Who Blogs and Why?

HBM and her mom stirred up quite the discussion all over the net these last few days.

The words 'Narcissism' and 'Privilege' have been thrown out there and the reactions and discussion has been really amazing.

Life of Pie sums it up the best, so I will let you read her take on it.

It boils down to judgements and perspective I think.

True. We in the Western Civilization where computers are affordable or accessible and the concept of freedom of speech is still more fact than propaganda ARE lucky and more privileged than others.

And how the hell is it spelled? I always went with Priviledge but I guess I am totally wrong and Privilege is right!!

Anyway....I don't really think Bloggers DO fit into one class. Not here or in the rest of the world.

As soon as free services like Blogger, and Wordpress showed up, you opened the opportunity to have a website to ALL not just those willing to spend money on hosting and web design and development.

With computer prices getting lower and lower and more and more people of all stripes surfing the net.....gone were the days of techie elitism.

So who blogs?
Everyone? Everyone with access to a computer that is. And anyone with the inclination.

I don't think it is all navel gazing.
There are all kinds of blogs out there.

Parenting blogs get picked on a lot because we are not supposed to be so angst or whiney or even have the TIME to blog if we are parents.

Others get picked on because they use their blogs as journals.

People seem to be affronted that we might want to share or that people might want to read our opinions.

I love it.

I love that the world is a smaller place because of the internet.
I love that we can read personal perspective on issues we see in the news.
I love that we can find other people with the same values or ideas or humour.
I love that we can be entertained.

I love that the internet IS for all and not controlled by governments or corporations (yet).

I blog because it keeps my brain working and helps me focus on my world.
I read blogs because it is better than the tv and better than the papers.

I feel that I am communicating with people.

What a gift.

Why do you blog?

New for 2007

So while Crunchy Husband is totally horrified that I deleted Crunchy Carpets because of 'all that work'....I am ok with it.

I own the Crunchy Carpets URL...I am hoping down the road to set up my own Crunchy Carpets website without the constraints of using a 'free blog' set up like blogger.

I am excited about my community site and want to get that going as soon as possible.

I have lots of ideas and would like to see them at least started for 2007.

Crunchy Husband and I spent an hour last night working on our resolutions for '07 and basically it was to 1)make more money 2) be more proactive in our situation 3) build on our dreams and plans together. Not too bad.

So while I wait for my mighty Crunchy Carpets Empire to form, I think I will have fun with this little blog. I am going to use the 'fresh start' approach to "steal" some cool ideas from other sites....I love that Skittles has special 'theme' days...I think I will try something like that. I already like the Thursday Thirteen thing.

I am trying to get back to reading more, so I think I will try more book review type things too.

Knowing me, there is probably no way I can NOT talk about my family and my kids....but I want to stay away from the 'diary' or 'journal' feel to the blog.

I was finding it too easy to use the blog as a journal and therefore vent or rant about personal stuff based on my 'mood' of the moment and that (IMO) is too personal and too easily misread.

I am a pretty open person, but I think I need to impose some limits on myself.

I am also hoping that if I impose some more limits that I won't spend SO much time on the blog. I was finding that it was easier and more 'fun' to fart around with it and surf all the other blogs instead of doing stuff at home from housework to doing stuff with the kids.

I need to create more structure and discipline for myself. Focus a bit more on my 'real' life.....you know how it goes.

So...I will be here but am going to try to really pace myself.

Hope that all makes some sense.

Greetings old and new friends

I am sure the old friends are a bit befuddled by my sudden disapearance yesterday.

After upsetting my husband twice over posts that I thought were perfectdly innocent I decided that while I have LOVED my blog, my relationship with him was more important.

So I deleted it. The whole thing.

I thought I would be REALLY upset over it..but strangely I am not. I am sad about it, but also know it was the right decision. I need to focus on my real life too.

However, be dammed if I am going to abandon the blog world all together. I am having too much fun and have made too many friends, who I hope to find again..or that they find ME again!

So I am going to scale back on the family stuff. There are lots of other things about ME that I can explore.

Two things that are really important to me is SQT's Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin Blog and Stewart Sternberg's House of Sternberg.

The first because I LOVE talking sci fi and fantasy with such a fun crew.

The second because Mr. Sternberg has given me the encouragement and permission to take his fun 'Writing Assignments' to hone our literary skills. I have done two of them and thoroughly enjoyed the process and the discussion that surrounds everyone's contributions.

This is good for me. I will post the two short stories I have already done when I dig em up from Word.

I have not given up the personal or 'mommy' blog. In fact I am working on and hopefully launching very soon Wet Coast Woman . This is going to hopefully be a meeting place for all the women bloggers lurking on BC's WestCoast.....you know who you are! So stay tuned.

So this new incarnation.....new for the NEW YEAR and all that.....will be a bit more esoteric. I think I am going to try and cover more issues and ideas, opinions and so forth.

I think I will still do the 'Inside the Brain of Adam'....people get a kick out of it and it cracks me up too.

I do hope this doesn't upset people.

I apologize to all the people who have linked to me.
I apologize to all the people that I have advertising 'deals' set up with.

I am sorry for the abruptness of it all.

I am sure people feel that I could have just 'edited'...but it just felt right for me to just sweep the old away.

I lay awake for hours last night thinking about this and realizing that it was the right thing to do and that I felt ok about it.

So. On with the new.

Happy New Year.