on blogging
“I think blogging is getting old,” a friend messaged me over IM. Really, I don’t think so, and I don’t think it ever will. People enjoy blogging and reading blogs for the same reason they enjoy reading books and magazines. People love a good story. People love a good story even more when it’s about people they know. It’s that circle of proximity we learned about in my graduate game design class. If you see on TV that someone won the lottery, you’re mildly interested. “Great, someone won the lottery.” If you see on TV that someone in your neighborhood won the lottery, you’re very interested. “Wow, someone down the street from me won the lottery!” If you hear that your friend won the lottery, you’re intensely interested. “Oh my gosh, my friend won the lottery!” If you win the lottery, well, it’s all about you, isn’t it? “I won the lottery!” The closer it gets to you, the more interested you instantly become. We’re self-centered like that, and this is why blogging works.
People love snooping into other people’s lives. I think people who watch soap operas are desperately in need of real life drama, whether it be their own, or preferably, someone else’s. Blogging enables these vicarious living enthusiasts to snoop legally and in hiding. At the same time, the blogger still decides what exactly you get to “snoop in on,” and that doesn’t include the kitchen garbage.
Blogging is also for people who love to write. I always sucked at math and science, and now, salvation, I finally have a way, without being a famous author, to use that skill that everyone seems to overlook. Engineers don’t like writing for the same reason I don’t like coding — it’s work. But writing isn’t work for me. It just gushes out like lifeblood from a severed artery (I never claimed it was good or appetizing), and no matter who complains, no one’s stopped reading yet.
I think our earlier commentator is just bitter because of his small audience. Sounds a little Freudian to me. Of course, I wouldn’t bother reading something that was updated once a month either. On the other hand, my blog story of the week entails my boss taking me for a spin in his FERRARI in the middle of work last Wednesday. That’s right, I’m just sitting there, doodling away in Visio, when my boss walks by my cube, hardly stopping, and says “I got the car downstairs, wanna go for a ride?” “Hell yeah,” I said, dropped everything, and left.
We rumbled out of the parking garage, setting off every car alarm in our path, careened out of the lot, and sprung onto Ralston Avenue. Temperamental about my boss’ shifting, the car would take a deep breath before suddenly leaping forward, jetting down the street and sending dust and birds flying in all directions. We turned back onto campus through the other entrance, veering past a sedan and leaning into the sharp turn around the block Oracle logo in front of the main building. Just when I thought we’d lose our grip on the road we’d suddenly accelerate so that we seemed to lift off the asphalt around the corner.
“You can’t sneak up on anyone with this car!” I yelled with both windows rolled down and the engine roaring. “Nope!” my boss said back, hitting the brakes just before the imminent flattening of a frightened employee who darted across the street. He let me out at the building 200 turnaround, and I returned to my cube, windblown.
I probably shouldn’t have turned down the offer to drive it (and there was an offer), but I am just way too irresponsible to be allowed to drive my boss’ car, especially with him in it.
I’m putting a line here, because as I told B, when you’re too lazy to link anything together in your blog using methods your English teacher taught you, you should just put a line and start talking about something else. Works great, less saturated fat than other leading brands. B’s started a blog about her travels in Japan. Now that I’ve done my duty advertising for her, I think everyone should spring for the “buy B real site hosting” fund, and convince her that $3/month is worth saving me a little bandwidth. In reality, I’m just jealous that the photos I’m hosting for her are getting more hits than any other page on my site combined. I’ve also told her that I am not sure I can post another picture of a Japanese toilet while at work.
In other news (this is also a good method of starting an unrelated paragraph), I see Saturyne in five days, and I am already contemplating if I should borrow another one of her articles of clothing, take it to Faneuil Hall, and spill clam chowder on it. You know, for old time’s sake.
