Re: Me

WOW! I love responses -everyone's responses both good and bad- from criticism, to agreement, to just saying hi, or the techy exchange, but... Geo's however made me sit back for a minute and think. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! I was going to reply to it in comments but I think I'll post it and reply. And here I came to my laptop with something to really rant about today.. and Geo sidetracked me. (Which I am grateful for.) As I've said before though, I doubt I'll lose my angst on my new subject cause once I get talking about it, I'll get plenty wound up again. Geo's comment:

Hi, neighbor!Okay, here's a question: Talking or writing or photographing--of
the three modes of expression, which works best for you, and why? And why is it
important for you to spend time sharing some of who you are via the internet? I
read your whole blog, and I checked out your pictures (and liked them,
particularly some of your sky-fascination shots and the sparkler guys.) I wanted
to know more about this DogMan who left me two nice messages in a row on my
recently-neglected blogs. Thanks for your generous words. They were really
encouraging, 'specially since I've been toying with the idea of abandoning my
blogging habit for a while. Maybe I won't. It's always a little refresher to get
positive comments. Keep up your writing! It's good for you (and the rest of us)!

I probably express myself easiest by writing, but I think I prefer talking. The problem with talking is that for the most part, you need a listener or it gets kinda boring. lol. Writing however, is different. Writing is not something that requires the immediate attention/response of others. When anyone writes, they know -at best- its going to be a short amount time til they have a response. When I'm writing I do hope that people read it, but the therapy for the soul is not in having it read, it's in letting it out. The other part of writing is the arrogant side of me that thinks my opinions/thoughts matter to the world. My ideal job: an opinion columnist in printed media. (Yes, the very entity I loathe.)

Ok, so why is it important to me to share? It's a vent -a release valve, if you will- and I really believe that people need to have that. Feelings and thoughts are not something we should keep bottled up. It's just not healthy. The problem with most people is that feelings are hard to share with people face to face, or people we care about. I am in that category. Don't get me wrong, I talk plenty, but it's difficult to always be open. If someone really close to me replied to something I said with harsh criticism, it may hurt me or offend me. We're vulnerable that way. If you (the readers in general) criticize me, I take it as an intellectual challenge or constructive criticism. Why is that? I'm sure the people in my life that care about me would not want to hurt me, and some of you may want to kill me... so why do we get offended by the words of those who care about us, and care less about the words of those who hate us? Hmmm... interesting. Am I getting sidetracked? I guess writing and posting online is a sort of emotional safety net. Though I really don't think I'm that vulnerable (emotionally) to criticism, I certainly don't email all my friends and tell them to check out my new blog. In thinking about what I just said, maybe I'm much more vulnerable than I want to admit. Who knows.

Secondly, and maybe equally, I love to debate. I'm good at it, I enjoy it, I'm somewhat intelligent and educated... but my strong point in any debate is that I don't care which side of an issue I take. I can do either side and never reveal what I think personally. (Though I'm definitely not doing that here, it's obvious that I'm ranting about the things that I feel.) It's not like I want this site to turn into a big, mean, argument.. I'd delete a post before I let that happen... but two differing intelligent opinions, exchanging information, stimulating minds, and piquing curiosity is like a drug to me. Addicting as hell.

My pictures... A hobby at best, though it is a form of expression for me. I wish I was better at it. I do have a better camera now, and that's helped a little. I'll tell you all a secret, my favorite thing to do is take pictures of people. Not posing, not models, but people doing what people do all day. The only problem with that is that I disagree with doing it. lol. Did that make sense? Ok... let me explain. If I was cruisin' the web one day and came across a picture of me, that someone else had taken and posted without my consent or approval, I would be livid! I'd hunt them down and destroy their hard drive. (Just kidding, though I'd consider it! lol) I'm big on people's right to privacy. But let me be honest here, I've taken a bunch of pictures of people that don't even know it, and I think I have some awesome pictures, but I don't feel that I have the right to share them. I wish I could, but I can't bring myself to do it. Oh, how I hate having morals... I've always said they are nothing but a pain in the ass. I have a friend who is pregnant, about 7 months along, and I'm trying my hardest to talk her into letting me just tag along with her for a few days and take as many pictures as a I wanted of her just doing whatever it is she does during the day. That would make a fantastic photo display. However, she's only agreed to me hanging out with her (And since we're friends and we can hangout anytime we want, she's conceded nothing... she's a shrewd lady.) but so far, she won't agree to picture taking. Go figure. ; )

I hope I answered... I tried to be honest and sincere. Thanks for the wonderful comment and questions Geo. I'm about out of time for the day so I need to wrap up and post. My latest complaint against society will have to wait til tonight or tomorrow. It oughta be a a dandy, it's about cursing.