Writing out in the open

I compare this blogging experience to living in the dorm at OU. It was always possible that someone could come up to your door, whether open or closed, and visit. Sometimes it was a card game, a walk uptown, time to go to the cafeteria, or just sitting around yammering in the hall or on your bed. I liked living in the dorm. I could express myself by what was on my walls and on my stereo and I liked being seen and known. It was simple and small-- there were no attics to go through or extra boxes. It made it so easy to come and go each day. There were people around all the time, so you could process almost everything you encountered. Of course, being an art major, I did not want to speed through that process since I was not so concerned about making money like a business major. I had this idea that I had something to say.
Now that I've been home for 24 years (which actually never really happens to Bobcats), I have too much stuff to say. I have a backlog of things I've started to read or plan to read and tons of art supplies. I have almost 50 years of photos, boxes of things meant to be made into scrapbooks, clothes that I, for some reason, think I will fit back into, WAY too much paper, images, books, magazines, dishes, bowls of rocks and shells, birdhouses, bottles, boxes, frogs, computers, monitors, pens, camping equipment, pet supplies, and somewhere around 43 screwdrivers.
There are some actual hoarders (http://www.discover.com/issues/oct-04/departments/psychology-of-hoarding/) in my family, and I have come close to the real thing over the years (Ha! Okay, I hoard). I think hoarding comes from the idea that we will have time to do everything we had in mind with all the stuff we have. It crowds out thoughts of today, since we have endless "unfinished business." It also causes us to feel that we have failed in some way, since we never seem to accomplish what we had in mind; it's all too much to really do. Fidgiting around with boxes and piles of junk wastes amazing amounts of time. You can get really good at sorting things for no particular reason.
But getting back to the dorm thing and why this relates to blogging...
I save because when I first encounter something, I have a response in mind. If I can respond immediately, like I did in the dorm, that is great. But people like me want to do a little more research (an exhaustive study, actually) and practically write a book, with pictures. Blogging gives me the opportunity to respond more quickly--not because I've done my homework, but because I have the illusion of audience. The ever-so-slight pressure of losing that audience causes me to process more things more quickly. You have an exaggerated sense of your own importance, but that doesn't seem to feel as strange as it used to, since so many others appear to as well.
Next, I will show you my biology notes from 8th grade.