I thought I was finished for the night. After I signed out, I went back to the daybook and decided to take some time to look through everyone's blog in the blogs and wikis class.

Seeing reactions to a previous post on my blog has me feeling like a monster. My initial thoughts about concern for audience had left me, which made this process all the more appealing, until now, when I see just how easily things are misunderstood. Starting now, the blogging filter for anything viewed by classmates is on high. That makes me sad, but safe.

Disclaimer: All of my call to action comments in this particular post are entirely sarcastic.

For my final post before class meets tomorrow, I'll briefly comment on the universality that blogging affords! It gives a voice to the voiceless! (or something)

You want to talk about oppression? How about the way we are silencing our porn writer population? Isn't it time they are heard? *reaches around to turn on cheesy music "Bow wow chicka bow wow"*

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you read the words, "Confessions of a porn writer?"

What to say about it? I have no damn idea.

In closing I will say this: When I first stumbled upon this, I was doing a quick browse and saw what I thought was the word "latex" which made my eye stop, only to realize it was actually "relax." Sick. Time to sign out.

Considering the idea of moonlighting a blog to track my progress upon reaching 16 weeks in the Weight Watchers program this week, I did a search for dieting blogs. This helped me get an idea of what to and not to do if/when I decide to create my own WW blog. After rinsing my eyes with bleach at the first 4 I looked through, I find one that was initially appealing. Big Fat Blog is neat and attractive in its appearance, giving me a tranquil, organized feel. However, the blog is full of activity once you get in. There is an option to comment in this particular blog to each post. I wonder if that makes it more of a forum...or not?

On a personal note, I felt the blog was too negative for me to consider a return visit. Too much time and space is committed to complaining about the oppression of overweight individuals. My reaction to that is that everyone has control over their lifestyle, some people choose not to exercise that control. It took me 25 years to come to that realization and with 32 pounds down, the constantly lingering thought is, "Why did I choose to exist this long, this way?"

Of course I'm not at all surprised that the computer genius, Ayleen, has blown us all out of the water with her expertise. I can't help but wonder if she's just extremely ambitious or has a large quantity of time on her hands. I suspect if I worked at a computer lab, I'd have as incredible of a blog as she does. It is bursting with links and references and articles, that I know it will take me the entire semester to comb through all of the information. I'm pretty anti-gamey stuff and all the role-playing lingo, for the same reason I've never gotten into video games probably: it's all over my head. However, the fact that Ayleen is gamey and is a walking dictionary of role-playing lingo will not keep me from enjoying the blog.

Ayleen's blog is a virtual menu to appeal to everyone's appetite! To this I say, "Bon Appetit!"

Where do I find the option to put the links for everyone else's blogs on here? I'm only thinking outloud because I'm too lazy to go through the Help option right now to find the answer. I have no intention of tackling that task tonight anyway.

I'm feeling less guilty about not having posted in a few days. As I browse through the class blogs to comment on here, everyone I've been reading so far hasn't been updated since Thursday or Friday. Yes, I know I shouldn't compare my satisfaction with my progress based on that of others, but I was seriously feeling like I was the only one who wasn't making this a multiple time a day priority. This will be our first full week of classes this semester. I hope this is what I need to combat the overwhelming apathy I feel.

Unable to come up with an intelligent or witty transition, I'm going to go right into commenting on Joshua's: UA, I've been Josh too long. As I typed that I finally get it. Wow. I am really out of it. I like the new look of his blog--the clean, orderly approach suites it well. Again, I appreciate the brevity. I also enjoyed that it keeps the reader at an emotional distance. I imagine how much I enjoy that depends on my mood. At the moment, I'm not in the mood to hear all the details of anyone's personal life, so the lighthearted comments and quotes were just what I needed. Knowing Joshua the little I do, it's nice to gain more insight as to what goes on in that head of his. Thanks for what you offer on your blog, Josh(ua).

It's interesting to me to think about the different eyes I use as a reader when I know the blog author personally. I find myself surprised, amused, and intrigued when I see sides and read thoughts that people I interact with daily often don't expose. Why does it feel "safe" to write about some things here that we wouldn't just bring up in conversation?

I'm definitely intrigued and entertained by The PEPPERGREEN Contingent. I had a brief conversation with Mr. Klint last week before class. I asked how he was and he mentioned that it was the first day of the semester that he felt tired. I was amused as I noted that we were only one week into the semester. We chuckled. I enjoy that his posts give me a glimpse into something and leave me wanting to know more. I definitely prefer this over the more lengthy-- I'm going to give you ever single detail of what's been going on in my life since I last posted (mine last week!). Keep 'em coming, Carl!

It's Sunday night and to be perfectly honest, this is the last thing I want to be doing right now.

It's hard to care and concentrate on much else when your mom calls you every day crying because her father is dying. Life has stopped in my family for about 6 weeks now. Before Christmas it was, "It's only a matter of time...any day now...." Here we are a month later, still waiting. He's miserable. He's angry. His spirit died long ago.

My mom used to let me skip school to go icefishing with him. How is it possible that this is the same man who now has no control over his body and mind?

Enough for now. Time to get my obligatory blogging done.

A fellow classmate and friend shares my disdain for the danger of winter! Blog on, my friend! (I felt like I should say "Dude" but then I'd start having fantasies of time travel in a phone booth with you, Russ, and we both know that we have far too much work to do!) As long as I closed my last post with a threat, let's go 2 for 2: Check out his blog, OR ELSE!

It's cold. It has to warm up or those around me will soon begin to suffer. One would think that after living in Minnesota my entire life I should be used to (maybe even enjoy) the winters. Evaluating my past experiences of the months September to April (slight exaggeration) I like the cold and snow for an entire day, then I'm ready to go back to the days when it isn't painful to be outside, when I don't have to allow a good 30 minutes for my vehicle to warm up so I can travel, when I can walk outside and NOT see my breath. Breath just wasn't meant to be seen, people!
Many of you reading this don't know me, so I'll let you in on one fact at a time. I live with three developmentally disabled young adults as a caretaker in their home. One of the young ladies has come down with pneumonia--another reason I dislike the sting of below zero temperatures. Yesterday I had blocked off a chunk of time to look at other classmates' blogs to comment on here, but instead was running around town getting drugs for my sick girl, trying to get up to my office only to find that yet again (begin edit)...this is where I went off "half-cocked" and made a "nasty character attack"...trying to communicate my extreme frustration when I have to do things that are not my responsibility because, although I know people work and have class, so do I, which is why I didn't sign up for the duty in the first place....rarrrr...and now I'm a B who was doing some "petty whining" in a blog, which if I'm not mistaken happens to be my own.

I'm posting from my office today. Yesteday I was at home and the day before in the CAL classroom. My mindset is more academically focused today. I'm sure this is largely due to the fact that I've been reading material and organizing things for course work this semester. Again this morning I was hung up on the idea of audience. If I'm in the middle of posting about a reaction to the book I'm teaching from this semester, but get sidetracked.... I guess that's the beauty of being able to edit these things. Self-control...do I have it? Will I slip into typical online behavior of excessively using the ellipses? God, I hope not. I see that I've used two in this post already. What you, my readers, don't know is how many I went back and deleted after I asked that question! *grin* See, that's another thing I dislike about computer communication--the ever annoying *grin* *smile* etc. Combine that with a message peppered with smiley faces and you have a very annoyed reader in me. All of this is mostly to buy more time before I decide what I want to do with this blog. It's obviously time to check out some other blogs for ideas and comment on them here. Stay tuned! :-) hahahahahaaaa

It's been just over 24 hours since my very first post here and I've thought about where I want to go with this thing AT LEAST 15 times and still haven't made a decision. I suspect that I'll have one for the course work and one that I maintain outside of that. There are so many different things I want to do this for (thesis, coursework, CW, WW, etc.). I've been thinking about Dr. Christensen's comment regarding the level of "personalness" one should have while posting. If one maintains strictly a surface level of information, who is going to want to read it? Do we write it with any intention of appealing to an "audience?" Are we our own audience? I think I would be more comfortable with strangers reading my more personal thoughts because I don't have to look them in the eye every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00 a.m. They also don't determine my grade for the class! If I write about how rancid Marmite is, will Dr. Morgan scalp me? These are just a few pre-blogging thoughts. Time to get back to the world that is my reality--which you'll learn more about at a later date and time!

This is my first entry, sitting in the CAL classroom. Why am I so damn excited to be doing this?