I haven’t really talked about my work on this blog, except to say that I have a job (and I am quite fortunate in that regard). I’m not going to go into elaborate detail about what, exactly, my job entails here, largely because it’s all about being sneaky (like a ninja) on the Internet, but I will tell you this much: I read a lot of blogs.
Like, a lot of blogs.
A lot.
Last week, I perused 256 blogs. This week, I’m already up to about 200 and I have a whole other day for vetting left (I’m still relatively new to this department and not quite up to speed yet). Today, I read entries on 88 different blogs. 88 of them. That is a lot of freaking blogs. And I have learned quite a bit just from observing what other people write, discovered several random and fascinating new subject areas, and added a few new blogs to my regular reading list (if you want to laugh your ass off, check out The Smartness or The Evil Editor; if you like random information as much as I do, definitely visit Cerebral Boinkfest. These are the things I blame for my woeful word count in NaNoWriMo thus far).
But the most important perk of my job? Finding out how truly bizarre and wonderful the Internet really is.
I have found blogs on everything you can possibly imagine. Did you know that some people get really upset about the use of lOWERCASE “L” in otherwise all-caps signage? Or that stock photo websites have an unhealthy obsession with pictures of women laughing alone with salad (or, alternately, black women laughing while shopping, women laughing alone with chocolate, or even men laughing alone with fruit salad, which is just plain sexist)? Or that joggling is a recognized sport in the Guiness Book of World Records?
I mean…I always knew the Internet was full of strange things, but mostly I figured that when people said “strange” what they really meant was “creepy” or “disturbing,” as it was so often followed by an expression that seemed to suggest that these were things that no sane human being would ever want to see or experience. And, yes, there are things out there entirely deserving of that classification. I won’t link you to any of them–curiosity would get the better of you, and I’d like to maintain my friendships–but they’re out there, and they are truly upsetting. But there are so many wonderfully strange and delightfully bizarre other things out there that it’s really a shame that it all gets lumped together into an “ick” category.
Maybe things like t-shirts featuring classic book covers are only interesting to me, but if that’s the case, the rest of you are sorely missing out. Because, for serious, reading angry pharmacist rants dramatically improves my quality of life.
Delightedly yours,
M.M. Jordahl
“The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it’s difficult to discern whether or not they are genuine.” -Abraham Lincoln :P
NaNovel: ~250 words (it’s handwritten, and I’m up past my bedtime. That shit is not getting counted.)
M.M. Jordahl 