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

Fucking hell, comments really are the best part. I'll fairly attribute that comment (the comment about comments, not the link to the comment) to jaime over at theknownuniverse whose comment tag says "sometimes the comments are the best part" if and when someone actually leaves a comment.

The rest of the time it just says "Who Cares?" which, I think, is a really great subtle fuck you to anyone and everyone reading and not posting - not interacting in this medium but simply passing over it like an asshole in a dentist's waiting room skimming a magazine like it's a fleeting thing - like there weren't dozens of people who put dozens of hours and days into the making of that magazine. Whatever jaime says.. maybe without even realizing he is saying it, or without the reader even realizing he is saying it: and that's the best part of all.

I've said before that blogging is great for a number of reasons but above all certainly we cannot ignore the narcissistic qualities of a public journal. Sure, people will tell you Slashdot is a blog - but not in my book. I've been reading Slashdot off and on for probably over half a decade now and it was certainly before the advent of blogs as we know them today. If for this reason only it's not really a blog but a forefather to them. And if that reason isn't enough the second one is that it is not personal. The posts are, wedding proposals aside, all news items: technology news, political news, geeky-videogame-mod news, etc, etc. The commenting section is personal but no more personal than the letters-to-the-editor of your favourite magazine.. which brings me to a great analogy:

If Slashdot is a Magazine than blogs are zines.

And I meant to capitolize Slashdot and Magazine and I meant to leave blogs and zines lower case. That should be self-explainatory I guess. The point here is that blogs are individual expression at their greatest and most exposed - which is what we're all really looking for.

What, pray tell, is the point of an anonymous blog? Sure maybe the people who know you don't know about it - or at the very least don't know they are reading you - but the exposure is still there.. this burning desire to express is still there..

And like a tree that falls in the wood when no one is around... an offline blog is all but unheard. Which is why they don't exist. Not in the numbers that blogs do, anyway.

I'm working towards something here: It's all about the comments. It's about knowing you're being heard. It's about connecting with others - whether it be to make someone laugh or exchange political views or wax philosophical about technology. Comments are our own little letters-to-the-editor for our tiny online zines that we create day in and day out as moving changing adapting creatures. Comments are validation. Validation that people are listening and reading. Validation that the apparitions we see in front of us - this "society" - isn't just a movie, it's real enough in our minds to interact. Comments are, in an odd way, validation that we exist.

Maybe that's narcissistic. Maybe you should leave comments off your blog. Maybe you put too much weight on comments. Maybe you should just join the priesthood. Who knows.. but don't pretend it's something it's not. We're all human here. We poke the world to see if it reacts.. what lessons do you suppose we learn if it doesn't?

Which brings me to my next point. Positive comments. Negative comments. Anonymous comments. They're all good comments because they're real, active, existing items in this dynamic soup. Gotta participate. Gotta get real. We gotta see feel touch hear what people have to give but if we don't give.. and they don't give;

Well we're just a bunch of trees standing in the woods..

You really gotta get out there and participate. It's not a one-way street. As my old english teacher used to say "Life's a Grave. Dig it."