blogging is fun

i know some people don't like blogging because it tends to replace email (i find this is true for myself), but it does have a special way of bringing people together.

i like that all of the people i know have links to each other, even if they never knew each other well or hung out when they were in the same city. because we have mutual friends and link to our other friends' blogs, we all know of each other and get to know each other. a lot of my friends link to my mother's blog, which i'm sure she never intended but enjoys nonetheless. ben yancer said that bryant should post more. i didn't even know ben and bryant knew each other. maybe they don't (and maybe they do), but we're all friends here in bloggerland.

i like that when people don't update often enough we miss them and want them back. (thank you ben yancer and ceri for caring.)

i like that it's better than mass emailing for keeping in touch with lots of people. you don't have the guilt factor for not writing back. if they want to know about you, well, there it is. if they don't, it's not your problem. it is in some ways more personal as well because you can share day to day fleeting thoughts or ideas and not waste your time on generals. (i.e. dear friend, well, where do i start? since i saw you last i've gotten married. my husband works in council bluffs, so we moved to iowa a couple of months ago. we have a place in the country and two kittens that make us laugh. i'm working as a para in a kindergarten classroom, but hope to go back to school next year. what have you been up to? love, amy) now the mass email can read, "check my blog: farmertan.blogspot.com. love, amy)

there are downsides, of course. you call up a friend and ask what they've been up to and they respond, "didn't you check my blog?" that, my friends, is sad. i hope the blog craze never replaces real, person to person interaction.