III. A Star Wars Kinda Mood [3/05]
IV. A Kingdom of Conscience [10/05]
V. Man of Science, Man of Faith [1/06]
VI. A More Civilized Age [7/06]
VII. Golden Heart [8/06]
VIII. Interesting People A-Z [10/04]
IX. Speechless [3/05]
X. Playing In The Big Leagues [4/05]