Monday, June 19, 2006

Where there's New Bloom County, There's always Hope......


If bloggers were rock groups, I would almost count myself as an "Aspects of Amber", as well as her husbands associated "Views from a Penised-American" groupie. I have no real idea why I enjoyed her blog so much once I came across it, but I guess the content rang with me on some level. She is truly gifted when it comes to writing about whatever she thinks or about what happens with her and her family. Or maybe it's just me.

I remember how long we die-hard Beatles fans held out for a Beatles reunion, and how devastating it was when John was murdered, putting that dream more or less to rest forever. In retrospect, had they actually kissed and made up, they might have actually fallen flat on their collective faces with new material after having done somewhat rather well with their individual efforts. Ah, but one can always imagine.........

Some people do things so well, so naturally, they seem oblivious to just how amazed others might be with their talents. I suppose they are too close to themselves to understand the impact they have outside of their influence. Now, I don't want it misunderstood that I am the kind of person who can be so rabid about ANY person and their talent that I could ever be considered a FAN of the worst kind, much like those people who dress up as Klingons or Vulcans and attend every Star Trek convention they can get to. If I were to spy my favorite singer or song writer across the room, I would not make any overt effort to approach them and swoon, because aside from their talent, as far as I am concerned they are simply human beings, no better or worthy than myself. Besides, it would annoy me to no end if they came across to me in any superior sense, because I know damn well they put their pants on the same as I do, even if they have servants do it for them.

So, due in part, I believe, to this oblivion, Amber has decided she doesn't need the pressure she might have felt in posting to her blog, and has taken a take-it-or-leave it approach to the whole enterprise. Well, I can understand. There is so much to life and enjoying said life outside the pages of a blog, and one does not always lend that much weight to recording it for the enjoyment of strangers. Again, sounds logical to me.

But........well........DAMN..........I'm in withdrawal. I hate admitting to it. It's silly on the face of it, but there you have it. It's as though the paper boy rides his bike past my house and deliberately refuses to throw me my Sunday paper, even though I subscribe to the damn thing, and he does it with a smirk on his face. You miss those comics, those Circuit City sale papers, the commentaries, etc. You miss it because you can sit down whenever you have the free time, take your time, and slowly savor each and every printed word. Much like a well written blog that you have gotten used to. Sometimes you want to throw some tacks on the sidewalk in revenge. But of course you don't. You just die a little bit each day you see that same last post just sitting there, perhaps never to be updated. It's like your favorite dog died and still hasn't returned from the Pet Semetary.

If Amber is still visiting us, this might perhaps piss her off. She'll contemplate sending me an e-mail telling me to chill, that she has better things to do, doesn't need the judgment, yadda yadda, and she would have every right to. However, I want to hopefully head that off by saying that even if she never posts again, I just wanted to tell her that while she did grace the monitor of my Imac, she added just a bit more wattage to the sunshine of my life. She made me laugh, she made me smile, as I am sure she did whoever read her fantastic blog. Whatever she does in the future concerning "Aspects of Amber", I wish her well, whether that be an occasional post, another full blown run, or leaving it behind forever. At least many of us were given a quick look through the window of a life well lived, and to me that has been as good as any novel I ever read. And should there be a sequel in the works, you can count me at the head of the line to get first glimpse at it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too am missing Amber & Dan. Hopefully they will return soon! Life must just be too much fun right now!

Naughti Biscotti said...

I read that 9 in 10 bloggers give up. The average lifespan of a blog is around 6 months - 1 year. It's not easy to stay addicted to it. Perhaps she'll take a much needed break and return at some point.

A said...

ARgh, Michael! For Bob's sake! GEEZ! No, I'm not pissed off, exactly, but a tad exasperated, if you know what I mean. *grins and shakes head*

I stopped blogging for many reasons. Yes, our lives are VERY busy right now but that's only part of it. Walagata won't work for me for some reason, even though I'm a paying customer and I've sent three emails to support but they haven't answered and their home page hasn't been updated since May, so that's annoying. Because I love posting songs and doing audblogs but lately we can't.

We have toyed with the idea of getting our own domain since they have finally become so cheap. I refused to pay for blogging before now but if we can get our own domain for about what I was paying for a year of Walagata hosting (and since Walagata has gone tits-up, apparently) why not?

But the biggest reason I stopped blogging was that I was reading the wrong blogs obsessively. Train-wreck blogs. You know what I mean? Where you read while covering your eyes and wishing to God you could say something that would snap the blogger out of their unhappiness which is largely due to their own destructive choices. Again and again and again.

This is my fault, of course. Nobody is forcing me to read such blogs. I'm going there purposely hoping against hope they'll be happier.

But they never seem to.

Yet, there I was, reading every day, hoping. It just all built up to where I became sick of blogs and even blogging myself. Even though 95 percent (or more!) of the bloggers I know are wonderful people. I focused on the negative, and not the positive.

Shame on me.

We'll see. In the meantime, I'm flattered as well as exasperated that you posted this! Sheesh! *winks* Thank you for your praise. And you're right; I don't understand why people like our blogs so much. We're nobody special.

But thank you.

And if we do move to our own domain, we'll post it on the current blogs.

However, (okay, I know I'm being long-winded) I don't know if I can handle having comments again. I spent much time and effort answering all comments and it took far more time than I should have spent. Dan always said to just let it go and not answer commenters but I felt that was very rude. I still do; I can't see myself not answering comments. It would drive me nuts to have people say something and say nothing in return. So...comments will have to stay off, I'm afraid. Otherwise I'll start spending too much time on it again.

Cheers and hugs to you, Michael! :-)

Alex Pendragon said...

Well, Amber, I'm glad you seemed to have gotten the positive gist of my post. I knew you'd have a streak of "having to justify myself" angst, but that was the chance I was taking. I know you have valid reasons for not posting, and we certainly respect them. We just miss you.

That being said, what makes you think I have the time to answer answer your comments, huh? Geeze! hehe.......:)