That's what these blogs used to be, before the billionaires took over and made everything so awful. I'd like to go back to personal websites for the simplicity, the dearth of advertising and the slower pace. But let's be honest, Zuckerberg has taken all my friends, some of whom are scattered all over the world, hostage. How will I ever permanently detach from Facespace and never really be able to eavesdrop on my friends' lives again? I mean, damn, that seems lonely. But I hate Facespace. It's so full of garbage and ads and things that I really don't need nor want.

But he's got all my friends, whether I haven't talked to them in years or not -- or, frankly, even if I really like all of them or not -- it's nice to feel at least a tinge of connection when I see them post about something that I may or may not relate to.

I suppose I did it before Facespace and I could do it again. But once you know you have something, how do you just walk away from it?

It was easy to cut off Twitter, as I did the day I found out Elon Musk fired half the company. I never used that all that much. There's only one friend I know who uses it extensively, and as much as I hate to admit it, I haven't talked to him in 25 years.

So I keep trying out these free, or nearly free, blog building websites, trying to find one that works for me. This is my latest. I don't expect it to catch on and become a habit like it was in the Before Times, but it's worth a shot.