I have to be honest… I was hoping my April Fool‘s gag would run longer than the first comment (yeah, THANKS Girl, Dislocated for being so on the ball with the calendar) but alas it was not meant to be.  I mean, this is a day of joking and gagging right?  So obviously it totally has to be a ruse concocted for my enjoyment during the ride back from France Sunday night.  Yet, if you take out the blank check part, the dinner with a Thai call girl, and the return to the organized Roman Catholic Church… it could all actually be true.  Even that dumbass comment policy… or I could just take the easy way out and just close comments.

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger posted a request for videos asking to explain to him ”Why I Blog”.  The videos submitted amazed me not so much for the number, but for the sheer diversity.  I had intended to do a video, really I did, and in fact I still may do it.  This was something right up my alley, and it meant I might actually be able to blip THE DARREN ROWSE’s RADAR… THE PROBLOGGER HIMSELF!!!  Still I had other things that were more pressing to me, so I did those instead.  Ya know what happened?  Nothing.  No one realized I HADN’T done a video.  No one was stricken by my lack of video.  The earth did not end.  It was, is, and will be okay to not do that video.

One of the things I learned relatively early on about the blogosphere, besides the fact that it is more diverse than quite possibly New York City itself, is the dimensions.  As bloggers, we find ourselves writing in our blogs on a somewhat frequent basis that provides the readers an understanding of who we are… in one dimension.  I don’t think we do it purposely, but rather subconsciously we find something we like to do, something other people like to see us do, and then we just keep doing it… and doing it… and doing it.  I love Rice Chex.  I used to eat Rice Chex 4 times a week.  Now if I eat it once a week its alot.  There is only so much of one thing that you can do… do well… and for you to be happy with it.  We are multi-dimensional beings… and its okay to be that way.

Of course, its really not ALL about us… because we have our readers.  They have been loyal to us, they have read us, and they have been there to support us through it all.  We feel an obligation to you dear reader, whether you are a fellow blogger or not, to give of ourselves what makes YOU happy.  So what to do when there’s no more happy to give?  Divorce. 

Pudding and I have a very amicable relationship.  Oh sure, at the beginning I was bitter, confused, distraught and angry because I felt that she had fucked me over royally in leaving me.  I later came to the realization that she had in fact done me a favor.  She had cut me loose because she had no more happy to give… and all she was giving me was misery.  For bloggers, the choice for divorce is in the hands of the readers.  There’s the unsubscribe button in the feed reader and the delete bookmark option in the browser.  Bloggers can continue blogging… and like an ex-spouse the reader can come back around at their leisure or find someone else who suits them better.  Isn’t there an option for bloggers?  Well… for bloggers the other choice amounts to seppeku… blog deletion.

No one will ever convince me that there is not SOMETHING of themselves poured into their blog.  Really.  So if the right hand offends, do you chop it off?  I didn’t think so.  Stay away from the delete button.

So now hopefully you understand that while readership may come and go its better to have been than to have never, you understand that the delete button is a bad thing, and you understand that the world doesn’t end if you don’t post everyday.  of course this begs the question, why do I blog?  This is one of those questions where my answer will continually evolve.  It evolves because we continue to evolve and grow as human beings while we blog… and evolution is one reason I blog.  I’m sick of being a one-celled amoeba that people see of me in person.

I blog because of the diversity.  I like many things.  I like to try new things.  I like to hear others thoughts.  I like to hear others opinions.  I like to hear arguments trying to persuade me from my own opinion.  I like to mix it up.  The blogosphere is a virtual smorgashboard… and I did not choose that name for Sundays by accident.

I blog because of the similarity.  I like not being alone in my opinions.  I like talking with people who are like-minded in their thoughts and mindset as I am.  I like to know that I am, in fact, not alone.

I blog because of the probability.  The probability of me getting to know alot of the people I have gotten to know is probably a billion to one.  I like beating the odds.  I have conversations with people from almost all 50 states (Rhode Island, you need to represent), 5 out of the 7 continents, and I don’t even have a passport.

I blog because in blogging there is power.  Yes folks, there is power in what gets done everyday out here.  There is the power to affect someone’s life for the better whether it be in the form of a picture, a story, a video, or even a tweet that inspires, invokes thought, provokes a smile, or gives off that lovin’ feeling.  Now there are those who will argue about the virtualness of it all and how it is in fact “not real”.

There is real power in this and there are empirical facts you cannot deny.  It was real power to send Hilly to Philly.  It is real power that will see Dan walk in The Dales for The Joseph Salmon Trust.  It was the real powers of a blogging superhero to help the March of Dimes.  I myself have personally seen the power of the blogosphere.  The power of bloggers… the affect our blogs have… cannot be denied.  We are legion when mountains need to be moved.

Some of you may have heard, Lisa has been diagnosed with cancer again.  She’s going for the triple-crown like any pure bred would… but before she beats cancer for the third time… a trip to Disney with her kids appears to be in order… Miss Ann is doing a raffle thing where there are prizes such as afghans, knitted stuff, and free templates… so here’s the PayPal button for those who can help out:

We are legion when it matters most.