*shrug*

I've been called a lot of things.  Most of them I wouldn't put in writing (and most of those by my ex-wife).  But more important than what other people call us is what we call ourselves.

My daughter and I were discussing this concept of self-labeling the other day.  For some people, it's a simple matter.  There exists a plethora of labels readily available and somewhat easily defined, spanning religion, politics, music, culinary tastes, etc.  As long as your convictions line up with this group or that group, you can proudly slap that bumper sticker on your bumper and drive off happily labeled and knowing where you belong.  Most labels even come with a handy simple slogan, image, or logo so you don't even have to write it out.  A fish, a donkey, an elephant, "Blessed Be", a photo of Tom Cruise -- your whole ideology wrapped up in one handy image. 

But what if you've taken stock of the evidence thrown at you in life, and just can't seem to draw up a simple verdict?  What label exists for those of us who are absolutely convinced that we don't have enough data to be absolutely convinced that any specific ideology sums up Truth?

Agnostic.  That's the "serious" term.  And yeah, it's descriptive enough in a dry, academic sort of way.  But it lacks panache. No sizzle. No pop. No imagery. No platinum smile.

So my daughter and decided on a new religion for me.  The simple image of a person shrugging.  Maybe someone can draw up a nice "international symbol".  It's simple.  It's powerful.  It's descriptive. It's me.  The Shruggist.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

So, this is the new Blogger.

It's been googlized, I see.  That's a good thing. Simple to set up, simple to use, rich in features.  You go, Google.

I got into the whole blog thing several years ago, but never kept it up.  Call me a pessimist, but I really didn't figure anyone was actually reading the stuff, so I stopped bothering to post.  After all, I can't say I read other people's blogs -- just not interested in what everyone else has to say, I guess. So I figure it's hypocritical to expect (or even hope) for anyone else to be much interested in what I have to say.

But here comes Google dishing up the re-vamped Blogger to me like the special of the day.  Picasa puts my pictures out on the web for no-one to look at and right there is the link to start a blog for no-one to read.  Pretty cool.  And now here I am, another shining star in a sky full of countless, and therefore forever anonymous, stars.

Then again, maybe a sea of anonymity is not such sorry water in which to drown. After all, if every star dimmed for lack of notoriety, how dark would be the night.