Learning from other Blogs

I'm learning as I go here. Well I've been "blogging" for a little while. Almost four years I think. I know that's not as long as some out there, but long for me. But mostly it's just been a journal for me and some family members. Anyway as time has gone on and I have found other blogs I am amazed at how juvenile my blog is. How terrible my pictures are. Now this is not me fishing for complements, this is just my brain. I'm giving you a peek...ha...well see my brain always compares me to everyone else around me. And for some reason my brain always has me coming up short. It's just the way it is. I've never been number one. I tried working on this with my counselor but apparently I was "fixed" because I stopped crying at every session. Ahhh how the brain likes to trick me. Anyway, I'm finding new blogs here and there and most of them I like. You can look to your left and see a good list of blogs that I read and like a lot. I have found some new one just recently that have been around for YEARS but they're new to me.
What I have noticed is that I am poor. I can't afford to get my own website. I can't afford an awesome camera to take pictures. I can't afford to have photo shop on my computer to fix those pictures. So here I am, just typing. And hoping that someone out there is reading.
Something else that I have found is that you can tell who likes who. There is a big sense of the "cool" crowd and the "rebel" or as we called them in high school "the stoner" group. I liked all groups. I flitted around and didn't really care. The stoners were okay with me, and the preppy kids liked me too I guess. Anyway point being I found one blog and I don't know if I want to be specific or not but MAN! I could instantly tell what blogs "they" followed, without looking at "their" blog roll. I knew right away just from the pictures, because they looked oddly photoshoppy familiar. And I thought to myself...hmmmm...how do they do that with their pictures?? No I answered myself pretty quickly with the photoshop answer.
It makes me wonder, because I have been on both sides of the fence with these "groups" even though I'm what is known as a "lurker" and probaby a "stinkin new kid" but... There are some blogs that I like and some I don't. There are blogs that I no longer follow because well one because the woman was always talking about how fat she was when in her pictures she looked a size two...dude. I don't care about fat skinny whatever. Don't tell me some kid asked you if you're pregnant when you're a size two. That didn't happen. And if it did, if that kid ever saw me he'd think "man! are you two people?!" Another for a host of reasons none of which I will get into because I don't want to appear to be a uhm well attention whore, because when you mention said blogger that's what people accuse you of, that or "jealous." Which I am...definitely jealous, because if I lived where she did I would be close to one of my very best friends/roommate. And if I were her I would have lots of money, which as I have and will mention A LOT I don't have a lot of money.
moving on!
I like blogs that you can have conversations with people. I would like this to go that route eventually. I like topic starters and like to have lots of contributions from people. In essence I like banter. I don't like when the person who wrote the blog writes then never says anything else till the next blog. I think you should occasionally comment back. I think in my last post that I had to, because once people started commenting I kept saying "OH I remember another name that I hate!" And wanted to add more to my post.
I don't understand "give-away blogs" at all. I mean really? You give shit away? That's never going to happen on this blog. I don't have the money. (Another day another post)
People talk about going to conventions like blogging is the new Amway. I will probably never understand it. Will I get to see my favorite bloggers in person? Probably never. Although I have found a blogger with the same last name as mine. Which is amazing to me. What is sad is that I commented and pointed that out and I got nothing. Gave me a flash back to high school and pointing out to someone I was playing basketball against that she had the same shoes as me, and she didn't respond so I knocked her to the ground as much as possible during the game...but I digress. Seriously if someone EVER comes to my blog saying "I have the same last name/first name/middle name whatever to me I will definitely respond. Most likely by saying STOP STEALING MY IDENTITY! Because it's a crappy identity. And then I will kindly ask them to clean up my credit for me.
Okay so point of this post is that I like that there are millions of blogs out there because there are enough to love and not love. Follow and not follow. Make fun of and copy.
If you blog...do it for the reasons that you want. And if you read mine, please be gentile. I've already beat myself up enough. Oh and if you wanna be mean well it better be for good reasons. Like I made fun of your grandmother or something. Or I will start a page just for mean comments about me. And not make any money off of it. Because google kicked me off of ad sense.

I am sooo done with people

I'm over people. Really I'm so mad at the people on my facebook except for a precious few that I want to start all over with a psudonym. I don't think politics has any place on facebook. People as a whole do not know enough about politics to involve themselves in a well thought out disscusion about it and shouldn't start on a networking site. I know enough about politics to know that I know JACK SHIT. I know this though, that when the committee that selects the Nobel Peace Prize selects someone they DESERVE IT! No matter what you think. I'm so pissed off about this that I'm shaking. And I don't know why I'm so deeply offended by people on that stupid site that I am shaking. I just am. I want to kick the shit out of something. And there is a dog in the room at the moment...please if you think I'm serious come take him away from us, we can't have him anyway.
Fuck people. I'm so freaking done with it. I don't know if this is because I've been reading new blogs that are all open to how you really feel about people. But my emotions have snowballed into a gigantic hate ball. I have found what my friend and I have deemed "the seedy underbelly of blogging" and I don't like it. I had no idea that this was all out there but it is. There are blogging confrences that only a select few can go to...or if you have the money. Or something. And who knew that blogging was SOOO IMPORTANT. That they have to have confrences.
I am so freaking angry. I need to get away from the computer. But I really have no where to go. For the next few days I think I'm going to stay away from Facebook and away from blogs. I need to clear my head and maybe do some actual work.

How's this for blogging

So I couldn't think of a title.

I started this blog at the wrong time of night. Its almost "get the kid ready for bed time" because we have a strict schedule in this house and we keep to it!! I have three minutes to say that I hate this whole depression thing because today I don't feel so depressed. I think I might be either manic depressive or bipolar. Can someone out there diagnose me please? Because I don't have insurance and I can't afford a doctor. I currently am waiting on my doctor friend to ask his doctor friend to write me a prescription for my antidepressants because I can't afford to go into see anyone. So we had a texting consultation the other day, where I told him what I was taking and how much and since he doesn't have his "state pad" yet, he's going to talk to a friend to see if he will write the scrip for me. How awesome are my friends? And how shady to I feel right now?! I don't even know if I should be talking about it on the web. Is this against the blogging rules? To share this? Am I allowed.

Hold on for a half hour please...
Okay so it was a little longer then that...but you couldn't tell could you?

So what I want to know is there a list of blogging "rules" out there? I'm wondering because I have been spreading out and finding new blogs and reading here and there, and a lot of places and a lot of comments that I see say "you shouldn't do this on your blog" and "you should do that on your blog" and "your grammar is terrible!" So I really do want to know is there a rule book for blogging? And if so I need to see it. I know that one rule that everyone talks about is putting too much information about yourself out there. I used to have a blog on MSN spaces, and I used to write about any and everything, and I think only friends read it, I did meet some other bloggers and got to know them and love them. I found out through my uncle that my aunt was reading it and didn't like that I talked about my self too much. She also didn't like that I wrote a blog about a then campaigning Obama and how he raised 8 mil in a week or something to that effect. In my defense, I am dirt poor and I was amazed that he could do that, and why couldn't he do something like that then put it to good use. Anyway, my uncle berated me and said "IT COSTS A LOT OF MONEY TO RUN A CAMPAIGN." Completely missing the point of my blog, because well he didn't read it. Anyway so I got off of MSN because I didn't want to hear it. So I put my blog here on blogger, and had no followers till I told my friend that I was blogging here now instead. She likes keeping up with me and well I'm not the best emailer but I will write a blog about it. But I also found out that another friend from college would read my blog, to check up on me as well. I had no idea! I thought it was interesting though. But then I guess that's what I do on a lot of blogs, I lurk. I don't tend to comment as much because most of the time blogs just make me go "huh. that's nice" and that's it, and really do you need to have me say that? So anyway I started reading other blogs, and got suggested other blogs by my friends and then I started on twitter for some reason. I think because I was bored one day. And then a new world of blogs opened up...I'm really glad I found them. I signed up on Blogher a little while ago but I never keep up with it, and I don't really understand it. I've also signed up on Mommyroo which I saw on twitter has been getting some angry comments from people because they "stealing" posts or something. I have learned that there is a lot A LOT of drama out there. And when I read all this drama I'm really glad I don't have drama on my blog or in my life. I like reading about drama I don't like drama in my real life. I tend to try and squash it quick.
I found out that my sister was reading this blog, well from my mom, and that she stopped reading it because I bet I hurt her feelings because I was blogging a lot when I was taking care of her kids and about how I didn't like it. And I feel bad for that. And I know that this isn't a "private journal" but I would like to say that if a person does have a blog the reader has to keep in mind that this is just a stream of consciousness writing and I say things to get them out of my brain and keep me from having an ulcer. I will complain about things on here, I will talk about my family. I won't talk about sex because well I just don't do that...No wait...I do have sex, I just won't talk about it. I don't like hear about other's sex lives so I won't do it, just like in my daily life...I don't like Public Displays of Affection, so I won't do it either. I HATE SEEING PEOPLE MAKE OUT!!! Therefore, I will not make out in public. Hell I don't even hold hands. Mainly because my hands sweat profusely, and because well it just feels weird. (This whole subject is a blog on its own)
I have told my other sister about this blog and I don't know if she's still reading it, but I told her because I wrote about her son, and figured she'd like to read it. The comment I got from MOM not my sister was "Oh I talked to your sister and she says she's reading your blog." "Oh yeah what did she say" "It's you know, Randa stuff, and I said ohhh Randa stuff." Like I'm crazy or something. What is that supposed to mean anyway? Mom is the one saying I should be a writer, why not be a writer on a blog that no one reads??  I have however, tried not to put my family members names on here, so I hope that appeases people. And my friends, well most of them except Leslie, because she blogs on here sometimes too. She's the funny one. I'm the depressed one.
I don't even know where to put my blog, how do you categorize a blog about nothing? I know that there are mommy blogs, and give away blogs, and "hater" blogs, and "FAIL" blogs, but what about this?
There have only been a few blogs that I have found that actually have really good discussions in their comment sections. Most other blogs just have comments to puff the writer up, and make them feel good. (like mine) I have started liking those blogs that make me want to comment more then the ones that I just read and go, "well alright see ya later."
Well with that I'm off, maybe to get a piece of cheese cake, and most likely to go read my twitter...and check on some blogs.
Oh and forgive my spelling errors...I switched to the new "editor" and they took away and or hid the spell check button.