Final April Post!

Well... here it is. My final post for April. I didn't actually manage to post every day in April, but I came pretty darn close -- missing only three out of thirty days. Someone told me they were disappointed that April is almost over and I won't be blogging anymore (they were probably just making small talk, but I'm pretending they were serious). I'm fairly certain that this won't be my last post, although it will be nice to not feel guilty for not meeting my goal when I miss a day. I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed doing this and with how many things I've put out there for anyone to read.

So... what have I learned? Here are a few things that come to mind:

The main thing is how much easier it is for me to share my thoughts in writing than in person. I've always known this about myself, but it has become even more apparent recently. I have made two good friends in the past year or so, by getting to know them first on IM. Thankfully both of these friendships have translated into 'real life' friendships, but I still communicate with both of them a lot on IM. It's easier to express your thoughts to someone when you have the freedom to review what you are telling them and make sure you are really conveying what you mean. That may seem like you're not really being yourself, but I think the opposite is true. I think you are more likely to tell someone what you actually think when you have a minute to really consider it rather than when you just say something off the top of your head. Plus, there are some things that are just easier to discuss without looking someone in the face. Sad, but true. So... yeah. I think blogging has just made it even more obvious to me that I prefer writing to talking.

I have a bad habit of writing the way I talk. I overuse 'really' and 'seriously' and 'totally'. I overuse parenthesis and ellipsis, which is probably confusing to people reading whatever I write. When I use them it's usually because that is the way whatever I'm writing would sound if I were saying it out loud. I also tend to write in incomplete sentences for emphasis and begin sentences with words like 'but' and 'and'. Poor Dr. Headley (my favorite English professor from college). He would probably deny ever knowing me if he were to read anything I write now. Ugh.... so many bad habits!

What else?

I want people to read what I write. This REALLY surprises me. When I started this blog, I really thought about making it private. Even after I posted it publicly, I only told one person I know about it for a couple weeks. The more I wrote and the more I read other blogs, the more I've wanted people to read mine. I like getting comments. Of course positive feedback is ideal, but I want people to be honest. If someone thinks something is annoying or total crap, I really would be okay with them writing that too. I know the point of this is for my own practice and it shouldn't really matter to me if anyone else reads it. But it does matter if people read it and I like it when someone leaves a comment telling me they did.

I like reading what other people post. Well... some people. There are some who only post pictures and stories of their kids or just post pictures of things they like or want to buy. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Lots of people have cute kids who do cute things and lots of people have good taste. I just more enjoy the blogs of people who write about things they've observed or what's on their mind and who have an interesting writing style that makes you wish they would post more frequently. It's strange because once I read over someone's posts, I feel like I've gotten a tiny glimpse of what they might be like and I want them to know I've enjoyed reading what they wrote. Of course, I also don't want to come off as some crazy person, inserting myself unwelcome into their part of the blogosphere. There's a fine line, I guess.

I guess that's enough sharing for the day. This post is getting quite wordy and boring.

Oh... I don't have a partial poem so I will end with something strange and a little disturbing. Some (I assume) well-meaning individual keeps putting girly amenities in the ladies room in the office. Things like lavender soap (in case the normal soap-scented kind provided is not good enough), Better Homes and Gardens magazines (in case you need to stay in a public restroom to catch up on your reading), and fruity smelling lotion (in case you want to ward off water cooler talk by smelling like fruit). The latest addition is some kind of scented oil in a bottle with those diffuser stick things. Now the restroom smells like a candy shop. It's disturbing on many levels. It's also disturbing that I'm writing about it. I'll stop now.