August 14, 2008

If she read me, she'd already know

Originally published March 2, 2005

From christina:

Here is a question for some of the seasoned bloggers (Jack, Mr. Helpful, Velociman, Rob, Key, Sam, Eric, Jim, and Dax) out there, as well as for the newbies (Will, Bad Bad Juju, Wit Nit, Phin, Smiling Dynamite and 30 second thoughts) :

Why do we do this blogging thing?

It is time consuming and it costs most bloggers money out of their own pockets to do.

Personally, I have always enjoyed writing and sharing stories and experiences.

I was not sure what to expect when I first launched into this endeavor six months ago, but I am so very pleased I did.

I had no idea how rewarding the "connection" with those who comment and other bloggers would be. Some of those connections have turned into real friendships.

While there are days I think I would like nothing better than to delete Feisty (usually for reasons totally unrelated to blogging), at this point, I cannot imagine not blogging.

I started blogging to get a lot of crap out of my system. I believe I posted almost every day for six months before I reached 5,000 visitors on my site meter. At the time, I was flattered that SO MANY people read me. Now, I see newbies come along who crash 5,000 visitors in their first week.

I think blogging was more difficult when I started (yeah, yeah... typical old fart reaction) because blogging was fairly new at the time. Not many people ever heard of a blog before, and most bloggers I met at the time did it for the same reason I did-- it was fun.

The blog-world has changed a lot during the past three years, and not all of those changes have been for the better in MY humble opinion, but blogging is just now talking its first serious baby-steps. It will continue to grow, evolve, mutate or whatever--- but it ain't going away.

I really believe that blogs will change communications permenently and for the better over the next five years. MSM had better watch out. It's just too easy to start a blog and that "internet community" DOES exist. Once you find yourself a part of it, the experience becomes addictive.

I still blog for the same reason I started: "A ceaseless quest for adoration from people who don't know me."

But somehow, along the way, I've met a lot of people who DO know me now. And I consider them to be part of my extended family. They piss me off, they make me laugh and on more than one occasion, they've gotten me drunk. I exchange emails with people from all over the world. I have "friends" that I'll probably never meet in person.

Yes, I even got laid a couple of times because of my blog.

I've had people threaten to kill me, I've received the most obscene and despicable hate-mail imaginable and I've had people call me all kinds of hurtful names. And I've received marriage proposals, too. That's part of the fun. You never know what in the hell you may find when you open your email.

I blog because I enjoy doing it. It feeds my ever-hungry ego, plain and simple. But I wouldn't trade the people I've met through blogging for anything in this world. Them's some good people. Sometimes, I like the blogosphere better than I like my real life. Spooky thought, isn't it?

That's why I blog. I am a disturbed man.