These entries are usually descriptive of some crisis (hopefully small and insignificant) I may be facing. While they are usually a "classical" crisis, sometimes they will be a crisis of belief, of ideas, or identity. They are meant to be informative and offer insight on how friends might be of help.
Essays will hardly need any further explaining. From time-to-time I run across an issue I feel the need to address in a more thorough manner and bring to light certain points left untouched in the debate. Often these entries will be more academic in nature and less personal, opting for a formal approach. I attempt to keep opinion out of the entry, though some are merely "opinion essays" and not a "true" essay.
General entries will be information about the site, changes to the site, and boring, uninspired administrivia.
Journal entries are not a chronological mapping of my life. Rather journal entries are entries that did not really fit into any other category. They range from mentioning something I find interesting, to wrestling with a topic, to me offering my opinion on some issue.
A pondering entry is a special entry. I will either be detailing, documenting, and/or charting a topic I am currently pondering. These types of pondering entries will have more questions than answers; these types would make great discussions and debates. The other form of pondering entry is one where I have thought through something and come to more conclusions than questions and will document my findings. Pondering entries are intended to stimulate thinking. I ask hard questions, ignore the obvious data (unless I have found fault with it somewhere), and by and large shun the easy answers. If you are willing to think through an issue with me, engage me in a discussion of a pondering entry.
We all have issues that incite strong (usually negative) emotions; some of us generate rants on these issues. Rants are not to be taken too seriously. I am usually blowing off steam and am overstating (probably) everything. I usually have a point, and it might be legitimate, but I cannot separate my feelings from the point thus I rant about it. Take it with a grain of salt. Don't take it as an attempt to incite a riot.
As I come across things I think are fantastic and I want to share I will post them here. I will usually explain what I like about it, and maybe fairly balance the stuff I don't quite like.
On rare occasions I will write a work of fiction and will post it. Thus a story is a story, usually a work of fiction, or near-fiction.
