I haven’t blogged on here much lately, as many friends/readers have pointed out. I wish I could blame it on being “too busy” which seems to be the typical excuse most bloggers use. While I have been busy and away from home more than I like, my lack of blogging is due to two main things: 1) computer/website issues and 2) other bloggers.

Before I dive into how other bloggers have more or less made blogging less appealing to me lately (and subsequently end up making them hate me), I should mention that computer issues have caused me not to write much in the past few weeks. You see, I received a popup on my bottom right of my screen notifying me, as it periodically does, that there are Windows Updates that need to be installed. I updated, restarted, and found my computer ended up looking like it did when I bought it new. Everything was gone. Thanks a lot Microsoft! I panicked and was told that my user profile wasn’t being recognized. To make a long (and boring) story short, I had to reinstall programs and do a bunch of annoying stuff before my computer was working again. The only thing that I can’t get to work right after several uninstallations and reinstallations is Windows Live Writer which is what I happen to use to write on here. I’m also hoping to get all of my past postings of the past 5 1/2 years on here soon, as well.

As for the blogger part, I read other people’s blogs to either be entertained or informed. If a site doesn’t do either, then I don’t feel the need to waste my time, and I guess I feel like a lot of sites I regularly read haven’t fallen into either category lately lately. Here are the following categories that are the cause for my frustration:

People Who Seem to Have a Site Solely to Make Friends

When I was in high school, I had friends who were involved in drama, but I never really hung out with the drama clique. The main reason for it was because, when I was around the group, all they talked about was inside jokes they created from past plays and musicals. They were proud of these inside jokes which is understandable because everyone likes to feel like they belong. The problem, though, is that many of the people in the group acted like their jokes made them cool even though no one outside of the group thought so. That is kind of how I feel a lot of the KC blogosphere is these days. It’s weird to me, and I feel like a lot of blog postings and inside jokes would be better suited on Myspace or Facebook.

Boring, Uninteresting Information Treated Like It’s Amazing

A perfect example of this can be summed up by this article from The Onion. Home projects aren’t entertaining unless you’re getting into some serious Extreme Home Makeover action. Multiple updates about how you’re feeling under the weather falls into that category, as well. The same holds true for that amazing taste-by-taste update about that delicious dish of meatloaf you prepared the night before. When it comes to these types of posts, you should ask yourself two questions: 1) Will anyone care about this? and 2) Will I, the writer of this post, care to read about this a year from now? If none of those can be answered with a “yes”, please refrain from posting about that topic It’s just a lose/lose situation.

Pointless Quiz Results That Pass as Posts

I wish I could say that only 99% of these posts are a waste of time, but I can’t say that in good faith. The statistic is 100%. Who cares that, if you were a fruit, you’d be a grape or that, if you were a member of Pee Wee’s Playhouse, you’d be Chairy? Let’s face it, if someone posts those quiz results, they’re only doing it to take up space on the blog in hopes that someone will read it and their hit count will be increased.

Looooong Posts That Could Really Be Summed Up in a Sentence

Have you ever been to a gathering involving a lot of old people? Old people love to tell stories (and good for them because I love hearing them). You can always tell who is a great storyteller or who is just rambling and may possibly have Alzheimers. When they fall in the latter category, it’s kind of a sad thing. I think the same holds true with blogging. If it’s going to be long, make it entertaining or informative, that’s all I ask. It is really frustrating to spend five minutes reading a lengthy post about someone’s trip to the grocery store only to find that the climax of the story revolves around how they couldn’t find any skim milk and had to buy 1% instead.

Okay, I was expecting the list to be longer, but I really think that sums it up. I know I’m going to come off sounding like a jerk, but I really do mean well. To be fair, I have yet to meet a blogger I didn’t like, and I think that’s why I have a hard time considering dumping someone from my blog list on Google Reader. But let’s be honest, just because someone is a good person and has a blog doesn’t mean that that person’s blog is worth reading. The reason this all relates to my lack of blogging is because it makes me second-guess why I write on here. It makes me question if I’m like that, and I end up just passing on writing about things that I later wish I had. I know that there are quite a few people who probably aren’t interested in my concert posts and whatnot, but I love looking back and remembering the experience all over again. And to be honest, I’ve spent time the past couple of days reading old posts (although not the OLD posts because they aren’t on here yet), and I found that I think most of what I’ve written about over the years is pretty darn entertaining…to me. And that’s really all that should matter. So for now, I think it’s safe to say that I have a new passion for writing on here.