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