What's "Up Chuck"?

Have you ever observed, either first hand or from a distance, something tragic or stupid and you swore you would never let something that dumb happen to you? Well I have, and I feel like shit for letting myself get all wrapped up in it. I have to keep remembering that the blogosphere isn’t real life. What bloggers write about is only a smidgen of their lives. The content of a post is usually just a small percentage of what happened on any given day. I have found reading blogs to be fun, informative and very addictive. I rarely go a day without getting my fix. I like reading other blogs much more than I like writing on mine. I have sat back and observed some really crazy shit on the Blogosphere. I have seen “blog affairs” rise and fall. I have seen healthy friendships amongst bloggers form and have also seen them end. I have known bloggers who find such great friendship through the blogs that they actually travel and meet their blogger buddies. I have seen married bloggers get all wrapped up with other married or single bloggers in a way they shouldn’t. I also know of one marriage between bloggers that will happen soon. I have seen a lot and I have either rejoiced or been disgusted, whatever the case may be. Do I think the Blogosphere is a bad place? Well, until recently I would have said no. Even when I have heard of marriages or jobs affected by blogging I still wasn’t completely down on them. I guess now I am seeing things differently. I have seen the blogosphere become a virtual Peyton Place as well as a juvenile school yard complete with the teasers and bullies. I have also seen drama form that would qualify for an Academy Award any day. Most of you reading this now know of at least two or three blogs that the writer has shut down or stopped writing on either because a significant other discovered it or for some other reason. Then again the Blogosphere can be a good place. We all know of the bloggers who write for therapeutic reasons. They paint the story of their rough life or strained marriage and often solicit advice for their worries. This can be a good thing indeed. There are also the bloggers who bring us news or political views or just random shit that can be considered funny in its way. Then there are my favorites, bloggers who are happily married and write about the day to day events, even those of a sexual nature, that occur with their spouse. I think this is all good and healthy for obvious reasons. I am not sure what kind of blog it is that I have. I guess it is one of those that really serve no purpose. I don’t have any real tragedy or strife in my life (besides the ex wife) and I am not very entertaining. I don’t bring wise thoughts to the table and my sex life isn’t usually juicy enough to relate. I don’t scour the net looking for witty stories to share and I don’t offer advice for others. I guess I just exist and for some odd reason there are two to three hundred of you who read daily. In twenty-five days I will have been blogging for one year. I can not believe I have stuck around this long. When I first started with the first blog there were things happening in my life and marriage that I thought I would want to write about. A week or so into it my wife discovered my blog and so it evolved along another route. I was glad in a way, and in retrospect it is probably a good thing she did. Who knows what I may have said or did with out knowing that she could, at anytime, pull it up and read it. To this day there is nothing I do on-line that I try to hide from her. She has access to all passwords, email and messenger ID’s. I wanted that to be the case because it would help keep me honest. There are also those that I have, or had, a relationship outside the Blogosphere. She is aware of those situations as well. All in all I am not a very good person I suppose. I let too much get to me. I have let myself get wrapped up in the juvenile drama that often happens. I also, obviously, don’t know how to take a joke. Well, I have realized that I need to change. I can accept responsibility for mistakes I have made. I have been told recently to lighten up and not be too sensitive…I hope there are others who will do the same. Blogging can be a fun hobby and healthy friendships can be made. In however long it is I choose to continue with this blog, I hope to find more acquaintances and friends. You can’t have too many, right? It makes it even better when they treat you the way they would like to be treated themselves. This is my goal…shouldn’t it be all of ours?