I often wonder what has led people to the blogging world. Did they google "large sized bras" and somehow end up here at Read This Sign? Maybe they have real life friends who pour out their souls for the rest of the world wide web to read. My story follows.
In the fall of 2005, Mr. Sign began taking classes so most of his time was spent at school or studying. I started to get bored. I had an old laptop and decided to try to find out if there was online Scrabble. I found a respectable club and had a great time working my brain. It wasn't until I changed my screen name to SignGurl that I started to get lots of people who wanted to play with me (take that as you think it should be taken).
I became a little very perturbed with some of the invitations I was getting. After all, I just wanted to play Scrabble. I decided to lay off the game for a while but needed something else to do.
There was a man, Steve Vaught, who had been walking across North America that was trying to prove that he could get himself into shape. He was over 400 pounds and very depressed. I was interested to see if he could do it. He put up a website Fat Man Walking. I started to read about his journey and as I did so, I noticed he had posted something that a blogger had written. I followed the link and loved what I read. Her blog was about her everyday life and struggles to lose weight. I commented once anonymously and felt so excited to think that something I thought was posted on the internet.
After about two weeks of reading her blog, I got brave and checked into this blog thing. I found out it was free. I set up my own but was afraid to publish anything. What would people think of me?
Finally, I posted something and began to follow profiles to people's blogs. I know that one of the first profiles I ever saw was KimmyK. (Kimmy, when I spell checked this, the suggestion was kinky.) I became quick friends with quite a group of people, most of which are not around anymore.
I've made many friendships over the last year and a half. I've even met many of you. I feel close to so many.
My family knows I have a blog and the only person that I know that has read it is my sister. At first I felt violated when I thought about letting someone from my real life read my innermost thoughts. I have tried to write things that if found wouldn't hurt anyone but sometimes it just feels good to get some things out of your mind.
I'd love to know how you became a blogger and whether or not people know that you do.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
How'd I Get Here?
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23 comments:
And your fixin to meet one more...MISSY!!
Crab made me do it. She even named me.
Crab probably won't be commenting today as she has a high score to try and beat.
I started blogging after I got a computer last June, and my best friend, who had a well established blog already, kinda dragged me into it. I have made some great friends, and I feel like a real part of my blogger community.
There is only family member (outside of my house) that reads my blog. I wish that he didn't. He is overly critical, and never has a positive comment for me. Not only that, but now my topics are somewhat restrcted, and I can't really 'talk' about him.
I started blogging about a year ago. A friend from work was talking about his and I asked him what the heck he was talking about. He gave me the link to check out and I did, from there I was hooked and enjoy writing and reading others blogs. People inspire me.
As far people I know reading them, there are 4 people that I know that read, they are close friends and I trust them to respect my thoughts and feelings, otherwise I feel fairly anonymous on here.
i'd been reading a few blogs for a good long while before i decided to start one of my own...and it just so happened that a couple of my real-life friends wanted to blog, too, so we all ended up launching ours at the same time. for me, it was a nice outlet to write about something other than news, which is what i did professionally.
i told most people i knew, and i regretted letting everyone at work know about it, because i did find myself censoring my writing on occasion. not that i want to write about work -- i don't want to be dooced -- but some stuff went unsaid.
now that i'm in a new job, most of the people there don't know i blog...and those who do, don't know how to find me. i'd like to keep it that way!
I started mine soon after we got Meghan...I'd heard about blogging, and when we got our own place and a computer again, the first thing I did was Google blogs to read.
Originally I started mine to keep track of Meghan's milestones...cuz I knew I'd never be running to dig out the baby book every time! This way I can go back and look things up to write in there. It's also been a record of the foster-parenting and adoption process. Since there's not a lot going on with that lately, it's a place for me to just put my thoughts out there.
Around June of this year, I was on some sort of sex Pop-Up thing that I was trying to navigate out of. Somehow I got steered to Always Aroused Girls site. I was mesmerized by what a good quality writer she is. I started reading comments, and clicking on their names. Thats when I started reading Roxi's site.
She seemed to lead a crazy life with a lot of friends, and I E-Mailed her. She fricken posted my whole message that I wrote her, and we developed a friendship.
After a while, I wanted to comment on other interesting bloggers sites, and just followed the google prompts, and created my blog in November. My very first commenter was Barman, and Lime has commented on every single post that I've created. And Between you and Manny, I'm hen-pecked on-line, as well as at home.
But I obviously love it, as I do YOU.
I think you know how I got started blogging since you were one of my very first commenters. ;-)
I've been blogging for 13 months now and am truly addicted.
I used to read 2 or 3 books a week.
Now I do well to read 1 or 2 a MONTH!
I'm so bad! ;-)
p.s. My daughters and some of their friends, my step-daughter and my husband know about and read my blog.
Only 1 friend reads it and she lives out of town. I haven't told any of my other friends about it and don't plan to ever tell them.
I started blogging because I was bored, lonely, and had things I wanted to vent.
Yes people I know read my blog.
I'm not sure if I had it all to do over again if I would have told people about it though.
I started blogging because I got tired of posting anonymous comments on a friend's blog. It can be hard to keep up, but I find it fun and enjoy the community aspect.
As for "real life" people knowing about my blog... not too many do. I shared it with my parents once, and I think they were reading it for a while, but I freaked out when I found out my dad had shared it with my sister, since I'd recently written a long post about what a mistake I thought her getting married was. She doesn't appear to have seen it (whew). Most of my friends don't know and I don't like the idea of sharing it with people at work, since that's mostly what I gripe about (who doesn't). But I love it all the same, and I love having a little "private" space that really isn't private at all!
I started to blog as a means of expressing my sexuality. There were thoughts and feeling that I just needed to get out and so our site was born.
As you know, because of the nature of the site I don't tell family and friends about it. It's far too explicit to share with anyone close. Although it would be nice to have some feedback from friends it is far too risky. lol
I had a friend who blogged more in journal style, but still very enticing to the public. Then I found a now-defunct blog that was so hilarious, I had to keep reading. Eventually, I found Cute Little Box and a few others who are now dear to me and somewhere in the middle of all that, began my own blog. I remember meeting you, Jenn, in a small chat that Hitman J started (I think). I knew from the very beginning that I'd made, yet another, wonderful new friend. Blogging has led me into a world of friendships that will span the tests of time. I'm sure glad you're one of them!
This is one I can give ALL the credit to Jodes. She was afraid to tell us about it but once she got us "hooked" up I've been on the go ever since. I like it because it give me an "out" to just say what I want. I've been fortunate enough to have met some GREAT people on line.
The best part is that you find people all over the world ;o)
a coworker of mine had a blog.. she showed me what it was and how to use it.. after I learned some html coding my site just took off.. its gone though so many changes since its begining that its almost unrecognizable to the blogg I had when I started at http://roximoon00.blogspot.com.. interesting..
nice to know you came to us though scrabble!
i for one, am very glad to know you through your blog, Jenn.
your comments, insight, and support are important to me. as important or more important than many people i know in the real world.
strange.
this virtual world we live in.
i used to read a lot of news websites to kill time. now i read blogs.
a lot more interesting than the depressing crap in the news.
i guess i started partly because of the madame. i wanted to be included in "the party". and it was kind of cool to be able to put your thoughts and dreams "out there". then someone in my real world got to it and kind of ruined it for me so i feel i have to censor myself now. and i'm just not as motivated to do it as i used to be. i still try to keep up with my favorites those....and you're one of them. keep it up signgurl!
xoxo
SIGNGURL!!!
Girl, you do not want to know how or why I started blogging. Ugly story....
my sister had a blog and dragged me to an internet cafe to read blogs and i was so bored that i started one.
i wrote it unnoticed for many months and then i saw 'stoned nerd' in the recently updated and i had to go read his blog and then he LINKED ME!!! and then i saw 'bitch pulled out my weave' and found elle and the rest is history :)
I started out by reading the blog of a Washington DC person that worked in one of the congressmans office. I went there in the first place because I heard she had been fired for either blogging to much or for what she said.
So I did a bunch of reading and I could not believe how much she revealed incluiding details I thought most anyone would keep secret. So that was my introduction.
Many months passed and Myssa that I saw post on Voyuer Web started a blog (who has since moved on) so I thought I would see what it was like. To be able to comment I started a blog in September of 2005 but I really did bare minimum to be able to get it set up.
Well she ended up leaving blogging because people attacked her very much like they did to Madame and started her own pay site. I really was not interested in that so I just let things drop for a little while. Then one day I checked out Top Cat's site. He had never met but we had talked back and forth a bit in verious different mediums and were friends. When I did check in I saw that he had moved forward and created a blog. He shared thoughts and poetry and, if he could find a way, I am sure he would share his music.
Now I knew I was not that tallented but I thought maybe I can give it a try too.
I met several others online who I write from time to time but have not kept in touch as much as I should. Then came along SignGurl. I ran into SignGurls post about Silver Bells at the end of November or first of December. I loved her writing, I loved her pictures. And it was fun that it was someone that attened something I could just as easily have attended. BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM!
Sign saw someone visiting her blog that was very close to where she lived. She also saw someone spending a lot of time on her blog and I think she was worried about a stalker. Well when I saw her comment on her blog I quickly wrote her and told her who I was, where I lived, etc. to try and calm her fears that I was stalking her. It turns out that the potential stalker was from some where else, possibly New York but this was the begining of a nice friendship. We have met three times in real life, shared email, talked on the phone a few times, and I have met her husband and two daughters. I think this is a real friendship that I hope will last for a long time to come.
I have met others online since than but that would not be the beginings of blogging. I have also met 7 other bloggers in person and hope to have the chance to met even more.
My experiences have been wonderful and I look forward to more to come.
As to anyone knowing, yes I have told my family and some friends. So far I know one friend that did read a couple of posts but as far as I know no one I personally know reads my blog other than other bloggers.
I created my first blog almost two years ago. My sister had one and so I figured, what the heck, but I couldn't think of a single thing to write about. Then this past Nov I had a falling out with a good friend and all of a sudden the blogging bug got ahold of me. I found I was better able to express myself to no one in particular than writing my frustrations down on paper. I've posted some pretty personal stuff over the months and would be mortified if certain people were to end up reading it, but I gave my blog address to my sister because I find it a comfort to know at least someone's reading it.
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