I've entered the world of blog. The world of rants and opinions. The world of spilling your guts. The world of introspective reflections that most people could care less about. A little behind the times? Definitely. Better late than never, I guess.
I've been a reader of various blogs for quite some time now -- mostly those by friends, but occasionally I'll peer into the mind of a complete stranger. Up to this point, I've been a blog "lurker", hiding in the shadows. Sometimes I feel like I've stumbled upon someone's super-secret personal diary that I shouldn't be reading, and I'm getting a glimpse into their deepest, darkest secrets. While I know this isn't likely the case, I've got to think that sometimes, just sometimes, people might let down their guard a bit and reveal things they might not normally be willing to reveal in a face-to-face conversation - even with close friends. Or at the very least, people might let you know how they really feel. More-so than any other reason, these compel me to keep going back to read what my friends have to say. I hope this works both ways.
As a side-effect of my pseudo invasion of privacy described above, I haven't engaged others by commenting on their blogs. Not even my friends. But I imagine I'll be more actively involved now that I've thrown myself under the train and started one of my own.
On the rare occasion that I stray from blogs of people I know, there is one over-reaching thing I have noticed. In general, I find it hard to stay interested in blogs by someone I have no personal connection with, unless I can relate to the topic of a particular entry in some way. Otherwise, I could care less what some schlub has to say. If this holds true for others (which I assume it most likely does), I would expect very few people outside of my network of friends to actually spend the time to read what I've got to say. Do I really care if no one reads my ramblings? To some extent, yes I do care. But I'm fully ready to accept the fact that I might just be talking to myself here. These blog things are therapeutic though, right? Right???
Oh well, c'est la vie.