performance anxiety, causes of

Hello there!

Seems there has been quite a bit of musing lately on other blogs about blogging, why do it, etc. Perhaps a symptom of the deflated end-days of NaBloPoMo 2006.

Some folks seem to feel pressure to be popular or well-known or something or to get linked to, and increase traffic, and then feel pressure to be consistently clever or amusing, and to hopefully become like (or one of) the "big bloggers", (I suppose meaning people like good old Dooce who supports herself and her family off ad revenue from her blog).

I don't mean the following as an insult to my readers or other writers, but I don't give a crap and I just don't get this. I mean, I like that I apparently have a reader in Buenos Aires (which I know thanks to Google ANALytics), and I like that I found things like this guy's art, and this woman's writing, and this guy's website, and if any of you turned up in my home town I would probably offer to make you some tea or pour you some bourbon (your call) -- but as for the rest of it, what the hell?

Maybe it's generational, (I mean I WAS already eleven when Sheena Easton sang "Strut") or maybe I spent too much goddamned time enjoying unstructured play as a kid, but I don't want a MySpace page and I don't want to carefully craft an online persona.

I like when people comment on my blog (because I generally think other people are interesting and I like the conversation and connection), and I'm sort of flattered when others link to me, but I think it's also just dandy if they don't feel like doing any of that.

I link to people when I feel like it. It's not to network.

I just write here. My family and friends sometimes read it, and you're welcome to read it too.

And when I'm not writing, I'm posting IM conversations in lieu of doing anything creative. Ahem:

blackbeltbarrister: hey you know under the law in England, you are guilty of necrophilia if whilst having sex with someone they die and you do not stop the act then.

Roo: excellent

blackbeltbarrister: how on earth would they prove that?

Roo: well exactly
and what if you simply mistook their death for a "little death"?
just thought "wow, what a powerful orgasm they seem to be having, they haven't even blinked in several minutes"

blackbeltbarrister: exactly, you're GUILTY !

Followed by:

Roo: so apparently if you have sex with someone who dies
you can be charged with necrophilia
if you don't stop
in England
where my friend is studying law

Drew: That's great to know
Because that would be embarassing
Not only is it a good legal point, it's probably also good manners too