Welcome to my blog!
9 July 2002, 6:30 AM

*bounce*

I love Ebay.

*bounce*

I just got a package in the mail today, with the book I won off of Ebay in it. "Oscar Otter" by Nathaniel Benchley. It's the book I learned to read from, back when I was about 4 years old. I still - very distinctly after all this time - remember learning to read the word "the".

It's kind of fitting that this bit of nostalgia should arrive today, when I've started setting up my first "blog". I'd heard about web logs before, but I wasn't interested. The few I'd seen were half-pornographic, vouyeristic fragmented sentances. Or then they were angst-filled stream's of conciousness, barely distinguishable from the next angst-filled stream of conciousness. Or then they were just plain devoid of any personality. I just couldn't see the point of it. I was happy writing off-line or in private groups. It didn't occur to me that anyone might be interested in something other than what I'd always come across.

But the bug's finally bitten me. After seeing a few friends pull off the kind of blog that I find personable, interesting and entertaining (and worthwhile), I finally was *excited* about the possibility of starting my own blog.

I write nearly everyday on one listserv or another. REAMS of stuff. I realized there were things I wouldn't mind writing to a wider public audience, but I just didn't have the time and energy to build Yet Another Web Page for My Personal Web Site - not after a whole day of working on web sites for a living.

And so "Fusion Reaction" was born. The name comes out of a number of things. I like science and I'm a geek (and proud of it). But it also hints at my multi-cultural background (Finnish mother, Indian/Pakistani father) and the diversity that surrounds me. (I was born in the United States and have lived most of my life in Texas.) It points to something that I not only love, but that defines me - that sort of melting, blending and fusion of cultures, ideas and realities, in everything from music to food to ... people. I grew up in thinking nobody else had such an extreme ethnic blend, but I've since met people who are Pakistani/Irish, Mexican/French, Chinese/Dutch, etc. etc.

So check back here from time to time. The things I'll write about here will vary - from food to feminism, needlework to nebulae, and just about anything else I can think of. I'll also try to remember to infuse it with a bit of global culture when I can.

In the meantime I'm going to go curl up with Oscar Otter and warm fuzzy nostaligia.