Who are you? What do you want?
Oct. 22nd, 2005 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassFor over a year, I have been happily blogging away here while my friend Eric has been blogging away on his own site, every 3 days like clockwork. Now, there are three things I would like to say about Eric and his blog at this point:
1. Almost no one reading this has probably ever met Eric.
2. I have known Eric longer than I have known anyone else reading this, with the exception of family.
3. I find Eric's blog highly entertaining, often thought-provoking, and I look forward to it more than any other blog I read (and considering that there are 78 people on my friends' list, that's saying something).
In his most recent entry, Eric was discussing the act of blogging, and left his readers with the following questions: Are you truer to Who You Are on or offline? Is there a difference between the two? Does it matter at all?
By happy coincidence, I have been thinking about similar topics for several weeks, so it pleases me to be able to use Eric's journal as a catalyst to speak about my LJ in general, and the direction I want to take it in particular.
I have come to a very important realization lately: My LJ is boring. Sure, I make the occasional discussion-provoking rant or response to newspaper stupidity, link to the occasional meme or funny website. But mostly, my LJ is full of "what I did today" posts.
I can only assume these types of posts bore everyone. I don't think anyone (with, perhaps, the exception of my mom) cares what schoolwork I did today, whether or not I slept in or did laundry, or when I hung out at Massey. I make this assumption because I would be bored reading it in anyone else's journal, and (narcissist that I am) I figure many people think like me, at least in this matter.
And, if I was being completely honest, I would have to say I don't actually write my "what I did today" posts for the benefit of my readers. I write them so that I have a record later, weeks or months or years down the road, of what I did and what I felt at any particular time. Occasionally, I make "I feel shitty" posts so that I can get support and encouragement, but I am again the main beneficiary of this. In short: I'm not writing for you, I'm writing for me. Sorry to get you caught up in my inherent egocentrism.
What's worse is that I post often, and I post long. My posts are generally so long they need to be put behind an LJ-cut (this post being a prime example). So I'm not just forcing you to read boring trivialities, I'm also forcing you to read them at great length.
So where does that leave us?
I have decided that, at least for a few weeks, I'm going to try something different. Instead of posting "what I did today," I'm going to stick with things I think are more interesting: rants, opinions, essays, links, Once Upon a Time solitaire, story or character ideas, etc. I'm not going to make my posts any shorter (my brain thinks in essays and full arguments), but I will hopefully make them more interesting. I can't promise you sparkling gems of literature every day, but I can at least offer a step up from what I've been giving so far.
I also offer the following: If you have any topic you would like to see me write about, any question about me you've always wanted an answer to, etc. then just comment or email me, and I'll do my best to address it.
Oh, one final note: I never actually answered Eric's question(s): Am I truer to my "true nature" online or offline? Answer: forty-two. (Hail Eris. All hail Discordia.)
1. Almost no one reading this has probably ever met Eric.
2. I have known Eric longer than I have known anyone else reading this, with the exception of family.
3. I find Eric's blog highly entertaining, often thought-provoking, and I look forward to it more than any other blog I read (and considering that there are 78 people on my friends' list, that's saying something).
In his most recent entry, Eric was discussing the act of blogging, and left his readers with the following questions: Are you truer to Who You Are on or offline? Is there a difference between the two? Does it matter at all?
By happy coincidence, I have been thinking about similar topics for several weeks, so it pleases me to be able to use Eric's journal as a catalyst to speak about my LJ in general, and the direction I want to take it in particular.
I have come to a very important realization lately: My LJ is boring. Sure, I make the occasional discussion-provoking rant or response to newspaper stupidity, link to the occasional meme or funny website. But mostly, my LJ is full of "what I did today" posts.
I can only assume these types of posts bore everyone. I don't think anyone (with, perhaps, the exception of my mom) cares what schoolwork I did today, whether or not I slept in or did laundry, or when I hung out at Massey. I make this assumption because I would be bored reading it in anyone else's journal, and (narcissist that I am) I figure many people think like me, at least in this matter.
And, if I was being completely honest, I would have to say I don't actually write my "what I did today" posts for the benefit of my readers. I write them so that I have a record later, weeks or months or years down the road, of what I did and what I felt at any particular time. Occasionally, I make "I feel shitty" posts so that I can get support and encouragement, but I am again the main beneficiary of this. In short: I'm not writing for you, I'm writing for me. Sorry to get you caught up in my inherent egocentrism.
What's worse is that I post often, and I post long. My posts are generally so long they need to be put behind an LJ-cut (this post being a prime example). So I'm not just forcing you to read boring trivialities, I'm also forcing you to read them at great length.
So where does that leave us?
I have decided that, at least for a few weeks, I'm going to try something different. Instead of posting "what I did today," I'm going to stick with things I think are more interesting: rants, opinions, essays, links, Once Upon a Time solitaire, story or character ideas, etc. I'm not going to make my posts any shorter (my brain thinks in essays and full arguments), but I will hopefully make them more interesting. I can't promise you sparkling gems of literature every day, but I can at least offer a step up from what I've been giving so far.
I also offer the following: If you have any topic you would like to see me write about, any question about me you've always wanted an answer to, etc. then just comment or email me, and I'll do my best to address it.
Oh, one final note: I never actually answered Eric's question(s): Am I truer to my "true nature" online or offline? Answer: forty-two. (Hail Eris. All hail Discordia.)
