I'm a Xangan

T

ension is often brought about when there are two disparate, usually opposite forces vying for the same thing. For me, it would be my consciousness and my conscience. My consciousness becaus the matter I choose will control my consciousness and take up most of my time. My conscience because whether it is good or bad, it will determine how much energy I use to deal with the choice. I was confronted--albeit briefly--with a decision last week: Xanga or LiveJournal...

Fortunately, the decision was rather facile.

I know a few people who are already on LiveJournal and have been there a number of times to leave comments. But I never thought of actually starting page. SimplyMarie has a place at MyDiary and I went there to open a site as a backup to my Xanga. But it turned out to be a bit more confusing than I had expected. Yes, I am totally computer illiterate so don't make fun of me.

Anyway, I decided that I already have the JAJournal and so don't really need another blog. My MyDiary site has been sitting there collecting dust ever since. Then all of a sudden, people I know here on Xanga started kicking up this LiveJournal dust and temporarily blinded me. First, scslider abruptly abandons his Xanga--for personal reasons, apparently--and moves to LiveJournal. Then SleepingCutie writes that she's been tempted to move over to LJ as well. I'm thinking: What is going on? Less than a week goes by when I find Steve has bookmarked me at RBJ. I decide to look up who he is and he turns out to be a nice, well written guy at--that's right--LiveJournal. I decide to leave him a comment--you can comment anonymously at LJ, even if you are not a member--when I see another member there: SammyStorm. Sammy didn't leave a comment as an anonymous user like I did, he has his own account! So what do I do, thanks to these four influential people? I open my own LJ site...

Now, LiveJournal is a bit different than Xanga. You can do virtually everything youcan do at Xanga, except that there seems to be a more intimate feel over at LJ. For some reason, there is not the kind of openness that one finds at Xanga. I have yet to come across a site that has 80 comments that seem relatively common at Xanga. And this might be due to the absence of e-props. In a way, Xanga has set itself up so that people can self-promote. This, of course, is fine, as I must admit that I have done similar things from time to time as well.

Well, after a bit of soul searching, I decide that I am not moving to LiveJournal. I will keep the LJ account and post my Xanga stuff there as a back up. This way, my LJ friends and acquaintences can leave me comments, and I can leave comments on their sites without going through the "anonymous user" procedure every freakin' time I want to say something... Ulitmately, I remain on Xanga because of all the virtual friends I have made here. A year ago, I would never have guessed that I woud meet so many people through Onigiriman. Xanga has proven to be a fun and interesting place that I could never abandon. And yet, LJ feels like the real journal, a private, intimate place, perhaps even a bit dark in a way. I need that kind of place, as well, a place where someday I may post darker things about myself I am unwilling to post on the bright, sunny place called Xanga..