Recently, I have had the urge to read up on other blogs and online journals written by people similar to me, of Asian (and in particular, those of Chinese/Taiwanese) descent and who live and work outside of the U.S. Even more specific, journalists who currently reside in Greater China, and who are in their late 20s, early 30s.

I have to admit, it's been a little frustrating.

As I spend more time checking out other personal sites maintained by Asians and Asian Americans, I'm realizing that there is a limited bunch, that most are in the U.S., and that a lot of them pretty much link to each other. Some are rather interesting and I continue to add new ones to my Webring, but it is not exactly what I'm looking for. I mentioned this to Marvin today. He agrees with me.

Why is this?

Some observations... we'll I'm guessing here, but, oh well...

• Age of the Internet / Online Journaling

  When I left the U.S. in early 1995, my peers both in the U.S. and here barely used the Internet. At best, for email only. Corporate websites were random at best, whereas today, companies don't seem legitimate without one. Personal websites seem to follow suit?

  That right there explains why the mass majority of people who keep online blogs are a) in the U.S. which leads the world in Internet trends, b) in their 20s or younger, and c) in the industry (IT, web development, etc.).

  Of course a number of them are maintained by writers (as in, real writers) and artists, but otherwise, online journaling seems to still be a relatively new concept, especially amongst native English speakers in Asia, as far as I can tell. That or I'm just not looking in the right places.

• Growth of Chinese Economy

  Doing business in China only became "hot" in the past 3-5 years, and with it, a growing interest in working in Asia (particularly from those who are of Asian descent). This is also reflected in the increasing number of Asia-focused programs now being offered in both undergraduate and business schools. Back in my days, the only foreign languages offered in school were Spanish, German, French and Japanese.

  Jesus Christ Oh Mighty. I'm dating myself here.

But what other reason could explain why there are so few native English-speaking bloggers in Asia? It certainly isn't because I'm a recluse, or because my peers are clueless (well some are but that's for a different day, lol), or because I haven't been looking. More that those my age who have been here for a few years are in different professions and didn't come to Asia for the purpose of being a part of Asia's "dotcom" boom (which never quite followed the U.S. anyway in terms of breadth or speed). "Internet" professionals in Asia are indeed hard to come by, so wouldn't it make sense then that there are fewer online journalists my age?

MAYBE...

I'm not looking in the right places.

OR MAYBE...

I simply have too much time on my hands.

OR JUST MAYBE...

They're all married with kids while I'm err... never mind.

ANYWAY, I want to do a number of things with my Webring (nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems, I'm cryptic in that way, lol), but one thing I do hope
to accomplish with it is to introduce to my peers -- those in Asia and in my age group and with similar backgrounds -- what can be, and what is to come. What other "extra-curricular" activity could offer such freedom for personal expression, for self-reflection, and for the exploration of one's talents and potential?

That would be what is known as --> a rhetorical question.

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I'm taking a little break from writing. Recently -- and maybe it's because I'm not nearly as busy and frantic as I have been in the past few months (it's been totally nuts) -- I've had some time to think, and I've been feeling the need to take a step back and do some serious soul-searching, about everything I guess. What it is I want in my life and what I need to do to get there. No major crisis or anything, though I am going to the beach this weekend...

Looking forward to it.

I also want to clean up this site a little and take care of some long overdue admin offline and personal errands. I'll check my Soapbox daily and may keep things going over there should anyone be so inclined to participate (always entertaining, eh), and my officecam will still be activated throughout the week.

Otherwise, I guess I'll be back online at some other point in time, hao ma?

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