I was in a marketing seminar this afternoon and the presenter was trying to explain blogging to an older woman in the room. The presenter said, “Did you ever watch Doogie Howser?” The woman nodded. “Remember how he would type his thoughts at the end of every episode, writing his opinions and learnings from his life? Well, I would say Doogie was the first blogger.”
***This has nothing to do with the topic of this post, but I remember one episode of Doogie Howser when his girlfriend, Wanda, (no, I didn’t actually remember her name. I googled it. I had thought it was Winnie, but then realized that was the girlfriend in the Wonder Years…) had one of her parents die. And Doogie tried to console her and was like, “I know how you feel.” And Wanda screamed back, “No you don’t! How can you know how I feel?!! Your parents are still alive!” And I remember making a mental note that day never to say Iknowhowyoufeel to someone when I don’t really knowhowtheyfeel.
Anyway, realizing that Doogie was the first blogger made me feel happy that I am in good company, and then sad that no theme music pops up every time I write a blog post.
Blogging is a funny thing. It is very narcissistic. And perhaps by just naming that fact, I can get over that fact. Because I struggle a lot with this question of ‘who really cares what I’m up to…’ Except that I know I have a very faithful and growing readership because my husband is techy and hooks me up to sites that graph this sort of thing. See?!! How narcissistic is that?!! Graphing my readership? Sick.
And yet, I LOVE BLOGGING. I honestly am trying to get all of my friends and family to blog. Because I think it’s so fun and I love reading other people's blogs. Donald Miller is one of my favorite writers and he recently wrote on his blog that writing a book is basically him saying, “Hey world, I exist, and I want to you to see that I exist.” (I use those quotes loosely…it was something along those lines…) He was just pointing out this very human need we all share, even though it does seem quite self-centered. So I guess blogging sort of is self-centered. And yet, because of my blog I feel so amazingly connected to friends of days gone by and new friends that I only know through their blogs. For me, that feels more relationship-centered.
Not really sure what I’m actually trying to say, except, blog readers, thanks for reading. I know this blog is Becca-centered, and maybe I’m just trying to apologize for that. But I love this blog and actually just think that if blogging was healthy and therapeutic for The World’s Youngest Television Doctor, then maybe I can just get over the stigma attached to blogging and channel my inner Doogie.
Insert Doogie theme music here: do do do do dodo. Do do do do dodo. Do dodo. Do dodo. Dododododo.
