Last Night's Travels through the Universe
Last evening I ‘made rounds’ on my blog reads. I visit ~ 50 on a regular basis. I try to look at them every day. I don’t always leave comment, particularly if time is limited. It cheers me to see new postings, particularly if the blogger isn’t one to post often. I usually read in the evening. Being on the west coast that often means I am ‘last in line’ to drop a comment at the more popular sites.
Last night Wednesday I did a foolish thing. I had an iced tea with my dinner. This broke one of my rules which is ‘no caffeine after 3PM”. I was wide awake at 1130PM and there was no sleep in sight. I was going to be up for awhile.
Four unexpected hours gave me an opportunity to read new blogs. I felt like Santa Claus, going from house to house while everyone was asleep. I left some comments– these writers who do not know me will be surprised to see me I suppose.
I first started with ‘friends of friends’, the blog names I keep seeing in the majority of links or comments of mutual friends. Some of these were very talented: some were cute as a bug: a few are very popular – one fellow seemed to average 20-30 comments per entry.
Then I got lost. I played a little game with myself. I would go to A, find a link there to a new person B, who would link to C, and so on. As each blog seemed to have a dozen or more links there was no lack of variability.
The further I traveled, the fewer names were recognized. My blogger buddies are kind to list me in their links, but as I wandered away Spo-Reflections was no longer mentioned.
I was in unfamiliar territory. They did not know me and I didn’t know them.
The journey gave me a sense of awe. I truly appreciated the ‘web’ of the WWW. I envision a huge three dimensional model with each person linked to his or her links and so on, in a large criss-crossed mesh with no boundaries. In an infinite universe, every point is the centre.
The Catholic Church believes in a concept called The Communion of Saints, where the Saints of heaven are all connected and interacting with each other. I wonder if our little blogging world is a taste of such.
Like a child who has gone too far away, I longed to be back in the familiar and comfortable. On my way home I was surprised to find one or two other ‘usuals’ were up and posting early this morning. I left a ‘first comment’ of the day, and finally got into bed. Part of sleeping well is the having a sense of peace, that things are well enough for you to go to sleep. Knowing 50 people (at least) out there who know and care about me lulled me to sleep.
Last night Wednesday I did a foolish thing. I had an iced tea with my dinner. This broke one of my rules which is ‘no caffeine after 3PM”. I was wide awake at 1130PM and there was no sleep in sight. I was going to be up for awhile.
Four unexpected hours gave me an opportunity to read new blogs. I felt like Santa Claus, going from house to house while everyone was asleep. I left some comments– these writers who do not know me will be surprised to see me I suppose.
I first started with ‘friends of friends’, the blog names I keep seeing in the majority of links or comments of mutual friends. Some of these were very talented: some were cute as a bug: a few are very popular – one fellow seemed to average 20-30 comments per entry.
Then I got lost. I played a little game with myself. I would go to A, find a link there to a new person B, who would link to C, and so on. As each blog seemed to have a dozen or more links there was no lack of variability.
The further I traveled, the fewer names were recognized. My blogger buddies are kind to list me in their links, but as I wandered away Spo-Reflections was no longer mentioned.
I was in unfamiliar territory. They did not know me and I didn’t know them.
The journey gave me a sense of awe. I truly appreciated the ‘web’ of the WWW. I envision a huge three dimensional model with each person linked to his or her links and so on, in a large criss-crossed mesh with no boundaries. In an infinite universe, every point is the centre.
The Catholic Church believes in a concept called The Communion of Saints, where the Saints of heaven are all connected and interacting with each other. I wonder if our little blogging world is a taste of such.
Like a child who has gone too far away, I longed to be back in the familiar and comfortable. On my way home I was surprised to find one or two other ‘usuals’ were up and posting early this morning. I left a ‘first comment’ of the day, and finally got into bed. Part of sleeping well is the having a sense of peace, that things are well enough for you to go to sleep. Knowing 50 people (at least) out there who know and care about me lulled me to sleep.
posted by Ur-spo at 9:37 AM
22 Comments:
I will always wish you "pleasant dreams"... :)
I guess we're just not good enough for you - expanding your horizons :P Sigh
LOL
Weird. Take a pill.
PS - Lance from LSGRA says the rodeo there a few weeks ago was great!
We're a lot alike in that regard. I enjoy checking out new blogs, but feel more at home - close to home.
I do that all the time--I found you that way! I was just curious to find out what kind of person might be behind the name ur-spo
I'm scared to venture out beyond my little world. I'm afraid I will discover more blogs that I like and it takes a long time to read the ones I read. What would I do if I added more to the list. As it is I keep re-doing the order in which I read so that I always get to the ones I like.
OK, so how much trouble did you have staying awake and alert at work today? Your venture last night is one of the reasons I was reluctant to try blogging. I viewed the blogosphere as this enormous black hole that could, with no difficulty, suck all of your time into it's event horizon. What I've discovered is that the rewards outway the pitfalls of occasionally discovering that you've just spent waaay too much time in cyberspace.
I do the same thing but I don't usually leave comments.
I love your analogy,
Like a child who has gone too far away, I longed to be back in the familiar and comfortable.
PS Times are a changin',
Reading blogs when you can't sleep,
as opposed to...counting sheep.:)
I love traveling the blogosphere! When I read an interesting comment I click and see who wrote it. I found your site that way back when you started writing and I was mostly a lurker.
I'm glad you had such fun not sleeping. It beats tossing and turning.
I know our blog world is so vast. Every once in a while I venture outside my little blog world and visit a new site. I often feel like Alice in Wonderland.
Yet, I too am comforted by the circle of friends who have allowed me to enter their world(s) and with whom I enjoy my daily visits, among them a certain medical professional who likes tea and Shakespeare.
I play this game sometimes where I go to one blog, click on the fifth link and repeat 5 times. I do not red any until I get to the last one and I will read their latest post, leave a comment to say hello and then start again.
I loved your story, especially the part about the three dimensional model. Very good imagery there.
I have done the same thing, traveled the blog comment highway. It's interesting, but like you, in the end I always return to the familiar. I have found common links on blogs that are far off the beaten path, so to speak. It's always kind of a surprise. But I guess in some way or other we are all connected.
Great post by the way. I hope you have better luck sleeping tonight.
"The Catholic Church believes in a concept called The Communion of Saints, where the Saints of heaven are all connected and interacting with each other. I wonder if our little blogging world is a taste of such." - I sure hope so Spo - that would be really nice if it was... what a wonderful thought...
Aw, this makes me think of Dante's divine comedy. I suppose you might have been spinning like part of the rose on caffeine. It is interesting. Some times I think that there is a gay blogging world that is somewhat known to me, but I'm sure there is a whole different scene out there that I haven't been as brave as you to go out and discover.
I did the same thing tonight only it was Coke Zero, I'm wide awake! I'm usually in bed by 10.
I have more blogs on my list than I'm able to follow on a daily basis.
I truly believe that the creative anarchy of the internet hopes great hope for humanity.
I love to go far afield, looking for people who have something real to say.
But I also love to check on my "regulars", just to see how they're doing.
Isn't it nice to know there is a group of people out there who find an interest in you and for the most part care!! It's been hard not posting and or commenting as much for me. I suspect you and I will meet up one day...and I do look forward to that. Who knows...maybe in Palm Springs. It's only about two hours or so aaway from me.
I haven't done that in a long time. I guess I spend less time in front of the computer. But that's how I got started. It all started with Spider's blog. I checked out all his links and created my list from him. It has changed and shrunk since. For some reason I prefer people that post every day.
I loved this little post of yours. It felt fun and refreshing.
Oh my...the way you think... :)
SOmething happened while I tried to post. Anyway, I said that I've done that traveled from one blog to another via a link. It's fun.
I hope the caffeine wore off enough for you to get a good night's sleep.
Mike,
Do you think that some beings from outer space hace hacked into our computers and made us go on seeming endless searches of new blog contacts? I've been doing the same thing for the last two or three days; not at all because I'm dissatisfied with the blogs i already read, it's just that I felt I was probably missing some interesting ideas and perspectives. As I result, I've added a few new blogs to my blogroll.
My criteria for listing rules out blogs featuring skin. Not that i have any objections to views of male flesh. It's just that you don't have to look for that very hard on the net. So, you don't have to list the sites where you can find it. Things that are harder to find, like ideas and good writing, on the other hand, get listed so that I don't loose them and others can find them more easily.
I too play that game. It's fun and sometimes you find someone and you just want to know all about them. Sometimes, not so much. :0
Post a Comment
<< Home