The Gateway Blog – Part 1

Growing up, I always knew better than to mess around with blogs. My parents would tell me, “If you only remember one thing, remember this — stay off of blogs!” And this was easy through high school and through my mission. No one was offering me blogs. In fact, they hadn’t been invented yet (which I must say made compliance with that rule really quite easy). But unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to stay blog-free forever. The culprit, of course, was Times and Seasons . . . “the gateway blog.”

It started out innocently enough. I was over at Aaron Brown’s house, listening to him talk about mission stories and watching Evil Dead 2. Then he mentioned that he had seen some really interesting Sunday School materials. “Really?” I asked, “where?”


A Sunday School lesson can’t be so bad, I reasoned. If Aaron looked at blogs, maybe they weren’t so bad. And if it was bad, I could always turn away.

“Oh, just on a blog I read sometimes,” he said casually.

I froze. Aaron read blogs — the thought was terrifying. “Run, run!” screamed a voice inside my head. But alas, I didn’t listen. I’ve never been as obedient as I should be; I’ve always suffered from damnable curiosity, and I’ll admit it — my curiosity was piqued. Besides, I reasoned, a Sunday School lesson can’t be so bad. If Aaron looked at blogs, maybe they weren’t so bad. And if it was bad, I could always turn away.

“A blog? Really?” I ventured.

“Sure,” said Aaron, walking over to the computer. “Let me show you.” He sat down and clicked on a link.

And thus began my long journey into the abyss . . . thus began my life on blogs.

(To be continued. . . ).

25 comments for “The Gateway Blog – Part 1

  1. Adam Greenwood
    January 19, 2005 at 3:56 pm

    Who is that masked blogger?

  2. January 19, 2005 at 4:31 pm

    just one more comment….then I’ll stop…. I swear I’ll never comment at T&S again…

  3. Bryce I
    January 19, 2005 at 4:41 pm

    Yeah, Steve, but you’ve already crossed the line from using to abusing to dealing.

    Not only that, you’ve gone into the hard stuff.

    /buries head in hands

  4. January 19, 2005 at 4:41 pm

    Yeah, I rarely even read this site anymore. I’m just too lazy to reset my browser to remove T&S from being my home page.

  5. January 19, 2005 at 4:58 pm

    Think it’s a coincidence that there’s a service called Bloglines?

  6. Will
    January 19, 2005 at 5:05 pm

    I don’t know what’s wrong with you guys. I can stop anytime.

  7. January 19, 2005 at 5:10 pm

    C’mon, go ahead, blog just once. You’ll like it.

  8. January 19, 2005 at 5:10 pm

    Besides, no one will ever know.

  9. January 19, 2005 at 5:11 pm

    All the popular kids are blogging. Don’t you want to be popular? I know you do.

  10. January 19, 2005 at 5:11 pm

    I’ll be your friend if you do it.

  11. January 19, 2005 at 5:11 pm

    Chicken!

  12. Kristine
    January 19, 2005 at 5:22 pm

    Name withheld, didn’t you ever see that *scary* commercial: “This is your brain. This is your brain on blogs.”

  13. Aaron Brown
    January 19, 2005 at 5:24 pm

    But seriously … enough about you guys. Let’s talk some more about ME.

    Aaron B

  14. January 19, 2005 at 5:34 pm

    Pusher. And to use Sunday School materials as a lure….

  15. January 19, 2005 at 5:37 pm

    Blogging sounds innocuous, but punditry and social commentary are never far behind.

    Maybe it’s that rock-and-roll rubbish. I have a filmstrip you need to watch: “Worthy Music, Worthy Blogs.”

  16. January 19, 2005 at 5:57 pm

    “Besides, no one will ever know.”

    Yeah, right! There was a story today on NPR about a woman who was fired from her job for blogging. Okay, she was blogging *about* her job, but still . . .

  17. hahha tycc
    January 19, 2005 at 6:51 pm

    L.O.L thanks I needed that! hahaha

  18. Greg
    January 19, 2005 at 6:58 pm

    Melissa,

    That NPR story actually has a Mormon connection. The famous blogger, Dooce, is a BYU-grad former Mormon living in Salt Lake who mentions the Church, snarkily, almost every day.

  19. Ta-lor
    January 19, 2005 at 7:10 pm

    I have been able to ween myself off of comments, but I still lurk every day…

    Crap! I think I’m hooked again already!

  20. Ta-lor
    January 19, 2005 at 7:10 pm

    Yep, I’m hooked.

  21. Adam Greenwood
    January 19, 2005 at 7:28 pm

    Repeat after me:

    BCC is my methadone.
    BCC is my methadone.

  22. danithew
    January 19, 2005 at 8:03 pm

    Methadone is for heroin abusers. T&S is crack.

  23. January 19, 2005 at 8:21 pm

    Word up dan. BCC is the sweet powder compared to T&S rock.

  24. Sheri Lynn
    January 23, 2005 at 1:18 pm

    First, I’ll quit looking at T&S five minutes before time to leave for church. THEN I will give up my Coca-Cola.

    yeah right

  25. Mark B.
    January 23, 2005 at 8:48 pm

    You can check out anytime you like
    But you can never leave

Comments are closed.