Something side to my last post – about blogging in general.
Lately I’ve come to think about the entire world of posting discussions and opinions as an allusion to a world where we were all telepathic.
That is — the amount of crazy, conflicting things that go through your head at any time would be
1) maddening to the telepath
2) misleading to your “actual nature”
… i.e. You are not your thoughts. A theme of the fiction of telepathic characters that I remember has to do with the training of the telepath to filter out the noise of a person’s thoughts — that the sum of all the thoughts of a person are a incorrect view of their character.
How does this tie to blogging?
Well, How many of us draw an impression of a person on how they blog? What does that actually represent about that person? Does it even matter what a person posits or rants about?
This all becomes more interesting/troublesome as these random bits of information are being used by external parties to paint a digital picture of you and “who you are” (no matter how fallacious that may be).
And another aside: is it that healthy to actually know that much about one another?
I have no real answers, just random meaningless thoughts going through my head.
—
Yes, I hate “blog” and “blogging” and such. I’ve given up. *the word itself, not online journaling*
Cunt biscuits? Indeed sir!
Well I have met some fantastic people via their BLOGS. 😉 And I have actually been very lucky so far, and been able to at least predict if folks were going to be people I wanted to meet. So far, so good! Only a few of the LJers I have met in person were more than slightly surprising as far as how I “thought” they would be. So, I guess I have been able to form at least moderately accurate impressions, and I feel like as long as we keep in mind that people are NOT their “blogs”, it can be an interesting way to partially get to know someone. I journal at my own risk and I know that some people take one look at the boring crap I write about and run the other way. I’m okay with that. 😉
And if none of this makes sense, it’s because I am sleep deprived! Yay! SEE MY “BLOG” FOR ALL THE GORY DETAILS!!! 😉
One of the things I’ve noticed is that since a lot of my LJ friends are also friends in real life, it ends up making me feel a lot more comfortable about talking about personal things with them. Like, when I was having problems with my birth control, I most likely would have not brought it up in casual converation with my friends, but after I posted about it I felt comfortable talking about it in person. It’s kind of strange. I feel like it’s ended up being a good thing, in that it’s helped me be less reticent about my life in general and ultimately brought me closer to my friends. But they also have the benefit of knowing me in a larger context than just my blog, so for them it’s just one facet of my being instead of the whole shebang.
It’s funny how even when I think I’m being really open on my blog, I’ve left out what seems like crucial information, or unintentionally misled people. Until I started talking about birth control, one of my online-only friends actually was under the impression that I was a gay man who was very comfortable with his feminine side! I blinked and then realized that there was nothing in my profile and very little in my recent posts to tip him off as to my gender. It was amusing but also disconcerting.
Am I not allowed to have a pah-suede-oh intellectual conversation around here, Mr. Beefcakes?
yeah, but you know that a rant is a rant and take things with grains of salt and such. And things.
Self-censorship is an interesting beast, no? I wonder how much one would self-censor in a paper journal, or what spin they put on things even when only they will read it.
as an aside, i wonder how different public faces fit into the accord – my work persona is quite different from my derby one, which in turn is similar to but not really the same as my coaching one, which is quite the opposite from my happy-go-lucky drunk one. and that’s just the surface – underneath my workface, i’m thinking “die. and give me correct change. and i’m going to throttle you right now, piggie” whereas underneath the tough skater facade, i’m usually going “oh god don’t kill me too much.”
what i write in the online-o-verse is a weird conglomeration of everything, not-at-all tempered by caffeine and spite.
Oh god so much salt. The internets require a lot of salt.
p.s. how goddamn adorable are you with facial hair! NO SALT NEEDED FOR THAT ONE, CHIEF!
p.s. did you and/or your significant other leave delicious preserves at my house after the party?
if so, what is in with the raspberry ones? They are TEH YUMMY.
Save it for the Spanish!
I claim these internets for me!
Lately I’ve come to think about the entire world of posting discussions and opinions as an allusion to a world where we were all telepathic
Um . . . I was thinking this last night. o.0
Going back and reading my own paper journals, I’ve often wondered what kind of crack I was smoking. Did I really think so-and-so was going to return my affections (wow, I just typed “infections” by accident — the wine makes me speak the truth!)? Did I honest think that I had a unique perspective on the world, when really I was just depressed?
Yeah, I’ve tried really hard of late to not make any posts where “emotional flare up of the moment” and opinion cross.
That generally doesn’t end up well for me, in terms of how others see me, or in relaying what I really think about something.
I don’t know, I’ve been a bit wishy washey on the whole blog thing in general lately, and have been trying to define (for myself) why I bother to do it. I know why did at one time, for sure, but I just don’t know if those reasons are still relevant to who I am as a person today, know what I’m saying?
I have to say I find blog posts more valuable from the people I’ve actually met in person. I have tone and expressional/action context in which I can place the blogger’s post.
We did as a delicious gift! I also left my watch, but that is not a gift.
The raspberry we have dubbed Rainbow Sherbet Jam! It is raspberry, mint and lemon. I think it came out divinely.
But I thought I was a unique snowflake!
omg it is so good! Thank you very much. And I am glad to know that’s your watch. =) I kept meaning to post an APB but forgot!
“The internets require a lot of salt.”
Quotable.