to whom it may concern

Blog writing is a strange thing. You're writing for an audience, but you really have no idea who your audience is. Aside from a few friends who leave comments or are otherwise demonstrative of their blog-following, I lack solid metrics indicating whether anyone, other than the blog bombers, is even out there. For me, the blog has become more of an exercise in writing (when I have time to actually think things through) or more recently, just a way to record events I want to remember later; sort of a faster alternative to a journal.

But it can't really be a journal, because then it would be full of personal musings, emotional outpourings and pseudo-adolescent fantasies. Despite the fact that I purposely made a cryptic URL for my blog so that no one could find me on Google, I've now been linked up through a few different sites and anyone who knows my last name, has a few minutes on their hands and is curious about me (for whatever reason) can stumble upon my little home here on the internet.

I could be mistaken for Miss Rodeo Nevada 1996, or more likely, a Stanford soccer player, but anyone who knows me at all can be sure they've hit upon the right Allison when they land here.

So, for better or worse, despite my usual open-book demeanor in person, I am more reluctant than some to discuss with whom I am currently exchanging bodily fluids. And I definitely don't get fan mail. Maybe it's time for a new approach?