about blogging

it's been a SUPER lazy day, and i've done nothing but lay around and read. i managed to get dressed and move from the bed to the dining room, and eat something and read the newspaper. i feel like such a blogger, reading the newspaper then signing online to discorse on my opinions. (since discorse is not the first word on anyone's mind when they read my comments, and since i usally have to go to work or school after reading the newspaper and forget what had me all riled up. generally, what i read in the newspaper is very specific- i read what interests me, and the things that won't upset me. i rarely read about iraq, never about sports or business or home-owning. i always read the comics. i often read the metro section. i love the political cartoons on either side, but i am very careful about whose editorials i read. i have my opinions and feel strongly about them, but other times, i just am not informed enough about the situation to be loud about how i feel. not only do i like only getting the news I choose, i'm also not compelled to have up-to-the-second news. thus, i don't watch the news or listen to the radio, i read the newspaper.
so i'm reading last sunday's editorial section, and aparently the big hooplah is about how there aren't many women on the editorial page. and there's another article about information overload. and they both mention bloggers. and as a woman blogger, i feel a need to respond. because it can't be denied that i do indeed blog. and i read other blogs. and i am completely not in the blogger profile that the newspaper sees. i do blog because i want people to read and respond to my opinions. but it's not the political opinions that i care about. they were dissing the right bloggers who only read and link right blogs and the left bloggers who only read and link left blogs. i guess i'm a left blogger, but i certainly don't keep my blogroll full of left blogs. when a right minded political blog comes up on blogexplosion, i don't even read it. but when a left one comes up, i don't read it either. i'm not into political blogs. i'm not like jaime or cecila or brando where i try and keep the political out of my blogs, but it's not a consuming passion for me. the opinions i care about, write about, and want to read about are smaller and personal decisions.
it really makes me think about why i blog. i'm always saying i just do it for myself, because i have this urge to process all my stuff in an an exterior way. but somehow journalling isn't enough- the writing on it's own isn't enough. it has to be read for me to get my catharsis. still, the motivation is entirely selfish. if i have nothing pressing to write about i may write about something i think may interest my readers. but if there's something that's bugging me you're going to hear about it. i don't use any CEER, much to the disapointment to my readers i'm sure. (CEER= creative embelishment for the entertainment of readers. from meg cabot. go read her blog.) i'm not providing polished arguments to incite readers. i'm more providing the beginings of thoughts and letting them start musings for my readers. or at least, that's how i hope it works.
i read blogs that are like mine, in the respect that few of them talk about politics at all, and the ones that do, like pesky apostrophe are full of fun personal exploits, too. i'm having trouble writing in paragraph form today- i feel like i'm going around and around trying to make my point. perhaps this would be better as a checklist.
things i like in the blogs i read:
1. clever and funny (i fail at this)
2. frequent postings (i succeed at this)
3. frendly comment replies (i usally fail at this)
4. interesting characters (i think i succeed at this)
5. cheerful worldview (really, i have no idea)

conclusion- i'm not sure if i would read my blog, if i wasn't me, or not. i think i would think i'm a pretty cool person, so i would comment on my blog, and then i'd read my blog to see who was commenting, and i think i'd stay interested because of the similarities between the two, seeing as i am the same person. this is getting too confusing. i'll stop here.