To Blog or Not to Blog that is the Question..

October 30 in the year 2007 I set out on this blogging journey. To be honest I am surprised Ive stuck with it this long, in fact Ive not only stuck with it, I feel guilty if I don't post for a couple of days. It has been a good ride so far, and I'm going to keep at it for the foreseeable future. Here are some random observations, thoughts and insights on my first 5 months of blogging.

I hear time and time again, and have even said as much myself, "I write for me , and not because I care if anyone reads it". It was bullshit when I said it, and its bullshit when anyone else says it. Of course we want to be read. One of the highlights of my day is when I check the geographical referrer logistics in my hit counter and see all the little dots that represent the location of a reader. I'm read by 4 people in Canada, I'm read from the west coast to the east coast, Bitches, Okay 2 people read me once in Canada, and my west coast reader base total 4 people. Still I never miss a day of checking the little bar graphs and wondering why nobody in Idaho ever reads my blog.

Comments are the bane of my existence. I started out thinking that comments were a good indicator of when I had kicked out a well written insightful or humorous piece. Well they aren't. Some of the best stuff I have ever written in my life garnered few if any comments, same goes for hits and page views. This is not a sad attempt to garner more comments and attention, it just goes to show the various tastes and interests across the Internets.

Etiquette, links and honorable mentions really do matter. My two biggest supporters as far as linking or mentioning my blog are Tony's Kansas City and Crime Scene KC. My numbers shoot into the triple digits when one of them mentions something Ive spewed forth. Not that I care, or anything. To my discredit, I don't return the favor often enough, but Ive made a resolution to mention and link to other blogs more often, just not today, but soon , I promise.

Which leads me to bloggers. While the subjects and backgrounds are as diverse and varied as they can be, there are some fairly common traits and idiosyncrasy's that deserve mention. Let me preface the following statements that this is just my take, and for once I'm not being totally judgemental, its just how I see it. I could be completely wrong, heh, as if. Bloggers tend to be cliquish. They form small social groups, and tend to like or dislike the same things, blogs, bloggers, etc. Nothing wrong with that, its a form of socialising and something I don't do much of though I should. Take the blogger meet ups that occur on a fairly frequent basis, and that I have been invited to on a couple of occasions. Ive begged off both times, not because I'm anti social, I am, or because I would feel like an ex-con at a Sheriff's convention, I would. Actually the main reason I haven't gone is because I quit drinking years ago. I loved drinking it just didn't love me. It turned me in to an insufferable prick. So I tend to avoid places and events where booze is a major staple. It keeps the demons at bay and I don't like to tempt fate. I still hope to muster the courage and will power to attend, just as soon as the antibuse I ordered on line arrives and I can get my jaw wired shut.

And finally, Blogs in general. I am constantly surprised by the blogs I read. If you would have told me 6 months ago that everyday I would be faithfully reading blogs by a Russian Jew, a Nurse, a somewhat nerdy opinionated fan of comic book heroes, a 3 initialed black guy, some clown that fancies himself part chimp part burrito seasoning, or a Mexican that makes controversial and incendiary comments, I would have told you that you were crazy, or asked for a hit of what you were smoking. The truth is I'm surprised that there are so many people who have things to say, that I actually care to hear. Go figure. By the way if I left you out of that list, don't take that as an oversight, I'm just lazy and I don't want to make the effort to keep doing the link thing.

So to wrap this overly long missive up. I'm glad I started doing this blog thing. I plan to keep doing it until I run out of shit to say, or until some editor stumbles upon one of my better posts and turns me in to the next Jason Whitlock . Except I wont write about sports, I'm not black, and I'm not nearly as fat, but I'm at least as opinionated. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.