A rather late response from me. I have a free blog at Livejournal which I started roughly 5 years ago. It allows you (for the time being - they're trying to change things) to have your own layout and stuff plus you can join up with various groups/communities. A couple of days ago I set one up with WordPress, which I also really like. It takes some to figure out what is what and what goes where but once you've got the hang of it, you can quickly make a website that looks really professional. :)