CléaIt seems that reaching a major milestone, drawing a line in the sand and following the wind whimsically conspire together to turn the hands of fate. Not that I am one to believe in it but lately, bloggery karma has stepped in and reared its cute anonymous tail and said, “Take me… You know you want to”. Murphy’s Law likes to have a go as well if only to assert its existence. So what has happened? Since the reduction in frequency of posting, cbmused has enjoyed a surge in readership.
But where is the desire to write and share?
Granted, many are ships that pass in the night, asking for “gorgeous buff men”, or “my partner has a gay friend”, or giving stern advice like “if you haven’t walked in others shoes, don’t give advice!”, complete with exclamation mark. But there have been others.
Personal blogging has jumped the shark yet there are a few of us around who still maintain this piece of cyberspace we call home. We nurture it and look after it, stubborn in the belief that it matters to put it out there, or to provide entertainment to the blogosphere. So what remains are the friendships of words over the years, the keeping in touch or keeping up with the Jones and Lims.
I neither have the desire to shut up shop or return to the heady days. My RSS reader continues to clock up numbers. Maintaining comment silence is becoming the norm. Yet, this morning, cbmused echoed a distant siren call.
You are on my list of a few sites I check more than once a day. Don’t go anywhere, ever. I’ll ship you cookies if it’ll help ( I make really good chocolate chip cookies ). You should take me up on this.
You say things so much better than I do. Seriously, this is how I feel. But I think you knew that already. And I’m with Mrs. Mahd – yours is a blog I check religiously. I only have a handful but those are the ones that matter. My feed reader is ridiculously large as well, but it doesn’t bother me like it used to. I have them all broken down into categories anyways. Or I just do it old school – I actually just click over to the site from my favorites folder rather than relying on Google to tell me if there is a new post.
Like all your regular commenters, your blog is one I will always read the moment it’s published. It’s become somewhat a source of inspiration for personal blogging. In fact, maybe I’m a little guilty for pushing the numbers too because I have been recommending your blog to people as a yardstick to personal blogging that has matured over time. A personal blog whose words are beautiful as they are haunting.
For the rest of the stuff on my feed reader, all of them have a reason for subscribing, whether it be my inner geek or a need to laugh or just other people whom I feel I can connect to. I check my feeds religiously 2-3 times a day or whenever I see something new pop up. It saves me time going through them one by one anyway and if I don’t read them as much as I used to. Out it goes from my feed reader.
Guys, you’re making me rethink when you say mine is the blog you check. I feel very humbled, yes, after all this time, I still do.
Mrs Mahd: You can bribe me with cookies any day! But seriously, some days I don’t know what I’m doing here.
SM: I like your old school approach. Go with the flow and do as you feel. I know you’ve had similar thoughts, and have had breaks. I’m not sure a formal break will do anything for me.
Kami: So that’s where the readers came from! I humbly thank you, for the mention and their visits. To be honest, I don’t know what inspiration I can be when I’m in need of it. Maybe that’s the maturity you mention. Not caving in to the pressures of updating/reading/commenting and doing it because we feel like it.
Is it wrong for me to say I see you when I read what you write? You’re there, sitting in a chair, and occasionally you stop typing and look out the partially cracked window, where lofty clouds hover darkly over the ground and the air in the room carries the faintest aroma of the ocean. It’s so unpretentious and so human, and I guess that’s why I can’t stay away.
I think there are days when no one knows what they are doing “here”. My theory on life in general is that I am here for whatever reason (the reason doesn’t really matter) and I will try to make the lives of those I know better for having known me. If what you do makes you and/or others happy, then that’s what you’re doing here. You make our lives better because you are “here”.
Mahd: It’s not wrong but eerily true that it still makes me wonder about the power of words and what they can do.
Mrs Mahd: That is a lovely and humbling philosophy. It fills me with a sense of purpose, something that has been lacking of late in this domain.
Apologies about the delay in replying. And thank you both kindly for your words of encouragement. Hopefully inspiration will return by next week.
I live and die by my old school approach since it’s the only way to comment. Keep up the good fight. I know things have really changed with blogging, but I believe it means something. I’m not one to dismiss all the time we’ve taken to get to know each other. Have a good weekend.
Egan: I’m not sure what it means any more but if I’m still doing it, it’s because of connections made out there over the years. So many memories and so much was shared.
Yeah, I hear you. It’s not nearly the same, yet I believe there’s a lot of value we spent forging a path through cyberspace. I’m not willing to turn my back on blogging just yet. I’m hopeful it still gives us all a connection to the bigger world. The power of words (even over the internet) is truly amazing.
Egan: I have a nostalgia for that past, and part of it keeps me here. I doubt that in the future I could be nostalgic for this present when it comes to cyberspace. After all, if you look at those still visiting and/or commenting, they belong to that era.
The power of words can turn things around instantly. At least that’s been my experience at times.