Explaining the unexplainable.

Have you ever tried to explain blogging to a non-blogger? The exchange goes something like this:
"So what do you like to read on the Internet?"
"I read blogs."
"Huh?"
"I read blogs."
"What's a blog?"
"It's short for weblog, it's kind of like a diary/journal..."
"a diary? with people's personal thoughts in..."
"no, it's not like that really..."
And so it goes.
Yesterday I had a conversation very similar to the above. I wasn't quite sure how to answer the question of "what is a blog". It's a lot of things really. When you factor in the other things like pictures, comments, trackbacks...I suppose to the "average" Internet user (read: "I use AOL") it might be a bit of a tricky concept to understand.
The fact is that it's brilliant in a lot of ways. Gossip about your family, tell everyone what your favorite music is, share your political beliefs, rant about the idiot that cut you off in traffic that morning...it doesn't really matter what you write about because as long as it's well written there will be someone who will read it. Besides, all we're really doing is sitting at our desks at our jobs trying to pass the time until it's time to go home, right? AM I THE ONLY ONE???
I'm not insinuating, by the way, or trying to suggest in any shape, form, or fashion that anything I write here is the least bit interesting to anyone but myself (or that it's well written for that matter). It's sheer luck that anyone else reads the things I write here. Call it fate...kismet. We were brought together by the powers of the universe...or something like that.