I Read Blogs Backwards

Do you do this?

I suppose it's the nature of blogs to be a bit out of order. When someone recommends a blog they're not suggesting you read everything up to the point where they decided it was good enough to pass on, they want you to read the one thing they found hilarious or poignant, and share the experience. Sometimes it's good enough that you go back and read the whole blog. Example: waiterrant.net

But I don't hit the "first" button and start reading - I read from exactly where they are at this moment, and then the previous moment, and then the one before that. Pretty soon I'll be looking at their first post, and think "hey, what an interesting concept for a blog, I wonder how it turns out... WAIT! I already know!" And I also already know that everything works out at the end. Because I have foreseen it, you know, literally.

The thing about reading the end of the blog first is this: blogs don't tend to be about being happy. Most people don't think to themselves "wow, I am so content right now I could bitch about it to the internet for hours!". But there's really only two directions one can go, unless you're maddox and somehow remain fastidiously cynical for decades at a time. Things either get better, or they get worse.

And therein lies the beauty of the backwards blog. If things are getting better, you can read the reverse-tailspin, until you get to that initial moment where things were just so crappy that this person (whom you now share this powerful literary connection with) looked around at their empty apartment and realized that the only person they had to talk to was a few million complete strangers. Then you click on that "latest post" button, and read about their book deal, their new job, their significantly attractive other, and your own crap is suddenly just a little easier to take.

If it's getting worse? Well, then you just don't click that "latest post" button. And hey, check back in a few months - there'll be a different story then with a completely different ending. That's just the way these things work.

-s

Whew, Been a While...

Sorry about that. Been busy with side projects and work. I interviewed for a new job, and although it went very well, I haven't heard back yet. Turns out it's tough to blog when you're staring at your computer screen waiting for the inbox to update.

Then I started playing this game called Fall of Nations. Don't play it - you just click a button every 15 minutes, and if you forget to click, someone else will click for you. It's more complicated than that... well, a bit more complicated, but that's what most of my time playing it has been like so far.

The GF is in town this week, driving down from San Francisco to take my kitty away. It might be her kitty, technically, but in California, once you start paying for something, it turns into yours. And if it sits on your lap and purrs for hours, well, how can you break up such a wholesome picture?

But apparently she misses her kitty too. And her roommate has a fear of cats, and since Mookie here is less a cat than a malnourished cow, she's probably the perfect "starter-cat".

I have more to say, but I'll put it in a different post.

-s