I Thought I Didn't Have Anything To Say

The more familiar I become with the blogosphere (a word I thought I would never use with a straight face), the more I become a believer in daily postings as much as possible. I know that posting EVERY day isn't realistic, especially for people who have lives, children, spouses, pets, jobs, hobbies, a love of sunshine and social interaction, and that sort of thing.

However, I've gotten to feel a little. . . I don't know. . . proprietary about the blogs I read. I have my regular sites that I check every day such as the various Day sibling blogs, Pioneer Woman, Gideon Burton's LDS Film and Culture site, Late Shoes, A Person Named Eunice, etc. and, while I understand that typing a few random comments and going through the hassle of posting a picture or graphic isn't exactly priority number one on these writers' lists, I get a little bugged when they don't update their blog regularly. I go to these sites, expecting new information, new images, and some tiny insight into the lives of the people who write them. When there's nothing new, I start to get crabby.

My sister-in-law Shauna famously left a review of Dan In Real Life up for almost an entire month on her blog. Never mind that she has a husband, four kids, a dog, the Christmas season, and many, many things to do. After about the third or fourth day of seeing Steve Carrell's fat head in the pancakes (the Dan in Real Life poster image), I started saying things to Suzanne like, "Jeeze, what's up with Shauna? When's she gonna post again?" When bloggers don't post, it's like a very personal version of the Hollywood writers' strike -- nothing but reruns. Blogs are like fun serial fiction and when there's no new post, it's as though the latest installment got held up and we don't know if Flash Gordon and Dale Arden escaped Ming the Merciless or not.

I'm sure that seems silly and probably annoying but I think of it as a compliment to the blog writers. It's my way of saying, "I care about your life. I'm interested in who you are. I even want to know random, useless stuff that you fill out on pass-around surveys."

Having said all that, the original point of this post was that, even though I believe bloggers with any kind of readership ought to post as often as they feel they comfortably can, I understand that not every day is a blogging day. Not every day is a writing day.

I thought I was having a day like that, nothing to say, nothing to add to the world. (Apparently I had one or two things.) So I checked my favorite online comic strip, Toothpaste for Dinner, and cut and pasted today's entry for your enjoyment. What makes it perfect is that my last apartment complex did almost exactly this and tried to charge me $700.00 to replace carpet that had absolutely nothing wrong with it. I wrote them a well-worded letter and, thanks to the power of the pen (and the implication of legal action), they actually ended up sending me a check for $175.00.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you Toothpaste for Dinner:


toothpastefordinner.com