This is bothersome

I log into Blogger, ready to print an obscure poem about something that I want to be tactful about but still get off my chest and the main page has this: Official Suggestions for How to Make Sure Your Mom Doesn't Freak Out if She Reads Your Blogspot which is based off of this article from the Onion (recall, please, the Onion requires perhaps a flat of salt), and compounded by this: about how not to lose your job due to blogging.

Now, I grant that these are not entirely pointless tutorials. When one is writing for the public domain - or a domain that's at least technically public, even if no one visits your site - one ought to be cognizant of a few things: spelling, such as of the word cognizant which I'm more than pretty sure I just botched. ;P One's audience: who's going to be reading your work? Most of us will point to a handful of folk: our family, our friends, a few on-line fellows we've "met" and become convivial with. Dangling participles. D**n swearing. Mentioning how many beers one drank in a night (or chocolate bars one ate, or minutes one overslept, or verses one wrote or...sorry, I don't drink beer!). In a public journal, how can the blogger with a brain (BWAB) be surprised when he discovers that in this internet-savvy age others with a vested interest in his private life (teachers, parents, bosses, etc.) snoop about in his PUBLIC blog. One is tempted to say, "Duh." If you wanted to keep your private life private, publishing it on the WORLD wide web is probably NOT the best way to go about it.

Of course, I'm not therefore an immediate advocate of this "sneakage" that Blog has put forth. That is: changing your domain, using a pseudonym, putting up a false disclaimer claiming "everything here is false!", or any other means of prevarication. Now, granted, I myself have used the "I am using this phrase (poem/etc.) to speak of something/one that I'd rather not name because I'd like to keep some semblance of face, danke-very-schoene," but usually - for me - I use that to protect the innocent, rather than to protect my own culpability.

Which leads me to wonder, then, why no one has suggested leading a blameless private life which one can report with relative fearlessness in a public domain? Wouldn't THAT be the obvious and better choice? Why are the "handbooks" and "tutorials" advocating compounding one's transgressions with outright mendacity? This is not a situation of delicacy or tact, but of right and wrong. Those who engage in falsehoods in order to hide their wrongdoing cannot claim with the guilty John Proctor, "Leave me my good name!" for they have abandoned their name altogether; there is no goodness nor any name - only mere guilt and Onion fodder.

Now, to fess up: I had myself intended to log on to blog in poetical style about an unfortunate incident I had the other day - using poetry, once again, to allow myself to vent my frustration with the situation into which I have been forced by another party, while not inditing that party by name - indeed to leave them their good name, whether deserved or not (whether in existence or not). [A note: by this very hedging, I make the case sound more extreme than it is; the case is one of extreme inconvenience and thoughtlessness which is being thrust upon me much against my will, but it is no more dire than what life frequently throws at anyone.] Perhaps I will still write that poem - I find that when I start out, it's about what I'm thinking of; when it is done it has transformed into its own poem. But then, isn't that the nature and root of poetry that it begins in factual observation and ends in divine meditation? So, on another day I will grace you all with "The Incessant Tick."

For now, I am off to shower. In private. Nyah.

Mood: Oyveh. Lord, You made many many smart people...where are they? And why do the stupid ones think themselves clever?
Music: Evanescence a minute ago. Pirates in three hours!!!
Thought: Why is chocolate so tasty and so bad for you? Poot.

[Edited to add:] Today's random quiz! Once again, the Emily in her native habitat, succumbs to peer blogging pressure and Takes A Silly Quiz that Embarasses the Heck out of Her...and yet she posts it anyway! The case study is currently in dispute between the anthropologists who claim that this peculiar habit of the Emily proves that she is little more than one of an infinite number of monkeys and therefore the quote-unquote missing link between either simians and humans or humans and technology. The sociologists claim that this proves yet again that the Emily has devolved, and is somewhere now between a toaster oven and the French. The philologists wonder why the Emily keeps referring to herself in the third person. The blogologists run over to try out the quiz themselves on their own infinite number of computers. Which only proves that although we may not come up with Hamlet, we might come up with a quiz ABOUT him!

(Oh, and hey, my fellow quizdicted - consider rating these one highly. Aren't you tired of crass quizzes being on the popular, etc. lists? *crawling back into the den of my blankets on my long-neglected bed*)

[Note: there was - weeeeird - no picture for this one. So I'll post my own. Nyah.]



Your soul is bound to the White Rose: The Pure. "I've been waiting in the dark for a longtime, shining my beacon of hope through the shadow. If you see me, don't you hide your eyes from me."

The White Rose is associated with purity, honor, and chastity. It is governed by the goddess Artemis [Edited: bwahahahah - oy, child] and its sign is The Cross, or Agape [Edited: well, that's good!]

As a White Rose, you are a person of your word. You [Edited out: "may" ;)] have a strong moral code, but regardless of your virtue, you always stay true to yourself [Edited: huh? What the shreck does THIS sentence mean? Regardless of virtue? May have a moral code? Yet another example of the vacuum belief that moral relativism is a positive good rather than a fence straddling nothing]. To you, love is the most pure of emotional forms and it's just a matter of waiting for it to bless you. Some people may say you are too idealistic, but it's only because you don't want to mess things up.[Edited to add: *blush* I hope so!]


What Rose Is Your Soul Bound To?
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[Edited again to add once more:] Hah! This is appropriate! (Not particularly well spelled, but at least diverting.) Also, please consider, if frustrated, visiting this site.


You are an african penguin.... yes... from
africa... well, annother comon name for the
african penguin is the jackass penguin....
great isnt it? and the african penguin is the
most common penguin to find in zoos, along with
the magalenic... for more information... go to
mi site! http://home.earthlink.net/~rockhopperpenguin


What species of penguin are you? (pics)
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[Edited again to add once more really last time....] OK, this one's just neat. And I was SURE I was going to end up as Vizzini...but...handsome? ;P (Couldn't I end up WITH handsome? Naw. But it's the mask thing that got me, I'm sure!)


You are Westley. Valiant, handsome and a great
believer in the power of true love. You learn
quickly, recover quickly and think quickly.
Others marvel at your brilliance and wish they
were you!


"A princess bride personality test!"
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[Edited again to add once more really REALLY positively last and final time...!] Tee hee hee! Wasn't sure how this one would turn out, but I'm not surprised. Love this character - go short and fuzzy things that "hee-YAW" at bad guys and are so very, very muppet!


You are Sir Didymus!! A Fearless and valiant
warrior who will fight to the death if you feel
strongly enough about it. Your friends rate
you very highly and so they should because you
are a loyal and wonderful person.


"Which 'Labyrinth' Character are you?"
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[Edited to ahhhhhhhhhh....] Yeah, this is what teaching High School Religion is like some days. You can take your pick which one is me, really.


"It's just a flesh wound!" You are
aggressive and determined by nature, but
sometimes unaware of other more glaring faults.
You love a good fight, especially with ankle-
gnawing action. Bunnies are your greatest fear.


What favourite Monty Python saying/character are you?
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[Crawling back up into the blogsphere...uhoh...mother!] Drat - LAST person I wanted to be! However, the sentiment is terrific! LOL!


Cosette

I swear, you are the biggest goody-goody two shoes
since GHANDI!!


What's your Les Miserables character and problem? (just take the quiz, you'll see)
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[Yay-hey-hey! In a pathetic, tired but not tired enough and "I'm calling in ugly" sort of way.] Finally, one got it right! ;P


You are Barliman Butterbur, the innkeeper of the
Prancing Pony at Bree! You seem to always be
busy and forgetful, but you're a really nice
guy to your friends. Still, you can't be the
brightest crayon in the box if even *Sam*
suggests that you're dense. :)


Which VERY minor LotR character are you?
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[Just for you, Jules] Mmmmwah, my Sam!


Ouch.


LotR - Which person/thing that made Sam cry are you?
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