Hersh Varma

There’s this great scene in the film American Psycho (2000) where the junior execs at Pierce & Pierce are pouring over each others’ business cards, dripping with envy over each stylistic element the other has chosen. The director of the film (Mary Harron) chooses quick cut-away shots with macroscopic focus and a background of staccato sounds overlaying a low, ominous hum to cue the thrilling intensity of the scene. As each character reveals his card and trumps the others, the protagonist – Patrick Bateman – fills with a jealous rage and makes the following observation while looking at rival Paul Allen’s business card:

Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark!

Overcome with want, he becomes pale and drops the cards from his fingertips. The very weight of the lettering crushed his spirit.

Now, is that too much to ask for in a free WordPress theme? I’ve settled here for a theme called “Chunk.” It’s clean and aesthetic, and has enough color accents to keep from boring you. But it doesn’t seduce you and nor does it leave you pale with envy – it’s a far cry from Paul Allen’s business card. So bear with me as I explore all the themes that WP has to offer. I’m looking for something with a more tasteful thickness.

I’ve included the basics about this blog (what/why/whatever) in the “About Me” page – consider that a preamble. This post is more dedicated to what I’m doing right now (at 1:05 am) and why I decided to randomly start a blog tonight.

To be honest, this blog has been a work in progress for quite some time. The inspiration for it came early in medical school, when I started reading blogs about health policy, experiences in various specialities of medicine, etc. I realized then that blogging is a great outlet for people to just get into the habit of writing and sharing opinions. Obviously, this isn’t news. We’re about half a decade past the peak of the blogosphere. But for me, the concept of thinking beyond 140 characters seemed novel and challenging.

That leads me to the other major reason I wanted to get this blog off the ground: social media suuuuuuuuuucks. I cannot rephrase that with any more eloquence. Right around the time Facebook’s IPO made international news, I came to realize that social media is less a mechanism for social interaction and more just a vehicle for mass-marketing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not above News-Feeding, Twittering, and Insta-tagging. I enjoy it in small amounts, and it’s admittedly a guilty pleasure. But let’s just put it out there and say what we all want to say… no one cares. At the end of the day, we spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about social networking compared to how little time we spend deriving any benefit from it. At every (real-life) social event, a staple of conversation is how much we all collectively hate Facebook statuses and Twitter hashtags. We carry on sarcastically deriding anyone who uses social media, but then we go home and log on ourselves. I’m guilty of it. You’re guilty of it. We’re all to blame. This blog is my attempt to break the awful cycle of social network self-loathing.

The final reason I started this blog is also the most selfish. I just really enjoy ranting. I don’t rant in that old-man-who’s-angry-at-the-world kind of way. I like to rant in that geeked-out-overenthusiastic-about-everything kind of way. I think I’m wearing down my loved ones and anyone who will listen to me. This blog is a way for me to get these thoughts out and onto some medium for the casual perusal of interested parties. It’s a vent.

So, if you’re made it this far, you’re either a family member, my girlfriend, my one or two friends with too much time to spare, or a NY Times journalist from the year 2048 doing background research during my bid for US Senate. Regardless, I’m glad you took the time to read this post. I hope you’ll read the many that follow. Thanks!