Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," a daily waste of time since 2005!
Is blogging a waste of time?
My spouse has a friend who is a well-known local sportswriter. The friend in question is getting up in years, and some local bloggers have questioned the man's grasp of modernity while also commenting on his girth. This sportswriter is not the type to suffer trolls gracefully. He answers back, pound for pound (pardon the allusion).
Last night as we gathered around the supper trough, my spouse was talking about his friend. Said spouse: "What are bloggers anyway but people who have nothing to do but sit around and spout off about nothing?"
Ouch.
Both daughters stared in my direction immediately, but spouse couldn't figure out why his precious Annie had gone so dead silent. When daughter The Heir pointed out his comment, he apologized and said "present company excepted."
Ahem, I hope so, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
This is what blogging does for me:
Just like almost everyone in Middle America, I have a sucky life, all your typical bullshit problems like a fractious tween, a bum hip, reduced wages and higher prices for everything, worries about global warming and useless moronic wars, concern about the Appalachian county in which I grew up, anxiety about my future, my spouse's future, my kids' futures, my cats' futures, my car's future, the starving children in Africa, the gun violence in Philadelphia, and the planned takeover of Amerika by the Christian Blight.
I sit down here at the computer and try to make myself laugh so I'll forget all that stuff for awhile. That's what I do at "The Gods Are Bored."
It's cheaper than reefer and legal to boot. No one gets hurt, and the stains that might get on the furniture go onto the computer's surge protector instead. (I happen to know that my spouse hates stains on the upholstery. That's what endeared him to me back in the day.)
Am I wasting my time? Yes, of course. There are a million things I need to be doing at this moment. But nothing is more important than finding a reason to laugh. If I don't laugh I'll go crazy. Then, not only will nothing get done, but we'll also be socked with psych bills and I'll be stigmatized in my community.
Don't you love "not only ... but also"??? Elegant grammar and sophisticated vocabulary are but two of our hallmarks here at "The Gods Are Bored!"
What do you think? I know it's kind of silly asking bloggers if they think blogging's worthwhile. Just like asking choir members if church attendance is worthwhile. But I'm asking? Do you read a newspaper? Do you listen to Focus on the Family every day so that you're educated on gay marriage and evolution? Do you use your blog as the sports column you'd love to write, if only?
My blog plugs the hole that's causing my life's sap to ooze out and drip away. I am wasting time so that time doesn't waste me.
(Apologies to Shakespeare from stealing one of his great lines)
FROM ANNE
THE MERLIN OF BERKELEY SPRINGS
11 comments:
I read this blog every day. I think you're witty and I enjoy hearing about your trials and tribulations. I think the concept of bored gods is very Pratchettian with a lot of the same over the top humor. Perhaps you could even invite DEATH FOR A GUEST APPEARANCE.
I have passed on your url to more than one druid blog and referred to at least some of your posts. My own blog points to your blog - perhaps my 5 readers will join your ten and start a movement some day.
I'm just beginning the blogging adventure and I will say it is hard to know whether there's anyone out there most of the time. But, I will say categorically that I appreciate what you're doing.
peace and health,
david
/|\
Well, I know I adore your blog, and, as someone who's named herself after the Goddess of Comedy, I can (semi-officially) tell you that humor is basic to survival and absolutely necessary if we are to thrive, and that if you're making others laugh (and you've certainly made me laugh), you are performing an important and most sacred service.
I understand that Weird Al gets letters from people who tell him that they were contemplating suicide, but, after listening to his music, felt better enough that they didn't go through with it. Humor saves lives. Even stupid humor saves lives.
My own blog is of a very personal sort and is chock-full of navel-gazing I'm sure, but it is proving to be one of the most useful things I have ever done. Not only have my writing and thinking skills improved in doing it, but it has, quite seriously, been more helpful to me in working out some major issues than years of therapy or journalling ever have. I think because in the process of writing it for an audience (even if the audience doesn't exist), I have to organize my thoughts in a way I wouldn't if I were just journalling, which is very stream-of-consciousness. And in writing to an invisible audience, I am able to say more and to have more (invisible) trust than if I were talking face-to-face with a therapist. So yeah, blogs are damned valuable, worthwhile things. Don't ever let anyone tell you they're not!!
This year I've tried to post a photo a day. Reminds me to find something beautiful or noteworthy every day.
I am soooo stealing "Christian Blight."
i caint say i git to read thisn everday, but i make it a point to cum back ifn i miss. tiz one of the betterns out thar.
as fer bloggin, i will say this for it: havin a blog has resulted in my ritin much moren i ever writ befor i had one, includin a few novels, hunderds of pomes, n even a new poetick form name of waka.
n taint that i dont have nuthin else to do (witch in my pinion, only a persun that aint never writ a blog mite could say such a thang) on a counta my job gits at lease 10 hours frum me everday, but havin the blog means i rite sumthin no matter whut.
beesides all that, ifn ye wuz to quit this here blog, i wood not be happy (tiz a favert).
So what if blogging is a waste of time? Do you enjoy it? Are you hurting anyone with it? I can tell you from my point that I enjoy reading your blog, and you often bring a chuckle or a belly laugh when I desperately need one.
Only you can decide if blogging is a waste of your time. It's a waste of my time when I read it, but it's so enjoyable and it gives me needed attitude adjustments.
sometimes we need time wastes. And if someone benefits from your waste (as I do), then what's the problem?
Blogging useless?? Never! ;)
What my blog does for me is to give me an excuse to think about the things that I think are important. What *your* blog does for me is make me laugh. (And as another devotee of La Muse Thalia, I can tell you that the more laughin' the better!)
well, I for one am glad that you have this blog..you make me think and giggle...two things i love to do..I started blogging just to piss people off...guess the republicans just dont read me...as all I have done is make some great friends...
Funny, this past weekend had me thinking along the same lines (and in my blog post about it, I mentioned your site as inspiration. Waste? I think not!). I'll post a bit here:
"Anyhoo, what I'm trying to say is - Happy two year anniversary to this wholly uneventful, very green blog. Thank you to my cousins to getting me into this. I have enjoyed sharing your lives so far as that creepy shadow that drifts in and out and sometimes demands a 12 year-old scotch. Neat."
Ditto (but not "mega dittos").
Anne, I've loved your blog from the moment I discovered it over a year ago. You are one of my blogging heroes. You make me laugh and think. And today you gave me motivation to continue blogging myself. Life has been getting in the way of blogging lateley and you've reminded me not only why I started doing it in the first place but also why I should keep at it.
Thank you Anne!
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