Monday, November 15, 2004
Happy Blogday to me. But most importantly, to you.
Everyone is celebrating blog-birthdays and this blog is no exception! Tomorrow marks a year since Joe Bloggs first started making inane observations (complete with spelling errors!).
And what a year it has been. As my sub-headline says, stuff happens, then you fall asleep. Well, a lot of 'stuff' has happened, and then a lot of naps have been taken.
What kind of blog?
I never expected Joe Bloggs to last even this long. What happened was that when blogging became really popular, like way back in, oh, 2003 - I started thinking about what kind of blog I would write. I didn't think I could do like a 'straight' diary, because it would be too boring (for me as well as any potential readers):
'Tuesday: got up late, went to work on the train which was full; did some work, got on the internet, did some blogging until lunchtime; had lunch (cheese rolls - yum), walked around the shops, wondered why so many people were wasting their money on so much crap; went back to work, felt sleepy as I always do at this time of day, got back on the internet to find something interesting so I wouldn't fall asleep, did some more work; left work before any of the other losers who are still in the neanderthal trying-to-impress-the-boss stage of existence, went for a run around Princes Park, went home, had a shower, cooked dinner (pasta with tuna, peas and cheese - yum), went to bed. Dreamt about living in a castle.'
See? Write it once and it's kind of OK.
But what do you say on Wednesday?
Concept required.
So I needed a theme or a concept. And I thought, I sometimes think of odd things to say.
The 'sometimes' part of that thought meant I didn't have to post every day, only when a thought came to me; and the 'odd things' part meant it might have some small chance - hopefully better than that of a snowflake in hell - of being vaguely interesting.
So I started my Joe Bloggs blog, very slowly at first. I think a month went by between some of the first posts.
My other blogs.
But I also thought of other things to blog about, so I started some other blogs. One was The Lost Blogs' Home, which was a fascinating and extremely enjoyable blog for me to write - because it was all about other people's blogs. Eventually it became too time-consuming trawling through all those wonderful blogs by people all over the world), so I closed the Lost Blogs' Home.
Another blog I started was What I Cooked Last Night, in which I posted about - surprise, surprise - what I cooked last night. Alongside that, I wrote a companion blog about what I did when I wasn't cooking, and that blog is A Hundred Million Miles. Both of these blogs continue and are cross-referenced in their respective sidebars. I didn't cross-reference these blogs to Joe Bloggs, because there was no real connection.
Commenters kept blog going.
But the real reason I have persisted with Joe Bloggs is that I have enjoyed receiving comments - relatively few compared to some bloggers, but then I am not fooling myself about the level of general appeal a dozy, lazy blogger making casual observations and inane comments about life can hope to command.
My loyal little band of commenters includes the Poet Princess Tif, the incredible Vadergrrl, the unique and wonderful Boo, the amazing Monkey, Prestbury from the UK to whom I am always giving advice, artist and DJ Mel, Patrick the writer extraordinaire and lately, my lovely mid-western correspondent Kristine. Apologies if I have missed any.
After all, it might be just a blog, but when I come home at night and open up my comments, to see that some folks have visited is the nicest thing in the world!
is it time for a nap yet? i think so
And what a year it has been. As my sub-headline says, stuff happens, then you fall asleep. Well, a lot of 'stuff' has happened, and then a lot of naps have been taken.
What kind of blog?
I never expected Joe Bloggs to last even this long. What happened was that when blogging became really popular, like way back in, oh, 2003 - I started thinking about what kind of blog I would write. I didn't think I could do like a 'straight' diary, because it would be too boring (for me as well as any potential readers):
'Tuesday: got up late, went to work on the train which was full; did some work, got on the internet, did some blogging until lunchtime; had lunch (cheese rolls - yum), walked around the shops, wondered why so many people were wasting their money on so much crap; went back to work, felt sleepy as I always do at this time of day, got back on the internet to find something interesting so I wouldn't fall asleep, did some more work; left work before any of the other losers who are still in the neanderthal trying-to-impress-the-boss stage of existence, went for a run around Princes Park, went home, had a shower, cooked dinner (pasta with tuna, peas and cheese - yum), went to bed. Dreamt about living in a castle.'
See? Write it once and it's kind of OK.
But what do you say on Wednesday?
Concept required.
So I needed a theme or a concept. And I thought, I sometimes think of odd things to say.
The 'sometimes' part of that thought meant I didn't have to post every day, only when a thought came to me; and the 'odd things' part meant it might have some small chance - hopefully better than that of a snowflake in hell - of being vaguely interesting.
So I started my Joe Bloggs blog, very slowly at first. I think a month went by between some of the first posts.
My other blogs.
But I also thought of other things to blog about, so I started some other blogs. One was The Lost Blogs' Home, which was a fascinating and extremely enjoyable blog for me to write - because it was all about other people's blogs. Eventually it became too time-consuming trawling through all those wonderful blogs by people all over the world), so I closed the Lost Blogs' Home.
Another blog I started was What I Cooked Last Night, in which I posted about - surprise, surprise - what I cooked last night. Alongside that, I wrote a companion blog about what I did when I wasn't cooking, and that blog is A Hundred Million Miles. Both of these blogs continue and are cross-referenced in their respective sidebars. I didn't cross-reference these blogs to Joe Bloggs, because there was no real connection.
Commenters kept blog going.
But the real reason I have persisted with Joe Bloggs is that I have enjoyed receiving comments - relatively few compared to some bloggers, but then I am not fooling myself about the level of general appeal a dozy, lazy blogger making casual observations and inane comments about life can hope to command.
My loyal little band of commenters includes the Poet Princess Tif, the incredible Vadergrrl, the unique and wonderful Boo, the amazing Monkey, Prestbury from the UK to whom I am always giving advice, artist and DJ Mel, Patrick the writer extraordinaire and lately, my lovely mid-western correspondent Kristine. Apologies if I have missed any.
After all, it might be just a blog, but when I come home at night and open up my comments, to see that some folks have visited is the nicest thing in the world!
is it time for a nap yet? i think so
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