Here's my new look, sexier, I think, if a bit more narcissistic.
I've been having a kind of blogging angst lately so allow me to write a somewhat self-conscious post. I'm never sure what to write on this blog. It's my blog and I feel little pressure to copy others' blogging habits. I've noticed a rising number of personal details on these covblogs. People are being talked about more than ideas. Then there are those who only talk about ideas. I try to keep a happy medium, but I'm not happy with it.
Some bloggers seem to want a place to rant, a place to share their own opinions on the world around them in whatever language they choose. Then there are those who just want to blether. Two words I don't like to apply to my writings are "rambling" and "random." Perhaps they fit, but I see them far too often in the subtitles of xanga blogs, from girls who think they are clever and cute.
(On a complete sidenote, does anyone double-space at the beginnings of sentences anymore? Is double-spacing going the way of the hyphen?)
I don't know why I blog. Because I fear death. Because I feel the need to sprinkle my wisdom upon the masses, especially when I don't have the huge white board in my dorm tower room to write my aphorisms on. I blog when I have ideas that I need to express for others, and while they should probably be sent off to friends in emails they often end up pinned onto this blog with the hope that they'll be able to breathe better if subjected to the gaze of the anonymous internet-world. It satisfies my need to communicate with large groups of people at once. I'm a talking-in-class, enjoys-public-speaking kind of girl--the more people I can talk to at once, the better. Of course, I also enjoy small conversations, letting ideas fly back and forth, but group discussions, when they actually happen, are very satisfying. (I've been enjoying some great Harry Potter discussions this week. As I said, I love reading a book with the world.) And I guess that's why I blog, generally, to take part in some kind of huge discussion, whatever and wherever that might be. And that's not the only reason, but it'll make me happy for now.
Posted by linnea at July 27, 2005 1:45 AM | TrackBackI still double space... it'd just be wierd to not use a double-space.
Posted by: katzman at July 27, 2005 3:14 AMI double-space as well. Annoys the heck out of me when people don't. When I was copy editing the Bagpipe, I'd have to do a "Replace all" for ". " with ". " because the majority of writers only single spaced their stuff.
BTW, do you have a new cell number now that you're in Beantown?
Posted by: ryan at July 27, 2005 7:13 AMamen to the xanga critique. if it's rambling and random, it's usually not worth reading.
Posted by: elk at July 27, 2005 9:18 AMI still double-space. I still use hyphens too.
Posted by: Eb at July 27, 2005 9:35 AMI double-space for printed material (papers, etc.), but single-space for internet material (i.e., blog). I guess this double standard arose because I was told html doesn't recognize double spaces. But maybe I was misinformed and should just double-space everything now.
Posted by: funkefreak at July 27, 2005 10:08 AMRyan, I'm not quite in beantown yet, not for another three weeks, but I do have a new number. E-mail me and I'll give it to you. I don't have your e-mail address.
Posted by: linnea at July 27, 2005 11:09 AMi always double space--even when i don't use proper punctuation and capitalization. sarah is quite right, html doesn't natively support double-spacing, which, as a web developer, causes me endless proverbial throbbing veins in my forehead. but i think most blogging systems automatically compensate and preserve double spacing.
has anyone else noticed that some word processing programs automatically convert double-spaces after a colon to a single-space? am i wrong in thinking that colons are supposed to be followed by two spaces?
does anyone not have this existential quandry as to what to do with their blog? my blog has pretty much turned into a place for me to make public announcements to my friends. good thing there's always more room on the internet for more crap!
Posted by: mott at July 27, 2005 12:22 PMthe computer is not a typewriter; nor are we living in the 20th century, so there's no reason, as far as i know, to continue what i understand as a machine-isolated function that turned into a trend that our typing teachers in high school didn't tell us was a trend so that we just assumed that you always double-space after a period, which just isn't the case. not after no colon, neither.
this is my opinion. seriously, there's all sorts of interesting reading on this issue. i stopped double-spacing when i realized that my typing teacher tricked me (if for no other reason than to spite her). then i realized that it saves paper when printing. then i decided it just looks better. then i realized that somehow i had slipped into refusing capital letters at the beginning of sentences when i type on the internet, and that worries me.
Posted by: jeremy at July 27, 2005 1:10 PMMy professor, who is impeccable, says that double spacing is passe in the publishing world, but I still use it.
Geez. Way to make me feel guilty about exclusive baby blogging. ;)
I know what you mean, though. Theoretically, I desire some sort of happy combination between personal, discursive, and thoughtful.
Posted by: Jeannette at July 27, 2005 2:01 PMBy the way, I like how the Jaffa Cakes are prominently displayed in your new banner design....hmm. I'd better get on that petition to GWB...
Posted by: funkefreak at July 27, 2005 2:22 PMbeing right over being green, hmmm.
Posted by: linnea at July 27, 2005 3:35 PMi don't think i could stop double-spacing now even if i wanted to. i can type with far less thought now than i can write, and i'd have to work hard at not double spacing. truth be told, i have to conciously work at not capitalizing, but somehow i find it much more worthwhile. :)
i was always under the impression that double spacing was used to give an extra visual clue to the reader that they'd just reached the start of a new sentence, not because it was some sort of technological pesky necessity or because it was in vogue. i still think it looks better than single spacing, and the same goes for colons. but maybe i'm just turning into a geezer who always thinks that the way he learned to do something is the only way it should ever be done...
Posted by: mott at July 27, 2005 4:52 PMI double-space. Phil Harvey told me not to do it in the Bagpipe, though (to save space - not like we were usually short on it).
Posted by: Evan Donovan at July 27, 2005 9:38 PMI was never taught to double-space, but I'm fine with either, as long as it's consistent. I hate reading something that is sometimes double and sometimes single. And double-spacing with some fonts makes an awkwardly long space...for instance, whatever font is represented in this comment box, prior to posting, when it is turned into a nicer, skinnier font, that looks decent when double-spaced.
But I've a nice hoard of hyphens in my sock drawer, and nobody will take it from me.
Posted by: tuggy at July 28, 2005 1:56 PMhey linnea,
you should check out my blog just started it. It is a xanga though. Also I'm trying to get the Flynnish dictionary back together so if you have any of those quotes I would love to get them. or know where I can get a hold of them that would be awesome. Also the Half-blood prince was great wasn't it.
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=aeroflynn
give me a call if you still have me number
Sean Flynn
hey linnea
love to tlak to you I'm trying to get the Flynnish dictionary back together so if you know where I can get those quotes that would be awesome.
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=aeroflynn
Sean Flynn