Get Rid of [problem] once and for all

You know how in meetings or new groups the facilitator usually has everyone introduce themselves by sharing a unique or memorable fact? I HATE that. I hate it because I'm usually stumped for an answer. I don't have the wherewithal in the heat of the moment to follow Veronica's lead by quoting lyrics and saying something like "My name is Katherine. I once shot a man, in Reno, just to watch him die." So I end up saying something completely lame.

On my first day of graduate school, the professor had us take something out of our bags and tell our new classmates what that something said about us. Seriously, my choices were a brand new Mead notebook or a pen from Boeing that lit up. I went with the pen, and said that it represented my interest in many things, including illumination and the history of and principles of flight. I think this brief episode sticks out in my memory because I was nervous about starting something new, and was at that moment especially thankful to have set boundaries within which to be creative.

I started this blog for several reasons. I wanted to improve my writing speed. I wanted a creative outlet of some sort. I wanted to participate in Web 2.0 and blogging was an element I could jump into with relative ease. I wanted to record strange or recurring reference transactions.

And I still get these things out of keeping this blog.

Although the topics I post about are quite varied, the scope (things "everyone seems to know but me") is quite specific, and I'm not inspired by that any longer. Plus, my other interests don't fit in. Quilting doesn't fit. Book reviews don't fit. Geocaching doesn't fit. Professional library stuff doesn't fit. Geek stuff doesn't fit.

I like having set parameters. I like thesis statements to support. I like mission statements to adhere to. I like rules to bend. I like having margins, even if I doodle in them. If I know the limits, I can respond to them and be creative within them. If the scope of...anything...remains undefined, I get lost. And flustered.

I follow certain bloggers who are strangers to me because I'm interested in the topics they blog about, and if they get too far off topic I usually stop following. If book bloggers start sharing too many scary neighbor stories, I tend to lose interest. If foodies started blogging about their computer problems, I would unfollow until they got a mac and got back on topic. I follow friends and family because I care about them and what they have to say, but everyone there sticks to their intentions for their blogs too.

So, where does that leave me? (Besides alone. Is anyone still reading?) I see three options. 1) I can start over with a new blog to capture the topics that don't fit Oranges and Peaches. The Katmosphere? Alpha Kat? Kat's Cradle? Nine Lives of Kat? 2) I can create a series of blogs, one for each community I would like to take part in. That would be exhausting, but dashboards on Blogger and Wordpress are handy. Besides, who has six blogs? Moreover, who wants to bookmark six blogs? 3) I could redefine my vision for Oranges and Peaches. After all, I like the name.

I'm going to open curtain number three. Dear Readers (Hi, Mom!), I'm banking on the fact that you aren't attached to the 'common knowledge' angle for this blog, because I intend to include posts about quilting, reading, public librarianship, geocaching, and anything else that catches my eye. At least for awhile.

And, I know I could have just started posting other things without going through this whole rant, but I think I needed to establish this for myself. Or give myself permission to move on to a new description. Or something.