To comment or not to comment

Like Morgan, I’ve been meaning to write a number of different posts for awhile now, but for various reasons, I just haven’t. Various reasons include laziness, Parenthood, eating, and inability to put two thoughts together. Unfortunately for all of you, my ideas aren’t quite as motivating/prayerful/holy/awesome as hers…see vulnerability and patience. But it’s Monday night and I’m sitting here watching a super old rerun of Criminal Minds that I’ve probably seen 10 times, so I figured I’d try and knock one out. Plus it came to mind as I was reading through all the posts I’ve missed in the past couple of days. And now that I've got you on the edge of your seats waiting for me to reveal this elusive topic, I’ll drone on for a few more sentences and really get you excited. :) Hahah juuust kidding. Here.we.go.

What the heck is the proper etiquette for commenting on someone’s blog for the first time, especially if you’ve been following them for a few months without saying anything? Wow, that came out MUCH creepier than I intended. Hahaha let's ignore those paparazzi-like images popping up and just move right along before I do an even more splendid job of making myself sound like a real creep! But seriously…so many questions come up—

·      Should you put your own blog after your name to encourage them to check out the truly enlightening things you share or is that being too forward?

·      Do you have to let them know how you found their blog? And what if you don’t remember anymore?

·      How long can you continue to follow someone’s blog without commenting before you’ve just lost all opportunity to say anything without revealing that you’ve basically been stalking them due to references you make to posts from 5 months earlier?

·      Should you tell them it was nice to “meet” them at the end so that they know this isn't just a one time deal?

·      And finally, how many times do you have to comment on someone’s blog before you can start referring to them as a friend in everyday conversation?

So there you have it. These are the kinds of thoughts that keep me up at night… or at least keep me from commenting on your blog ;) Because we all know how annoyed we get when someone new comments on our blogs, right? That’s just the worst! Much worse than pickle juice in your eye. (The reference is somewhere in this clip…hahaha but it’s all funny so if you’ve got the time, you should just watch the whole thing!) So you can understand where all of these questions are coming from. You can’t just walk into these things blindly! (now would be a good time for someone to invent a sarcasm font. Hahaha).

Well I think I've done a fair job of filling my random-thought quota for the week so I'm off to rot my brain with TV and my teeth with ice cream. :)

Where are all the notifications??

I think Blogger owes you all a big apology. Or maybe the problem I'm about to express is only happening to me, in which case I'll wind up owing Blogger some condolences, but I'm okay with that. In the end, someone's gonna owe someone an apology!

What's all this ranting about you may ask? Comments. Now it may just be because I'm a noob that I don't already know this, but shouldn't I get an email alerting me to the fact that you've replied to a comment I left on your very amusing or very thought-provoking post? How are we supposed to dialogue if I don't even know you've spoken back?? I guess one way to do it is to write down every comment I ever make so that I can go back and see if there's a later response, but that seems very time consuming and semi stalker-like. I mean, don't get me wrong; I'll go down that long and winding road if I have to, but if there's an easier way, I'd be delighted. Maybe I'm just too used to Facebook where you get notifications for everything from status likes to farmville requests (>:-O). And on a quick side tangent, has anyone else noticed how creepy Facebook has gotten?  You can now see how many people have "seen" a post in a group and if someone edited the post you're currently looking at (which, by the way, seems to completely negate the whole purpose of being able to edit your wall post in the first place, but who am I to argue with the mighty and powerful book of faces...)

But back to the whole blog-post-reply-to-a-comment fiasco I was going on about. I just want to know if I'm getting a reply so I know whether or not I need to say anything else back! Sometimes people say more than just "thank you," and I'd like to be kept in the loop. But if that's not going to happen, then get prepared to see your page views start skyrocketing due to my return visits :)

And while we're on the topic, I truly appreciate all of the feedback you ladies leave me. I get so excited when I check my dashboard and see that I have new comments waiting for me. All of them put the biggest smiles on my face, and I thought you oughta know :) Virtual hugs for all.

p.s. Pictures coming tomorrow! I hope the anticipation doesn't keep you up all night ;)