I seem to have hit a dead patch. Journalling and blogging topics abound, lots of neat things are going on, and the more of them there are, the less desire I have to write about them.
This is probably why so much LJ out there is whiny and depressive. The people with the most time to write are, statistically speaking, the people with the least to write about, so they complain. (So instead of writing something meaningful, I’ll post something in which I take a stab at complaining about people who only post complaints? How’s THAT for lint-filled-navel-gazing?)
Today was a great day.
And for those of you on my Friends List who are wondering whether I’m complaining about your writing, I’m not. That’s why you’re on my Friends List.
Bwhaha that sounds marvelous.
Heh, I mostly post links to funny web comics.
Two points:
(1) When I write philosophical or political stuff, I tend to get no responses. When I whine or bitch, people react. Hypothesis: LJ encourages whining.
(2) I once read a graphic novel- title now totally forgotten- about a great Taoist teacher in ancient China. One of his lessons was that you can’t get wisdom by reading or by being taught. You can read the words, but you only understand them if you’ve already found enlightenment, in which case they only reaffirm what you already knew. Philosophical posts may be overrated… but whine posts at least keep us in touch with the lives of our friends.
(You know, I enjoyed that book a lot, but I an’t remember it’s title or the character for the life of me. I want a copy of my own to re-read… whoops. See what I meant about LJ encouraging whining?)
So, what made your day great? I’m honestly curious.
I have noticed that when I vent, I get more responses than when I’m writing a simple observation or something positive or happy. DSL going out and job-hunting gripes garnish more responses than comments about wonderful-tasting coffee and crabapple blooms and baby birds. If one isn’t a Name, and is looking to collect responses, bitching on LJ seems to be the answer. Typically respondents to bitching are either 1) are expressing sympathy and/or agreement; or 2) passing on their own negative experiences. Sometimes they’ll offer suggestions, and those are nice.
People like to get together and gripe?
Or maybe it’s that venting posts give a better opportunity for others to post *about themselves* rather than a true response to the original person’s concerns? “Yeah, I never go to that store anymore because …”
See? Even this response ended up being more “me” and less “you”. Ick!
I’m glad to hear you had a great day.
Ah! Meta-whining…
I’ve been aware of the tendency toward whinging. I see it as a slothful tendency. I try to avoid it, even if that means fewer posts. No one has complained to me that I’m not posting enough.
That’s because you don’t post enough, so there are no posts to reply to to tell you you aren’t posting enough! *grin*
…this reply brought to you for no good reason…
Eh. Complaint is just like anything else: once externalized, the issues stop taking up brain. (I can get really irritated sometimes with the idea that one should strive disproportionately for a positive representation of one’s space. I just want to have a representation of the space that bears some resemblance to the space.)
Space bears!
We’re on Petey! Except… we aren’t. Because then he’d be irritated with us. And I think it’d look awkward at the trial.
All roads lead to schlock.
I don’t get into depressing writing myself. It seems to mono-tracked. I tend to be more of responsive. . .Like here!
It fits my style. . .I’m very analytical. Talk about professional lint-examiner…
You had a great day! Mazel Tov! Here’s to many more to come!