Posted by Stitchy McYarnpants On August - 23 - 2006   ShareThis

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I know it looks like I never bother with the blog much, but let me tell you, I’ve actually been blogging until the wee hours of the morning for a week now.‚ All, and I mean ALL the images imported from my old blog on Blogger were no longer working, so I had to go back and fix each and every one.

It turns out that if you right-click the broken image, you can cut and paste the address into a new window and see the photo. I did that for every picture and saved it to my hard drive. I like to have pictures that embiggen when you click on them, which means that I also had to save the larger versions of each picture as a separate file. Then I uploaded them onto this blog, which became a million times easier when I figured out that I could just transfer the files using the ftp site that comes with my service from Living Dot. (great service, by the way. Awesome support quick and friendly!) Then I had to go into each post and replace every picture, including the link to the larger version.

It took a long time. I’ve been blogging for almost exactly two years! (I started on August 31st, 2004) It’s amazing how much the simple act of blogging has changed my life. Not only do I have a pretty good record of the last two years worth of knitting, I’ve met or corresponded with‚ untold numbers of truly brilliant and inspiring people, been to countless parties and dinners and events that I never would have known about, I have a freaking book out, and even more than that, I’ve made some really great friends. I can’t even imagine what I else I could have been doing over the past two years that could have come close.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love these here internets. Where else could you amass such a group of funny and interesting people? Just think of the amount of “conversation” you’ve shared with bloggers you read. I tend to think of blogs as emails to people you want to keep in touch with. How many people are in your bloglines list? How many blogs do you read on a regular basis? The relationship that we as bloggers share with one another is certainly different that those we share with the people sitting right next to us on the train. But I don’t think that difference makes it any less valuable. Rather than stumbling around with the small talk you get trapped into with acquaintances, bloggers tend to get right down to it. Our personalities are out there, right alongside our brand new handknits and often times, our dirty laundry. I think writing allows people to express themselves more fully than just having casual conversations, so even casual posts tend to be more thoughtful than your typical “Hey, how ya’ doin’?” at the grocery store. And once you’ve had that thoughtful back and forth with someone, I find it gives you a leg up when you actually meet them in person.

It’s like a little sanity check sometimes, just to skim the blogs and see that people’s kids are thriving, brain surgeries are going well, bones are mending, chairs are flying off the back of trucks on the highway, people are going nuts dealing with crazy house crap or sometimes facing serious medical issues with themselves or loved ones. But everyone is determined to keep on keepin’ on. When you look at it as a whole, the blogging community is like a machine chugging along, recording daily life – the good, the bad, and the boring.

I don’t know, maybe this is why I was so addicted to the Sims. I just like keeping track of everyone, knowing I can pop in and say hi, even though we haven’t officially met. There’s something about the looseness of it all that I find fits me really well. I think many of us are aware of each other and know things about each other from our blogs, even though we’ve never met, maybe haven’t even corresponded. And yet we still have a strange kinship. There needs to be a word for whatever that is. Something other than creepy.

17 Responses

  1. maryse says:

    hahahahahahahaha

    you had me at “creepy”

    and no, i’m not stalking you. it may appear as if i am, since over and over again, i end up being you first commenter. but i swear to you, i’m not stalking. really. i’m not.

    NOT STALKING!!

  2. melanie says:

    It’s not stalking if you love them.

    :)

  3. Candice says:

    Yeah, there needs to be a new term for being obsessed with blog reading that sorta is LIKE stalking, but isn’t creepy. Cuz, “Blog-stalker” has a bad connotation. This coming from a girl who’s family calls Meatloaf (the food, not the singer) “Bill”. Because meatloaf is good, but it has a reputation for being bad, so we gave it a new name.

  4. Carole says:

    So, you think bloggers are like Sims? You can’t control me, you know. 😉
    It’s not like I’d join a lace race just because someone challenges me or something. The blog doesn’t run my life. :-)

  5. Kellee says:

    Duuuuuude. I am so totally stalking you. Wanna come over to my house and play dollies? I have candy.

  6. kmkat says:

    How about “community”? That’s a good word.

  7. Erin says:

    Oh yeah, creepy definitely is not the word for it…I haven’t got a clue what the word would be though…

  8. Dani says:

    You hit the nail on the head when you said that blogging is more than small talk. I’ve had better conversations with people who read my blog than with most of my co-workers.

  9. Daisy Mae says:

    I used to be Sims obsessed too, but then I became blog obsessed.

    I remember 2 years ago looking up on Google to see what the term “blog” meant! Now almost 2 years later – here I am. It’s been a wild ride!

  10. Laurie says:

    It’s been pretty amazing. (And happy blogiversary as it approaches.)

    Better watch out for Kellee. She’s not kidding. At least demand a spin of her new wheel.

  11. Dorothy B says:

    It does sound a bit creepy, but oh so fun!

  12. Monica says:

    It is a strange thing to know things about a person without having met or directly communicated with them. And then it becomes normal.

  13. Heather says:

    Well-said! Blogging is always a surprise. You’ve known that each person is unique and fascinating, but finally you can see it for yourself. No life is ordinary! Its also so nice to know that people are truly interested in you and like to read about you.

  14. Paige says:

    hi,your probably don’t remember me,but I’m your Uncle Rolands grandaughter,Cheryls daughter.

  15. Hi Paige!!

    Are you kidding? I totally remember you! I met you at Uncle Henry and Auntie Doris’ anniversary party. Sweet, pretty, smart, yep, I remember. :)

    Send me your email address so we can chit chat!

  16. monique says:

    what a perfect description of blogging! and I have to confess, my “small talk” skills have gone right out the window…

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