It's rainy and a bit chilly here. I suspect this is affecting my mood. I know affecting my mood is the brief conversation I had on Facebook this morning with our summer guest. I am likely reading too much into it, but at the moment: to hell with learning French, going to France, or any of the above.
Ahem.
I read a comic statement this morning on one of the Overheard.... series of blogs wherein a guy says "We're married, so I can share this. I occasionally think it would be good to wear a skirt. Not because of any question about my sexual identity, but because it'd help on a hot day to keep my nuts cool". I've occasionally wondered about that. When you're a kid, there are things that you wonder about, and adults tell you that you'll understand when you get older. Usually, they're right. The whole gender-specific clothing thing doesn't appear to be one of them. I like to say that a woman wearing guy's clothing is stylish, while a guy wearing women's clothing is considered strange. Unless he rides a motorcycle, of course. Why do we have that bias? Damned if I know. Doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not planning on doing some shopping, though.
I need something to read. I picked up a book by Iain Banks, who, if you've never read, I highly recommend: yes, what he writes is science fiction, but much, much more; deeper and richer and more textured than just about anyone. And I read the first sentence, and thought Dammit. I READ this book already. Why don't these realizations occur to me while I'm still in the store?
I do have some other books, but science fiction was what I was in the mood for. Well, hell.
An entry on The Economist's blog asks whether prostitution is inherently wrong, and should therefore continue to be criminalized, or whether it is not, but is linked to criminal activities because it is criminalized. I've heard the same logic about drugs - that if marijuana, cocaine, and heroin (just to name a few) were legal, then the negative effect on society would drop dramatically. (And I know: some people consider the negative effect of marijuana to be overstated.) My hunch is that you could decriminalize prostitution, and you could decriminalize drugs, too. But prostitutes wouldn't become healthier or happier, and drug users wouldn't start working at major corporations. At least, not openly.
Why does it bother me to find a blog and think hey, this is pretty good, and then realize that the blog has a very large readership? Like, thousands? It shouldn't, but it does. I have the reaction of Well, heck, if you're not some quiet little backwater like, um, me, then the heck with you. Which is of course totally defensible.
I need someone to do something nice for me. Perhaps the cat will make me breakfast?
2 comments:
I think in answer to your last comment, we like to feel we have a more intimate relationship with the blogger and that he/she would actually spend time reading our posts and our comments. Let's face it, if they are great writers, I don't stand a chance of developing a more intimate relationship.
Probably true.
I once exchanged some notes with a senior manager at a company where I worked. After two or three, she realized that I wasn't a manager, but one of many grunt programmers. She forwarded one of my notes to someone else, asking them to respond, and used the phrase that she had "established an inadvertant connection" with me. I was startled and dismayed. Here I thought I was being interesting and bright, and it was just that she thought she was talking with someone of greater political weight. Once she realized I was no such thing, I was dismissed.
Blogging's different. I think of it as a warm, casual conversation on a park bench during a sunny afternoon. It's nice when people respond - I cherish that - but when they don't, you can still enjoy the sun. Just watch out for the pigeons.
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