Sometimes I wonder why people do this. Why do we write about our lives on the internet and share stories and experiences for strangers to read and comment on or empathize with. I’ve never been able to figure it out exactly so I keep writing my stuff and reading other people’s stuff and I try not to think about how weird it all is.
I have a list of links of my favorite journals written by other people over there on the side. I read a lot of things on the internet, but my list of links are the sites I visit daily, compulsively, and they’re the ones I wonder about if I’m away from my computer for any length of time. I’ve never exchanged a word with some of the people in my links, others I know a little bit, and then there are the ones I’ve known for years. So since I can’t figure out why I write this page, I will tell you why I read the others.
Because I say so! I love Jodi. She’s a mysterious girl and she’s perfected the art of keeping an interesting blog while maintaining her privacy. She’ll always tell you what she’s eating for lunch or the abstract things she’s thinking about but she keeps from vomiting up the personal details of her life in every entry. I bet you didn’t know she’s a zookeeper and acrobat. That’s how good Jodi is. She’s got this blogging thing down to a science and even if you’ve read every entry in her extensive archive, you really never know quite what that girl is up to.
Coffee Grind. Kathy is a cool mom and she gives good mom advice. But I liked her even before I cared about that stuff. She has a good sense of humor, is funny, and makes beautiful jewelry. Also, she has issues with her own mother and that makes me feel like we have some kind of common bond.
Crazy Aunt Purl. Sometimes it’s about knitting, but mostly it’s not. I don’t remember how I found this one, but the best thing about Laurie is she is interesting and funny and updates a lot. She has a great spirit and I think that’s why I started reading her journal. I admire people who can go through a horrible experience and resist the temptation of throwing a pity party on their blog about it. Laurie handles her pain the right way—through drink and telling hilarious stories.
Fleamail. I’ve tried to cool it about my obsessive love for the Red Hot Chili Peppers but this is one fact about me that has not changed in so many years that it has become like my genetic code. I have blonde hair, green eyes and I love the red hot chili peppers. If someday people form a cult around them like they’ve done with other bands in the past, I will probably be the leader and run away from my life to live on the road and follow the band as the lead pepperhead. I LOVE THEM. I’ve loved them since I was a teenager and so being able to read a journal written by one of them makes me feel like we’re friends. I am not a crazy stalker, I just like to know what they’re up to. And I wish Anthony Kiedis would start a journal. Though I would hate if he kept it on myspace.
Fly in the Honey. She’s a teacher and she’s funny and I like her style. I don’t know her beyond what she writes about in her journal but that’s good enough for me.
House in Progress. I have a secret addiction to home renovation. I love doing new things to my house and I get a voyeuristic thrill from seeing inside other people’s homes. Reading this journal comes from the same compulsion in my brain that makes me walk the neighborhood at dusk so I can look into my neighbors windows. I’m not a peeping Tom, I’m just as happy with an empty house as one filled with people because I’m in it for the décor. I like to see what people do with their walls, lighting and woodwork and sometimes it gives me ideas for things to do with my own living space. I also obsessively check out houses on newenglandmoves.com because they have pictures of the insides as well as the outsides of the houses on the market.
And I've spent enough time there to tell ya, new englanders love their hideous flowered wallpaper.
Isobel Divine. Issy and I met when we were writing on a site called OpenDiary many years ago (I think it was '98, but I’ve lost track of my old opendiary files so I’m not sure) We’ve spent hours on ICQ and though nether of us have the time for that anymore, we still keep in touch through email. I’ve lost touch with everyone from OpenDiary except for Isobel. She is my oldest online friend.
Loobylu. I like Claire because she is in Australia and her weather is opposite mine. It’s a trip when she talks about summertime at Christmas and the blazing heat during a blizzard. She is an artist and draws beautiful pictures. Her blog is like candy.
McSweeney’s. I can’t sum this one up. Just that every time I go there I get stuck for hours reading stuff and marveling at how brilliant the site is. If you’ve ever been there then you know. Web crack.
Mimi Smartypants. I don’t know Mimi but I wish I did. When I’m feeling like the world is full of ordinary days and ordinary people talking about ordinary things I read Mimi and remember that there are some seriously weird cats out there. From her writing you know Mimi is smart, and she views the world through a lens of absurdity. If we all had a map to represent the nerve tracts in our brains, most would look like a roadway system in the Midwest, with order and logic and grids. Mimi’s would look like a spirograph gone terrifically out of control.
Rhapsodie. I found Joshua’s journal through SleepDirt Dan. They are brothers but their writing styles are quite different. Joshua is a hothead like me, and his journal is full of lovely rants about the stupidity in the world. He has road rage and corporate frustration and I can usually relate to what he throws down.
Sleep Dirt. I’ve been reading Dan’s journal for a long time. I like Dan for many of the same reasons I like Mimi. It makes me happy to know that there are people in the world who think about things the way that he does. Dan alternates between writing clear, humorous entries about the moments in his day to writing beautiful cryptic prose about how he’s feeling about the things going on in his life. I wish Dan was my neighbor because I could imagine calling him up at midnight when I can’t sleep to come over and watch cartoons. And he seems like the kind of person who would be fun in a debate about ordinary things like the pros and cons of sugar-ball-shaped versus flake-based breakfast cereals and the merits of different fruits taking into consideration taste, shape, color and how easily they rot. Then again, maybe because I’ve been reading his journal for so long I’ve made him into a cartoon character in my mind. My perfect imaginary friend. Cartoon Dan enjoys competitive skee ball, dive-bar karaoke and watching movies about gay cowboys simply because it’s art. Real Dan is probably much cooler than Cartoon Dan
Chaos Theory. Sherry is the only mom journal I read regularly because sometimes mom journals aggravate me. She has two little girls and she writes about the experience of being a mom with so much grace that she makes me want to be a better mom. I don’t think I’ve ever read her journal and disagreed with something she’s written about parenting. Which is strange because that rarely happens when it comes to parenting. The only thing I can think of not to like about her is that she watches Canadian Idol.