Thursday, June 30, 2005

...on blogging

Things at work have been slow this week due to the upcoming Holiday. I’d like to say that this is a good thing, which to an extent it is; however, these days I have found myself with too much free time on my hands while sitting in front of a computer so, I’ve been doing an awful lot of blog reading.

I think that the blog universe is amazing. It never would have occurred to me that there were so many freaks with lives worth following out there. This is kind of comforting to be honest. Although for as long as I have been part of the blog culture I have had my personal favorites, I have found- mostly by accident- that the most note worthy blogs are simply the most real.

Something else that totally amazes me, and this is something that I’ve noticed from my own experience as a blogger, is how easy it is to become completely addicted to someone by their writings. To fall crazy in like with someone you have never met and will probably never get to meet. It’s somewhat refreshing to know that at least in this realm of existence the words NO STRINGS ATTACHED really do mean something.

I have known some bloggers before they blogged and some (not all) seem more interesting to me on the screen of my computer than they ever did in person. Some are definitely more interesting in person than what they appear to be on the screen. Of the bloggers I have met as bloggers, I always get the distinct feeling that I know them more than I should but nowhere near as much as I’d like. Then there is the blogger I ran into on the subway, who I have never met…that day I felt like I had crossed some weird line.

In any case, it’s interesting to sit here and ponder on the possibilities. I wonder if the people whose lives and thoughts I’ve been following would be interesting to me if they were a part of my physical world. If I would think that the boy who keeps a crappy blog but has a sexy picture was still sexy. If anybody would notice what an obsessive compulsive weirdo I can really be. Then I wonder if I’d care.

Sometimes I get these emails from people who read my blog, or someone who is responding to a comment I left somewhere and although it flatters me that they'd make contact, it worries me that maybe on a one-on-one scale, the effect will not be the same. That thoughts on a screen are more interesting than words aimed directly at you.

The power of the written word is really amazing. It can make you friends, it can make you enemies and laced together the right way, no matter how simply, words can make you invincible. It really makes you think…

12 comments:

Robert_M said...

I've recently contemplated some of these same questions. It seems some new terminology is needed. Blogcrush, or virtual friend or something much better than either of those.

My trouble is I can get quite attached to someone who is really only a web address in my world.

Bracuta said...

I hope I haven't disappointed you.. and if I have... TOUGH!
;-)

Francisco (Melvin) Rosario said...

I'm going to get fired if I don't stop reading blogs ... I've lost control ... again.

Anonymous said...

Hey Annush, I haven;t had time to read blogs the past week since I've been busy but the few I did come across I noticed that three bloggers had HACKERS!! It can be so dangerous and scary! I hope we are protected from this.

Cindy St. Onge said...

"...to fall crazy in like with someone..."
What a great term.

"The power of the written word is really amazing. It can make you friends, it can make you enemies and laced together the right way, no matter how simply, words can make you invincible."

I'm counting on it.

Mona Buonanotte said...

I have dreams about bloggers...people whose faces I may have only seen in shadow, or not at all, but have imagined through their writing and their "voice" and what's happening in their lives. Men AND women. Crushing in a weird way. How can you tell your coworkers or family about your blogging "friends" without sounding like a complete geek-lunatic? "A friend I've never actually met".

That doesn't mean I'll STOP, though...I can't!

F-ftOS said...

A very good post.

However, internet is one thing that has redefined the very meaning of friendship, relationship, love etc... And as a concept something that I can not bring myself to agree upon. How can internet make two individuals, sitting physically apart, friends? Yes it gives the cozy feeling of all that but its not quite the same thing, if you know what I am saying. And the funny part is that people take internet life pretty seriously. Though I like internet, I dread the idea of it becoming such a dominating factor in one's life.

Brandon said...

God, you want to know the worst thing? I like MYSELF better as a blogger. I cannot stand me in real life. But when I'm virtual, I'm all like, 'Yeah, I can tolerate that.' Sad. So. Sad.

Jamie Dawn said...

Words are VERY powerful and should be used wisely in all situations.

About having free time on your hands... You can take up whittling. While your whittling, you can chew tabacco.

Libélula said...

It IS amazing what technology allows us to do. I find myself with a new morning routine now. I get to work and start checking out my favorite BLogs to see what all these people (someof whom I've never met) have to say today.

I enjoy reading yours a lot! Keep up the good writing, sweetie!

Valkyrie said...

The pen is mightier than the sword, so the saying goes.

Nice blog, I think I'll keep on reading.

Weary Hag said...

Once again, very well stated.