Sunday, August 24, 2008

Summer blogging had me a blast

Well, I'm back to work proper tomorrow after a fairly long summer of staying in bed till 3p.m., some fairly easy-going TEFL work, a lot of TV football, some sunburn and some soddenness, and a rekindling of my love of the Irish Sea (including a dip yesterday morning with other lunatics).

And it's occurred to me that, having started blogging in mid-May as the school year was winding down, that pretty much all of my blogging has been done in summer months. I'll be going back to college this year to learn how to be a proper teacher and it's dawning on me that I really won't have as much time as I'd like to devote to the blog. Or, at least, I shouldn't have as much time to devote to the blog. I hope I'm able to keep it going in some respectable way but there is a fair chance it'll be a bit more sporadic in nature from henceforth. Of course, there's every chance I'll be logging on every day to let off steam. I ask your forgiveness in advance if this becomes a bit whiney occasionally.

I started this blog simply because I realised I was spending lots of time on other blogs and commenting all over the place. occasionally my comments went off on a bit of a tangent and I was basically just using them as a mini-post, a stolen forum for my own views. Blogging looked easy and it turned out to be even easier so I now put my stronger views in their rightful place: here. In the last few days I entirely unwittingly began a debate as to the importance of blog-rolls. Rosie took it and ran with it and I've been very interested to see what other people have thought. But to her more militant defenders (and she does have a few) I must stress again that I was not criticising her or Darragh's lack of a blog-roll, I was simply curious as to why they don't have/like them. Having a go at someone for the things they choose to include or omit from their sidebar would be absolutely crass. And then some.

I choose to have a blog-roll because I don't use Google reader or anything like that so it simply provides a handy link-list for me to check up on. I'll be honest and admit that I don't read them all every day but I do check them all pretty regularly. There's nothing on there that I don't like, though I naturally like some more than others. Several of them are my friends but if I thought they were shite then I'd take them off. You have been warned. And I'd like to think they'd take me off theirs if my already patchy quality deteriorated much further. Some haven't reciprocated and it doesn't bother me in the least. That would be petty. I'll persevere with mine in the hope that passers-by will occasionally click on something and discover someone well-worth reading.

The nicest and most unexpected side-effect of blogging has been meeting new people. They've all been lovely. I won't name names or link to them now because you all know damn well who you are. And I'm better off for having met you all. So, if the Irish blogosphere is a bit like social-networking at times (and I think it is), it's definitely a higher form of social-networking than anything else I've come across before.

3 comment(s):

Darragh said...

I certainly never felt criticised sir. I'm open to any and all constructive advice - I'm still very much learning about the medium - and like yourself have found this whole thing interesting, to say the least. Crass? A bit, too.

Re the social element - well that's the best thing of blogging for me, and why I persist. Brilliant people, great ideas, strange nights, early mornings, fun. Lottie's post sums it up in a way that words never could.

Enjoy work. I look forward to hearing about it. :D

Anonymous said...

I was going to leave you a post about saying feck work and if it gets in the way of you blogging then maybe you should give up the work and college, but seen as you haven't put me on your blog roll I've decided I'm not going to ;-), hehehe.
Seriously though, I hope you do find time througout your college and work to still pop in here & blog about the things that annoy you and make you laugh as I think you have funny, serious and post to make the mind question and query about things and I enjoy reading your blog.

red said...

I use my blogroll for much the same reason as you- some I like more than others but it serves as a reminder for me of who I want to check in with most. Glad to have foud your blog.