Seventeen (!) years of blogging

I started blogging when I was on a writing leave on Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, and staying alone in my host's home for a few weeks.  

I explain here how I came up with the somewhat odd title. :) 

I commemorated my 100th post here, stating that the future of my blog was uncertain, as I was returning to Chiba.  

Seventeen years ago today, what sorts of things did I write about? I wrote this post and this post and this post.  

Last year I wrote about discovering that my hobby is words. :)  

For years I joked that only my mom and my aunt read my blog.  And that may have been true. :) My aunt is now in heaven, and my mom only reads it if I print out a post and mail it to her.  I'm not sure who reads my blog now. 

And I'm not sure if other people still blog anymore.  Honestly, I do it for myself, to have a creative outlet, to process my thoughts and experiences, to hone my writing skills, and to aid my memory by looking back and seeing what happened when.  

If you are a regular reader and find certain topics interesting (or certain topics boring), leave a comment, and I'll try to write more (or less) of those topics.