blogs are a funny medium. why do we write them? there's no grades for them. no money or career. no glory. no forum where you can see people's reactions and feel their responses in person. no platform, power or authority comes from being a great blogger. there is a global tournament for beer pong and bird calling but no world champion of blogging. no pulitzer prize or fields medal. i guess most people write them as a hybrid journal/portfolio. it's simultaneously a way to remember and unpack different experiences and events, and also show our skills to the world. i think most people half expect that there's secretly a simon cawell (sp.?) of bloggers out there searching for the next big star. blogs are people's response to that ultimate frustration of having so many good ideas but never actually codifying them in a written piece. blogs are the common dude's response to the ultimate injustice of unnoticed talent. i think it could be a painful realization though when someone cites "blogspot" as one of their references. any medium where the norm is not to use caps just doesn't fly in interviews. my whole perspective on the existential nature of blogging changed though the other night when at a bar someone (you know who you are, hello, are you there?) actually told me, unsolicited too, that they read my blog! it was one of the finest moments of my life. all of a sudden i felt a little light. the back of my wrists pulsed a little harder thann usual and my stomach dropped from the adrenaline rush. wow, someone had actually read my blog. i looked around the room with starry eyes and everything seemed so perfect. i remember signing a few autographs and beating back the paparrazzi. now that i was a read blogger i would have to get used to it. in a world with no centralization, no authority or formal rules or professional standards, being read was like being a published author, like getting signed as an artist, like getting a standing ovation. 'cause i have learned one of the endearing truths of business, that it doesn't matter if its crap, so long as it sells. and my crap is selling. so it's time for a little flossin'.
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