Honey

I’ve been struck a hard blow. My friend told me I used to be thoughtful. And that I used to be someone who wasn’t afraid to talk about difficult subjects. She said that she can tell from my blog that I am not that person anymore. I’ve been angry at her and at this whole blog thing ever since.

I’m a relative newbie to blogging. I’m sensitive to criticism, especially as I’m just learning how to gather and share my most personal thoughts with the entire world. I’ve certainly been guarded. I’m stretching my legs and attempting to discover where my own boundaries lie in terms of what is and what isn’t appropriate. I must assume that anyone could visit this site, including my grandmother. This assumption may limit the breadth of my discussion here.

The thing that bothers me the most is that my blog is now a representation of my identity, and can be used against me by those who want to know (and judge) who I am. I suppose I hoped this site would provide a window into my life and existence for those with limited access to my attention. I also publish my thoughts and experiences in the hope that I will be able to connect with new and already good friends all over the world.

What I write on this blog may exist “forever”, but that doesn’t mean that it is a perfect reflection of me all the time. Like everyone else, I am always changing. Of course, I can be held accountable for anything I say, and I’m more than willing to have a conversation about anything at all, either in person or in the comments.

I know deep down that what my friend said was unfair, but I took it pretty personally and have been having difficulty writing anything ever since.

Maybe it’s the gray sky (somebody told me it would be 93 degrees today)
Maybe it’s that I slept too much and my back hurts
Maybe it’s that one of my best friends is mad at me

We need a new roommate
Do you know anybody who needs a room?

I don’t know what to do with this blog thing
My friend says I’m happy-go-lucky and sometimes it seems forced
That I’m always going on about some new thing I’m trying
Like a new diet or new exercise and how it’s so great and I’m so happy
And that maybe it’s not real

So now I’m wondering if maybe she’s right
Sometimes it’s hard to be really honest in the context of a blog
I can’t really write about anyone else without their permission
I always feel a little confused about how much to share

I’m thinking a lot about honesty lately
Mostly I think that there’s no such thing as truth
It’s all subjective
The whole world’s in denial
Including me

If you’re anything like me, you read more than a couple of blogs as often as possible. There are so many amazing people out here in the web-o-sphere who are sharing their experience with anyone who has access, and I don’t want to miss a thing!

One of the reasons I love reading blogs is that I don’t have to go check each web site daily to see the interesting thing my favorite blogger has posted. Instead, I can use an RSS Reader to check all the best blogs for me, aggregate and categorize them, then give me simple access to all the new items.

An RSS Reader is a piece of software, either online or installed on your computer, that is responsible for making your blog reading an enjoyable experience. There are lots of great readers out there, and I encourage you to search the web for the one you like the most.

The RSS Reader I like the most is Google Reader. I like that it’s easy to get to, the mobile interface on my phone is great, and it has a good set of keyboard shortcuts.

It’s pretty easy to get started. Just go to Google Reader and enter your gmail account information. To create a new subscription to follow, just click on Add subscription. You can create categories and organize new feeds accordingly.

Google Reader is smart, too. You can enter a website address (like koencidence.com) and Google Reader will find the feed URL to use when configuring a new subscription.

I’ve made all my Google Reader tags public, so you can take a look at the feeds that I subscribe to. This is also a great way to get started with Google Reader.

• art
• feeling good
• geekery
• information
• portland
• queer
• random goodness

Good luck!

1. Determine how this moment can be used to advance my creative endeavors
2. Admire cute girls (especially my girlfriend)
3. Expand my mind
4. Appear attractive to others
5. Make money
6. Maintain a positive attitude
7. Spread some love around

I love blogging. I love thinking of things to write about and then writing about them. I love discovering new ways of looking at things. I love gathering and organizing information and then formulating entire sentences and even paragraphs about what I’ve learned.

The risk, of course, as with all the rest of the things I try, is that I allow otherwise good, moderate things to become too important, take on too much weight, and begin to eat the rest of my life. I realized while I walked around the Japanese Garden on Thursday that I have been wasting too many delicious moments looking through the blog lens, and I’m sick of it.

And so, I will no longer be thinking up things to say until I say them and I’m lifting the blog every day rule. So there, obsessive self.

As you may have read before on my blog, I am endlessly fascinated by the search terms that lead people here to read what I have to say. My favorite this month was, of course, the title of this post and I have included a photo to prove that I deserve to be associated with this most excellent search phrase. Some of my other favorites this month include:

• win a girlfriend lottery
• my girlfriend is the coolest
• i love koen
• koen is the cutest
• i don’t shave my head because i am a lesbian
• the most confusing thought i’ve ever had