“Are you blogging?” he asked, half-joking.
I was sitting in the corner of a photo shoot yesterday, rapid-fire typing an email on my laptop while others fussed about with the models and lighting. A co-worker my age had wandered over to see what I was doing instead of paying attention to the shoot.
Embarrassed, I lied.
“No! I don’t blog!” I subconsciously punctuated it with disgust.
“Calm down,” he said. “Is that a bad word, ‘blogger?’ Is it like ‘hipster?’”
I could feel my face turning red. But I really didn’t know how to respond. So, I kept lying.
Because it is kind of a bad word, isn’t it? Blogger. It sounds so… stupid. So egotistical. So stay-at-home-mom-with-nothing-better-to-do-than-write-about-diapers-and-recipes. Admitting to keeping a personal blog is admitting that you think your life is special–perhaps more special than anyone else’s–and your daily life deserves public attention. Your husband is charming enough to write short essays about; your work annoyances are unique enough that others will love reading about them; your dressing room trials and tribulations are funny enough to get re-blogged and re-Tweeted and shared by strangers with their loved ones, the link pasted into emails that say, “You’ve GOT to check this out!” All bloggers think this way. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t bother blogging. Attention is our reason for being, and we firmly believe that we deserve that attention, as much as we hate ourselves for it.
So no, I’m not psyched to admit to anyone that I’m a blogger, particularly co-workers; I’d like to think I conduct myself in a somewhat classy, respectable, dare I say cool? manner at work, and this blog definitely implodes that impression. So no, I don’t go around talking about the blog. And, turns out, even when directly confronted, I deny it… though I know full well that my co-worker probably Googled me soon after yesterday’s photo shoot, quickly found this stupid blog, read a post about cat poop and lost a little respect for me.
Guh, this is so embarrassing.
Good thing I blogged about it.
At least he knows how you feel about lying to him. I bet he subscribes.
I’m afraid to admit this, but I think you hit the nail on the head. Why do we blog? I never quite thought of it like you stated… well put. I feel a little stupid when other friends mention in a group (mixed with people I’ve just met) that I blog. Oh well, like you said… at least it gave you something to blog about
HAHAHAHAH … I love this one! I feel like a total butthead every time it’s said that I do infact have a “Blog”, and by no means does anyone outside of my immediate friend and family circle know I have this secret website. I love that you feel the pain with me!