The hardest thing to comprehend in any relationship is the point when total strangers cease to be that and start having an effect on our lives. The first time you meet a potential friend there is this moment when you stop assess them from top to bottom, figure out what their intentions are and then wonder if they might be a competition to something that you own or might own. You are guarded and cautious. You take the first step and go out or talk, mentally wondering if this would work out. You want to sense a chemistry and look for it. You want to see something common.You are also careful in how you put yourself out there. Restrained yet no stand-offish, jovial yet not all over. I often compare making friends to reading a book. You see a book sitting on the shelf. The cover and the title looks tantalizing, but you don't want to be fooled. You pick it up, turn it around examining it, reading the synopsis at the back and then looking at the front page. the price seems reasonable, you buy it. You still haven't decided if you like it or not, you are just giving it a chance. You then find a comfortable spot and start reading. A good book, like a good friend can be addictive, interesting, can never bore you to death and will always be around when you want something to keep you occupied.
The strangest part of technology is this whole scanning process is pared down to almost nothing. We meet a person online, a total stranger who we cannot see and yet we open up in the relative comfort of our chair we reveal our likes, dislikes and the in betweens. We never realise the impact they have on our lives either. I follow a couple of blogs regularly. Very normal people, with the very normal stories like you and I might have. They make themselves interesting with their take on lives. Some of their posts are uncannily similar to my own experiences. I scream been there done that almost twice a week. I feel all cheerful when someone gets married, is pregnant or just graduated. Sometimes they go of the radar for days together and then I fret, I wonder why, and wonder when. I twiddle my thumbs and get irritated because I don't know what is going on. I have been thinking when these total strangers started having so much effect on my life and haven't been able to figure it out. I do sometimes get a very uncomfortable feeling that I have too much time on my hands.
10.24.2006
Blogging F(ph)aces!!
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6 Borrowed my shoes:
I hear ya. What has helped though is adding all the blogs I read (and new ones) to my RSS news reader. So whenever I log in I see the updated ones, and it saves me time.
Ya and you do start to care about the folks who blog. I find myself doing it even though I am usuallystretched for time. I guess it's a way to commune given our busy lives and not having to say hang out at a bar or someone's place? That make sense?
Oh I so relate to this feeling. Familiar strangers that's what sanjay calls them :)Like the time when you went off to India and i was wondering what happened to you :)
I've made some friends exchanged virtual hugs and kisses and felt like I found family. And yes i worry about them and am happy when something good happens for them The same way I feel for any other friend. Never found anything wrong with that.
@ Sanjay: Makes Sense a lot. Kinda lika a Kinship I would say. Birds of a feather flocking together...
@M: I like the interaction. Gives me a fmaily when the rest are 18,000 miles away.
Nice post! One very close to my heart. I have always maintained a discreet distance between my online life and my real life. However, with the advent of the blog, that distinction seemed to blur.
I think one of the reasons, is the writing of each individual while extremely different gives a window to their thoughts. Now, with being every post to that persons thoughts kind of make you feel binded to that person. Then you start missing the blog at first and then the person.
In our busy lives, we kind of use this as a social networking tool to know other people, to have discussions, to talk and share experiences.
arre men be thankful you have that much time on your hands... whew! i wish i did!!
so much so im spending all my waking hours....sleeping now..
err ok that was a direct contradiction..
ho hum.
goodnight.
Nice post! What I like about blogging is interacting with people who pen their experiences; some blogs have information, others anectodes or recipes. It offers anonymity therefore I am comfortable expressing myself.
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