BLOG STALKING!!!!!

So I went on a friends blog and she had the FUNNIEST FUNNIEST description of blog stalking. If you want a good laugh you will read this.

My name is ________. And I am a blog stalker.

I check my friend's blogs. Then click on the links to their friend's blogs. Then click on their friend's blogs. And before I know it, I have found a blog I am addicted too, checking it with the same regularity that I run down my own blog roll. It's a blog that would be labeled as a "family" blog, a "personal" blog, a blogger that keeps a low-profile on the internet and blogs to merely keep in touch with their family and friends. A family and friend that I am not. And I do this without said bloggers knowledge.

I break my blog stalking into the following areas:

a. Entertainment. I LOVE reading well-written blogs. Occasionally, through my insane blog link clicking, I will find a blog that is so well-written, I keep coming back for more.

b. Cheap laughs. I can shamelessly laugh at how stupid their blog is. The blogger is most often clueless as to the happenings of the world around them and has a 50s view of women, marriage and motherhood. Spelling and grammatical errors abound.

c. Wishful friendship. I have become attached to the blogger and cannot bring myself to stop checking. We've never met, but I feel like I've known them for years. This category generally concerns me because, if I were to see this person on the street, I could see myself stopping them and striking up a conversation. "So how was the Jones Family Reunion in St. George? Uncle Henry sure looks like a riot!" "Is little Tina adjusting to preschool? I would be heartbroken too if I had to leave my adorable new baby brother at home!" "How is Rich's new job going? He seemed pretty concerned about the transfer."

d. Pure stalking. This category is not as creepy as it sounds because I somehow know the blogger. I went to high school or college with them, was in an old church group or job with them - basically, I have met them at one point or another in my life but was not good enough friends with them to randomly comment. I read because I'm curious. But it would be too embarrassing to reveal that I have somehow found their blog and have taken an interest in reading it since I really don't keep in touch with this person.

e. Degree of separation. I feel like I know this person because my friend has mentioned them, my brother was roommates with them or my husband dated them. I check because I know some level of intimate details about their life. It would be mortifying - for myself and said connection - if this person knew I checked their blog.

There is NO chance I would ever comment on any of my blog stalkees. I mean how would that comment go, "So your sister used to be roommates with this girl who is the best friend of my cousin's inlaw's brother...and then I found your blog and know the name of all your children, what your new calling is in church and the details of your Valentine's Day date with your husband." There is basically no way to get around that without sounding creepy. Maybe one day, I'll comment on a category "d" blog if I run into this person and purposely bring up "So...how can we keep in touch? Do you have a blog or anything?"But with this recent trend of "blog security," I find myself getting increasingly annoyed that my blog stalkees are going private. Most often it's because they are afraid of who is checking their blog. I can see the fear (hey, I AM part of their fear), but I tend to think that out of the hundreds of thousands - millions even - of people who have blogs, the chance is unlikely that a true creep will blog stalk me. My life just isn't that interesting. Naive thinking, maybe. But honestly, as long as I'm not stupid and post information that is too personal, I'm being relatively safe.I know I have my own blogstalkers - I can see what areas people visit from (hello Arkansas!). I hope I have interested the blog stalker enough to keep checking. Hopefully not because they want to kill me, but because they find my blog mildly entertaining. So - creepy labels aside - I want to know. Any fellow blog stalkers out there?

Cleverly written by Amelia Stowell http://ameliorateme.blogspot.com/