Blogroll Me!
Are you a blogging idiot like me who goes back time and time again to a favorite blog to read if there are any additional posts throughout the day, to read any additional comments on that post, and to see if your own comments to a post are acknowledged?
If you're sitting there nodding your head no, well I think you're lying. I can't be unique in that way or the only blogging idiot...can I? Many of you might be able to tell by site meters if I've continually visited your blog, and nine times out of ten, I have. I feel that with blogs I've discovered a new form of entertainment; months ago I abandoned the minimal TV watching I was doing, in favor of my computer screen. So imagine my flipping through blogs is the equivalent of channel surfing. Is there something good on at this hour? Should I "turn the channel"? Oh, maybe I'll come back to it later...
I said many posts ago that oftentimes the comments thread are even more interesting and entertaining than the accompanying posts. This is how I came to discover Dr. Bean of Kerckhoff Coffeehouse, and whom I visited in California last month -- I saw his comments on Psycho Toddler I also met PsychoToddler last month the same day I arrived home from California) and there was such a chemistry between the two men, such a unique level of wit/humor/medical knowledge, that I thought they were established friends who might've gone to med school together but were just separated by distance. That couldn't be further from the truth; they are just two guys who both happen to be doctors of internal medicine, family men, Orthodox Jews, both with great senses of humor, high intelligence and wielding the weapon of wit and eloquence!
On other blogs that I tune into, I watch the patterns of newcomers, as they announce their "newness" to the blogger and his readers, but later jump in with both feet to comment continuously and have a true online discourse throughout one or several posts. I have always been an observer of people; I've learned that I do not have to do this in person but can sit at my computer and watch total personalities unfold before my eyes; I can accurately pinpoint character traits, quirks and grievances of people way across the other side of the continent, or even across the world.
A post is a post, but sometimes the comments forum is a multilayered story, a story within a story, if you will. There might be tangents, but the underlying original message of the post will always resurface for the comments readers. Look at my favorite blog, Seraphic Secret, as Robert and Karen Avrech, through posts and comments, slowly unravel for their readers a most entertaining story of their courtship and Robert's longstanding "love from afar" for Karen Singer, who (thank G-d) in time became Karen Avrech -- oh, DOCTOR Karen Avrech!
And then there's the well-read (he is a well-read individual, and his blog is well-read by countless numbers of people) David Bogner of Treppenwitz. David has developed a wonderful style of writing that draws people in, making them want to comment. And even if David has 45 comments in one day (I check his comments throughout the day), for example, he is a most gracious blogging host. He will thank each and every one of us -- BY NAME! -- for our comments, by commenting on our comments. How nice is that?! I think (and here is where you also have to be honest) that we commenters, whether with David's posts or with someone else's, enjoy this acknowledgment. Neither the blogger's writing is in vain (as he knows he has a reading audience) nor is the commenter's writing in vain (as it is publicly acknowledged).
Admit it -- and I could name names here because I see that certain people are also frequent flyers to certain blogs; I bump into them a few times in the course of the day -- don't you like that little public pat on the head from David, or from PsychoToddler, or Robert, or from Mirty, Chaim, or Jack? I know that I do... but that is certainly not why I comment on people's posts; I comment because I have something I want to say...and sometimes our own personal soapbox just isn't the right place at the right time; sometimes we need to find another corner where we can rant, entertain, give advice and suggestions or just make our presence known.
...Ask What You Can Do For Your Blog.
You don't have to do anything; you all have managed to do it real well as far as I can tell. Keep up the good work!
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
This Just In, This Just In -- aka SURPRISE!
Blogroll Me!
A man standing in line at a check out counter of a grocery store was very surprised when a very attractive woman behind him said, "Hello!"
Her face was beaming.
He gave her that "who are you look," and couldn't remember ever having seen her before. Then, noticing his look, she figured she had made a mistake and apologized. "Look," she said "I'm really sorry but when I first saw you, I thought you were the father of one of my children," and walked out of the store.
The guy was dumbfounded and thought to himself, "What the hell is the world coming to? Here is an attractive woman who can't keep track of who fathers her children! " Then he got a little panicky. "I don't remember her," he thought but, MAYBE...during one of the wild parties he had been to when he was in college, perhaps he did father her child!
He ran from the store and caught her in the parking lot and asked, "Are you the girl I met at a party in college, we got really drunk and woke up the next morning in a sleazy motel?"
"No", she said with a horrified look on her face. "I'm your son's HEBREW SCHOOL TEACHER!"
A man standing in line at a check out counter of a grocery store was very surprised when a very attractive woman behind him said, "Hello!"
Her face was beaming.
He gave her that "who are you look," and couldn't remember ever having seen her before. Then, noticing his look, she figured she had made a mistake and apologized. "Look," she said "I'm really sorry but when I first saw you, I thought you were the father of one of my children," and walked out of the store.
The guy was dumbfounded and thought to himself, "What the hell is the world coming to? Here is an attractive woman who can't keep track of who fathers her children! " Then he got a little panicky. "I don't remember her," he thought but, MAYBE...during one of the wild parties he had been to when he was in college, perhaps he did father her child!
He ran from the store and caught her in the parking lot and asked, "Are you the girl I met at a party in college, we got really drunk and woke up the next morning in a sleazy motel?"
"No", she said with a horrified look on her face. "I'm your son's HEBREW SCHOOL TEACHER!"
Pleased with Oneself
Blogroll Me!
Very late last night I was checking out blogs (what else is new?) and then I decided to look through my own posts. After all, I'd been keeping a blog since December, and it was time to review my Pearlies of Wisdom.
I referred to the index source of titles -- "Wow," I thought to myself. "Some of these titles are great, but without reading the posts, I have no recollection what they're about." And I began to read, and my tiny bit of ego that shines through when insecurity isn't looking, said, "Hey, Pearl...that's some good writing you've got there. Why no comments for so many posts? Why aren't you a full-time writer? Why hasn't any daily publication snatched you up for your own column? Why do you take the time to write posts, but not pursue your children's picture book ideas? What are you waiting for? How did you manage that strange typo three months ago -- I thought you strove for perfection in your writing, trying to make it error-free as possible while silently mocking other people for their atrocious errors?" And ego went on and on and on...and became tiresome to listen to.
But I decided that ego's first comment was the best one of all -- insightful and encouraging. And I'd like to think that you readers agree with ego...!
Very late last night I was checking out blogs (what else is new?) and then I decided to look through my own posts. After all, I'd been keeping a blog since December, and it was time to review my Pearlies of Wisdom.
I referred to the index source of titles -- "Wow," I thought to myself. "Some of these titles are great, but without reading the posts, I have no recollection what they're about." And I began to read, and my tiny bit of ego that shines through when insecurity isn't looking, said, "Hey, Pearl...that's some good writing you've got there. Why no comments for so many posts? Why aren't you a full-time writer? Why hasn't any daily publication snatched you up for your own column? Why do you take the time to write posts, but not pursue your children's picture book ideas? What are you waiting for? How did you manage that strange typo three months ago -- I thought you strove for perfection in your writing, trying to make it error-free as possible while silently mocking other people for their atrocious errors?" And ego went on and on and on...and became tiresome to listen to.
But I decided that ego's first comment was the best one of all -- insightful and encouraging. And I'd like to think that you readers agree with ego...!
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