'Who asked YOU?'

An article in the July 31 edition of The New York Observer notes that thanks to the Internet and its spawn YouTube (and its brethren vido clip sites), you can keep even more things that you really don't need in you're already cluttered mind.

In his “Off the Record” column, Tom Scocca writes: “The thing about television used to be that once you saw it, it was gone….If you weren’t right there and watching with everyone else when something happened, you didn't see it. Rerurns or syndication could give you another chance, but you still had to catch the moment.

“The VCR only stalled it a little," he continues. "If somebody had a tape running, you might get to re-watch …until somebody forgot which tape it was or recorded over it.”

Scocca’s depiction reminds one of a journal written long ago. When one goes back and reads entries 10, 20, or more years-old, it can be difficult, even painful at times, to remember how we immature, clueless, naive, and/or stupid we used to be. Some writers decree in their wills that their papers and letters be destroyed, lest others find out what they were really thinking, and thereby lose respect, admiration, or affection.