When to write

I would say that it is strange that, whenever I have the time to sit down and write, I often cannot think of what to write about.  This is a direct contrast to the many other times that I have plenty of ideas upon which to ruminate on this virtual medium - except no access to the virtual medium itself.  Most specifically, I find this tends to occur when I drive.  And, it seems plainly obvious to me, I am not being distracted by other things (well, other than the act of driving itself) when I drive and can devote time to considering any number of issues.  Of course, I also find that I am often driving and thinking because I am listening to NPR which often has stories that cause me to think on a variety of issues.  I also find it to be rather engaging for me even if I do not always agree with its editorial slant.  But, I tend to only listen to NPR when I am anywhere but in front of my computer where I could put my thoughts to paper (so to speak).  From one perspective, that seems like it may actually be a blessing in disguise.

Perhaps I should spend more time in front of my computer when listening to the news.  Then I would have subjects galore upon which to write.  The only problem, of course, would that this would be a far more political blog.  And there are certainly more than enough political blogs in the world - the great majority of them so slanted in their perspective that they serve as only white noise to those who seek more nuanced points of view.  No, I guess with this perspective, it is probably just as well that I do not have the ability to actually write the ideas that come to me while listening to NPR.  There are enough dumb (political) ideas out there already without me unnecessarily adding to the clutter.

So maybe I should come up with some other things to write on.  It is at times like this that I wonder if I should have majored in philosophy instead of political science.  At least then, I might be able to ruminate and look smart at the same time.