On self-confessional blogs
I just was cycling through some of the blogs. There are blogs from coffee shop workers and food service workers who talk about shitty customers. There are blogs from medical students that talk about their interesting cases. There are blogs by columnists that give fresh takes about the events of the day.
My blog - is basically a diary. Like so many others. With a blanket of anonymity (wow, that's a cliche if there ever was one), people can open up their souls to strangers. These blogs have a voyeuristic appeal. But I realize that these get old. People have their own dramas to wade through, they don't want to swim through another person's 'nobody love me' or 'I need to improve' confessions.
I will try to not make this blog in that vein. Some confessional blogs are great, but it takes a definitive type of writer to write confessional stuff. Carrie Bradshaw's prose in Sex in the City made it seem easy, and as a result, unleashed a ton of imitators from both lonely straight gals and cosmopolitan-slurping gay men. I guess the only way to prevent blogs from slipping into self-confessional parody is to always keep them open for people to inject their opinion or to strike a nerve with readers.
Preemptive strike
Haven't done this for awhile. Ok, you're at a gay bar. As you are in your late 20s or early 30s, you ensure your hair is sculpted, your jeans are perfectly pressed and your shirt looks hot. You go with a friend, your 23-year-old friend. You're at the bar, waiting for your order and someone who is quite good looking comes up to you and initiates a conversation. Your heart flutters. You still got it.
Then...
"What's your friend's name?" "Is he single? Do you think he would like a drink?"
...
There's always that moment to snap your spine back to reality. I will risk going into bitter queen mode and just say this - people at gay bars - if you see a guy you would like to ask out - say "hi" to HIM. In that same vein, if anyone sees me at a gay bar, please talk to me only if a) you deem me worthy of a conversation, b) you want to buy me a drink, which I'm free to turn down or c) The place is hellishly packed and you need me to move. 15 seconds of sloppy flirting to get an "in" with my friends will not be accepted.
My blog - is basically a diary. Like so many others. With a blanket of anonymity (wow, that's a cliche if there ever was one), people can open up their souls to strangers. These blogs have a voyeuristic appeal. But I realize that these get old. People have their own dramas to wade through, they don't want to swim through another person's 'nobody love me' or 'I need to improve' confessions.
I will try to not make this blog in that vein. Some confessional blogs are great, but it takes a definitive type of writer to write confessional stuff. Carrie Bradshaw's prose in Sex in the City made it seem easy, and as a result, unleashed a ton of imitators from both lonely straight gals and cosmopolitan-slurping gay men. I guess the only way to prevent blogs from slipping into self-confessional parody is to always keep them open for people to inject their opinion or to strike a nerve with readers.
Preemptive strike
Haven't done this for awhile. Ok, you're at a gay bar. As you are in your late 20s or early 30s, you ensure your hair is sculpted, your jeans are perfectly pressed and your shirt looks hot. You go with a friend, your 23-year-old friend. You're at the bar, waiting for your order and someone who is quite good looking comes up to you and initiates a conversation. Your heart flutters. You still got it.
Then...
"What's your friend's name?" "Is he single? Do you think he would like a drink?"
...
There's always that moment to snap your spine back to reality. I will risk going into bitter queen mode and just say this - people at gay bars - if you see a guy you would like to ask out - say "hi" to HIM. In that same vein, if anyone sees me at a gay bar, please talk to me only if a) you deem me worthy of a conversation, b) you want to buy me a drink, which I'm free to turn down or c) The place is hellishly packed and you need me to move. 15 seconds of sloppy flirting to get an "in" with my friends will not be accepted.
posted by TransformerGeek at 7:02 AM
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