to learn style sheets? yeesh.

i figure it's my site, my money, i post what i want. and usually it's just random stuff as well. not the more thought out stuff that you've started to do (which is excellent btw). i generally tune out the stuff that isn't interesting to me.

that's pretty much what i do. i'm really thinking about doing another site (in addition to this one) that tells an extended story-- kind of like unfolded origami, though probably not as cool and thought out. we'll see. that means i have to design a new site and get a new subdomain, and i'm lazy like that.

well, if you made the actual design like origami, that would be sweet. you unfold it for more info and stuff.

totally check out kevin's site. i found it hard to navigate at first, but the concept is really unique. plus, he's an amazing writer.

When I first turned my site into a blog, I toyed with the idea of writing it from the viewpoint of a totally naive, christian-fundamentalist, suburban housewife but then I quickly found how limiting it would be since those people don't really have very many thoughts.

So then I just did goofy observations/schizophrenic rants.

I tried to document some happenings around my city for friends to see/read about. I guess I still do that.

Then I started getting really pissed off about the current administration, SUV drivers, etc. and started focusing on those related areas.

Now, it's been 21 days since I've posted anything and I'm feeling a bit bored with it. If I had any readers, they've hit the road by now.

But, through all the changes, it's always been me and my sensibilities. I don't see the need to make a distinction and subdomain.

Interesting. I think that I have a habit or need to group things in certain ways. Hmm...lots to think about.

There are four or five blogs I frequent and they are all post on different topics...what they have in common is phenomenal writing. I started reading a blog I found thru Dooce (which I found through you.) that is about miscarriage and infertility treatment, not because I have any interest per ce on the topic, but because this woman writes so amazingly. She totally puts all her pain and heartache, anger and humor out there, without losing any of her anonymity. I like reading your blog for the little windows into topics I am also interested in but lack the motivation to persue myself...like NYC history. I'm rambling now...but whether you post tidbits of trivia, an emotional catharsis, or a political rant, people (er...me anyway) will read it if it's well written and if they can, at more than one point say to themselves, "Yeah, exactly!"

Umm...and if you want to trial-start a new blog...why don't you do it at Kempleton fo' free?

hmmm. the kempleton option makes sense. i can't log in to the friggin MT kempleton site...forgot my password.

i blog about myself and my life, in honesty, in the hopes that somebody reads it, relates, and says "oh, i'm not totally alone in that". one thing i've had to be careful about is talking about my students, because sometimes i FEEL really mean and abusive and though i would NEVER EVER act on it, it doesn't feel right to just put it out there either.
i like to read other blogs that are the same in genre. they generally don't have a theme, but sometimes make ME think "oh, i'm not totally alone in that".

I started blogging for two reasons: the first was to keep my writing muscles flexing, which isn't always so easy in the workaday context, and the second was that I wanted to talk about different things, often at random. Also tricky in a workaday context. My emails to friends were starting to get long and intricate, and when you find yourself routinely needing to consult Google in the course of working up a chit-chat email, well, you need a blog.

The two specific ones I remember were a long one about "Walk Away Renee" and various things it has meant to me over the years, and an even-longer one about Catherine Mary Stewart and the remarkable band of B-movie talent she worked with in the movie Nightflyers (which is a delightfully bad sci-fi movie, not to be mistaken for a good one).

That being said, I write about things I do but not much about myself. I don't do much in the way of politics or personal detailing. Politics will probably come in time, it always crops up; and the personal baring works for some people, but I'm not often a fan. I loved Plain Layne and am still reading "her" site, but I had a pretty clear idea she wasn't real, or "real" - I think most personal bloggers are wholly or largely fictional anyway.

But polishing the flip and omniscient voice was the main thing. There should be a book one day, though it will not spring from the blog.