Salute To Ms. Victor

My eldest sister is in town the past few days. Naturally, as it usually happens when old-timers get together, we talked about events and people we knew in the past. While my older brother remembered lots of things, some names drew a blank on me. I wish I still keep a diary - I remember things better when they are written down.

Back in high school, one year, I think it was the junior year (eleventh grade), I had a Ms. Victor for English class. She introduced to the class the idea of a diary. Write down the thought of the day, write about what transpired that day, or whatever you felt worthwhile to remember about on that particular day. I don't know if anyone else in the class gave the idea a second thought, but I do know that shortly afterward I started to keep a diary. This was the early 1980's when home computing first became popular and I wasn't in on the craze, so my diary was all handwritten. I made use of lots of shorthand to keep the writing process flowing at a fast pace. I must have a few years' worth of diary in a ring binder somewhere in the house. I stopped for a while, then when I started to own a PDA, I resumed keeping a diary on it. The PDA helped a lot for my busy life - I could write while commuting on the subway, while waiting for the ladies doing their everlasting shopping, etc. But eventually, even the omnipresence of the PDA didn't help. Other interests cut in and I stopped again. Having the chat with my siblings recently reinforced in me the idea of keeping a diary. I'll try to go back to the PDA for another round.

Having a blog isn't quite the same as having one's own diary, hidden somewhere out of the public eye. With all the cases of identity theft and such on the Internet, who nowadays would want to pour their hearts out for the public to view. With the diary, with the concept that no one but you get to read it, you can use real names or at least something closer to the real thing. For instance, I would never write in a blog entry about my infatuation, in high school, with a Korean girl named Kyung. OK, that wasn't supposed to come out ;--) . I am rather a private person, I usually don't poke into others' private life and expect the same. If someone bursts out emotionally, I can be a good listener, but I won't press for more information, like how a gossipy person may react.

Anyway, here's to Ms. Victor and for more diary entries to come!