The Start

Here I am, expanding my network into the social media once more. Started out by creating my first e-mail account a decade ago, adding another two soon after, joined Facebook and Twitter last year, I have now added blogger.com to the list. Have you ever imagined all of these means of communication would become a reality ,say, 20 years ago? I know I haven't.

It's really amazing how fast things have changed in our world. I frequently pass through the main post office in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Whenever I see the logo of the national postal service, an envelope between a pair of sticks (the method used in the early days to deliver written messages), I always wonder of what Emperor Menilik II, whom I highly admire for his landmark efforts and remarkable successes in modernizing Ethiopia, would say, if he somehow manages to trick death and comes back to life, to see us sending and receiving mails right on the palms of our hands.I picture him holding his mouth in his left palm, and say "ወይ ግሩም !!" ('Wey Grum'), loosely meaning "Incredible!" in Amharic. Even ourselves are saying 'Wey Grum' right now, looking at the changes we are witnessing at the moment.

I believe that we don't have much problem these days expressing ourselves in anyway we can and like, if we discover and rediscover ourselves and our surroundings constantly. Whether in writing, painting, speaking, dancing, ..., there is a way for each and everyone of us to make ourselves heard. With our efforts to make ourselves heard, we develop our skills of communication with others. And there is a lot of fun doing that.

Why this blog?

To be honest, I didn't see myself as a blogger (not even a writer) for a long time. I know I have a fair skill of using the languages I speak for everyday communication and work, but not in a way that could reach others in a different way. 

Then comes the era of social networks. I see the impacts FB, Twitter, Linkedin, socialcam, etc, have created in worldwide interconnectivity. This transition has helped me to think "outside the box." I realized that the usual "hi's" and "hey's" that we exchange with the ones around us do not help us much in the real world to grow and become fruitful. So I jumped into the pool of big-time information sharing waters.

Adding to this, when I started studying computer science three years ago, I saw the numerous grapes of the IT garden that we somehow missed or bypassed for God knows why, I started to think, "Hey, there's something that I can further my networks in this, plus the other benefits." I'm not saying this is easy, especially for someone like me, who comes from a totally different discipline; but for those with the 'will and balls', there is always something to explore.

Back to the social networks; when I get more and more connected, I found out that I can say more that I have already said, explore more than what I have explored, and get myself to places that I have never set foot before. Comments from friends (on and off the web) have encouraged me to "scan my system" once again to find out more about what I can do in life. Being a Computer Science student, I glued myself onto the computer almost all the time; working on programs and applications, researching, or simply surfing the net. Despite the pressure on the eyes and the brain, man, what you can find in this business is enormous!

That's when I came across the terms "blog" and "blogger." At first, I thought a blog is only for those who can afford it; but then, I discovered, that everybody can have it, if there is "the will and the ball." As I discover deep, I learned that some people, whom I know and appreciate, have their own blogs, and use them to deliver powerful messages. So a question popped in my head, "If it's as simple as this, why can't I do it?" The answer, "No reason."

There you have it, now I created my own blog. It even doesn't take as long time as I have taken to talk ti through! Writing this piece, I thought "Wheew...! That wasn't so hard." And the best lesson that I have gained today, "There is nothing that one can't do, if hearts and minds are put to it."

I hope I haven't bored you with my first post. Remember, this is a beginner talking. I don't know when my next post comes, but when it does, I assure you that it will be more entertaining. Besides, I have said it earlier: "There is a lot of fun in doing that."