I love blogging. It has replaced the journals I used to write in, but I don’t mind. I would rather type than write anyway.
Back in March of 1991, I enlisted in the Army for two years. I went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for eight weeks of basic training, and then to Fort Sam Houston for ten weeks of advanced training as a Medical Specialist, otherwise known as a 91B in MOS parlance.
My first tour of duty was a year with the Second Infantry Division in South Korea. I was stationed at Camp Stanton, which was an Air Defense Artillery unit about five miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a neutral zone between North and South Korea.
I had to do something to pass the time, so I bought myself a Brother Electronic Typewriter/Computer, I signed up for a correspondence course through the Writer’s Digest magazine and I started reading and writing. I wanted to become a writer, so with time on my hands, I started writing.
I wrote all kinds of things: short stories, articles and my diary. This was the first time I began writing about my life via keyboard and computer. I put away the ballpoint pens and pencils and notebooks with which I filled a box or two, and I dedicated myself to becoming a better writer via my faithful Brother.
My Brother typewriter is gone now and sadly I can’t read those old floppies anymore. And that is one reason why the “old-fashioned” writing instruments like the pen and paper will never go away. If kept in a cool dry location, notebooks will last for a very long time and they will most likely always be readable. Well, maybe.
