and she said.. "how you interpret the dream is probably more important than the dream itself"

The unfortunate part of blogging is that you can't always share everything you'd like to on your blog. Blogs are like open books. They lay around your metaphorical house just waiting for a passer-by to look down at them, catch a few ill-spoken words, and start yelling at you. It's really the equivalent of writing a journal on a big whiteboard in your living room - no, on your front porch. In big enough block lettering that people driving by on the street can read it.. even when they don't slow down.

Once you're out - like a gay man from a closet - everyone will know where to find your dirt. Think of it as if every special and secret emotional moment you share with someone will for ever onwards be shared while you are wearing a T-Shirt that reads "I'm blogging this".

Some people have attempted anonymous blogging. In bunnie's case she's done a mostly decent job of it but there are always creepy little ways to catch-a-tigre-by-the-toe. In her case I was there on her site reading away one day when she mentioned her "real, non-anonymous" website - one that was work-related in that it displayed a bunch of her art. When I saw her mention "This website is 100% original material and there is lots of it" I thought to myself hmmmm, michael, that sounds very much like a pre-constructed sentence.. like one she has uttered before.. many times.

(in fact, that is not what she mentioned.. but a good example of the type of thing she said, and since I'm attempting to preserve her anonymous nature, excuse me but bear with me)

So I dropped right down to google and typed in that very sentence.

Needless to say it wasn't too long before I was perusing her "100% original material".

Of course I let her know what happened and warned her that there were people on this here innernector that are far more creative in their detective work than me. And also far creepier. Though I wasn't worried about the creeps.. she can handle them.

A lot of people aren't so concerned with remaining anonymous but they sort of make assumptions that certain people will never read their blog. Like their moms.. Unfortunately, there is a something I like to call the batchelder certainty principle (you can like it to old heisenberg and his uncertainty): If there is someone you would prefer _not_ read your blog, they will.

This is so much a certainty that the blogger.com creators themselves have set up some tutorials on the matter like What to do if your Mom discovers your blog... and How Not to Get Fired Because of Your Blog. But I don't think you really need to read them. You're smart enough to figure out your own ideas about the whole conundrum, right?

Take it from a guy who got fired because of an offhand remark on his website well before there was any such thing as a blog.. it's no big deal. Remember, I'm a dinosaur in innernector terms, and I'm still kicking so you small and fast-breeding warm-blooded mammals don't have much to worry about yet.

At my current job I blog all the time. If you're doing the same start out by testing the waters. A few posts a week. A couple blog views a day. Don't over do it because you can always feign ignorance if you get scolded by your boss. Eventually you will find that no one cares because you weren't doing any work in the first place so they'll appreciate it when you at least _look_ busy.

Mean People Suck. Sometimes you'll find that people get jealous of you.. or they just dislike you cause of your beauty mark or maybe you stole their fruit cup from the company fridge. These people may try to sabotage your blog. They might try to out it for you. Sometime a year back or so almost everyone in my company received a short little note from someone at "britcoalsdemise@yahoo.com". It said something to the effect of check out what this guy is doing on company time, he is baaaaad and gave the address to my blog. No matter, just take it in stride. A few people at work checked out my site. Not many stayed to read even a few posts. A few people asked what the weird email was about. My boss, in fact, gave me the email and told me that someone seemed to be trying to "get me in trouble" but he was pointing it out as a favour, not to warn me. Bottom line was that NO ONE CARED. This is a good lesson because, despite everything I've said in this post about audience and watching what you write.. in the end NO ONE CARES. What really drove me batty was the curiousity. I really wanted to know who it was. Sure, I could have gotten in trouble but I didn't. I do good work where I am and if I waste a few minutes (okay.. let's be real.. a few hours) a day blogging then what do they care? They don't.

Do good work. Do your homework. Exceed expectations. Be generally unhateable and you won't have to worry about what you write on your blog. Ever.

When I got fired before I was in fact secretly happy about it. The fuckers were lame and I didn't really want to be associated with them anyway. I ended up spending the rest of my summer painting a friend's house.. in the wonderful out of doors.. in the August sun.

Believe me it was a blessing in disguise.

But enough about all of that. The bottom line is write. Tony has it right when he often preaches to write everyday, no matter what. Don't worry about who will read your blog and don't worry about why they're reading. Sure, it's good to consider your audience and why you are writing a blog in the first place but once you get over the fact that you are being incredibly narcissistic in posting what is essentially a personal journal online for all to see, you can start having fun with it. Everything else will come out in the wash.

This post, for example, is a good example. I didn't want to write it because after the idea was there, but before I actually wrote it I became aware that someone jestered at my original Blogging 101 post and by writing a second post I'm sort of pandering to the audience, in a way.. I guess it's nice to have an audience but I don't want to spew forth flavour-of-the-month vomit for the sake of a few site hits. Mainly what I'm saying is once you become self-aware, you're fucked..

and man became self-aware a long time ago..

So we're all fucked. So I just wrote this post anyway.