The Doctor is In

Myblog: A persistent condition often contracted after the 1st of the year manifesting as chronic introspection resulting in blog crisis. Bloggers exhibiting symptoms write: What is the point of my blog? How has having readers affected my content? What do I want to do with my blog now, and how can I get more out of it? If my readership reaches a critical mass, will their volume make it easier for me to ignore their influence on my writing or more difficult? If having more readers will make it more difficult for me to write whatever I want, why do I care what my hit count is? Is a blog with no readers still a blog?

There is no single, proven cure, but the following treatments may alleviate the symptoms:
Jerkification of the self in writing so as to convey, "This is MY blog, and I don't care what you think!" (Possible side effects: readers may think you are a jerk if you act like one, loss of some readers, and in extreme cases, loss of all readers- in that case, discontinue jerkification immediately and post nude pictures and porn links until your hit count returns to normal.)

Remove comments and hit counter from your blog: Write solely for yourself. (Possible side effects: loss of gratification, loss of blog community, and severe stat withdrawal.)

Blog Therapy: Reread last year's posts, and note what it is about your favorite entries you like best. Remember why you started the blog in the first place and what made it fun. (Possible side effect: you may end up with more questions than answers.)

Elements of each treatment may be combined and adapted to best serve an individual's needs.

Studies have shown that the success rate of each treatment drastically improves when the afflicted gets out of the house and does something interesting. Nearly all test subjects with interesting behavior who also participated in one of the treatment programs, as well as the control group with interesting behavior and no other treatment, blogged about compelling events instead of blog angst.

There is still much to learn about Myblog. What causes it? Why are some bloggers more susceptible to it than others? Can it be eradicated? Until we have all the answers, know that you are not alone. Many suffer from Myblog. Together, we will overcome it. Your monetary donation will ensure that the research continues until a cure is found. (Claire will accept cash, checks, and money orders on behalf of the Myblog Foundation. Make your check or money order payable to Claire.)

Made infiltrates my dreams

I was the leader of a rock band on the verge of performing, but I had serious concerns about going onstage. Our set was so diverse that some songs didn't fit anywhere. If that wasn't bad enough, I knew I didn't have the calluses to survive a whole night of guitar playing. I'll just sing lead, I thought to myself. I can fake the guitar or just ditch it after my fingers give out.

Where does this stuff come from anyway?

The pieces presented themselves within the dream. Last week, I'd played my guitar for the first time in months, and my fingertips killed with minutes. The overly diverse playlist mirrors the eclectic song selections I've been downloading that I'm not sure how to arrange when I burn them to CD to back them up. And finally, I watched an episode of Made last week in which a hippy, folk-singing, outcast girl wanted to be made into a rockstar.

Yes, I confess. I don't watch it regularly, but I do sort of love Made. It's the only thing I might watch on MTV these days except CRiBs. Well, videos...do they show videos anymore?

The Favorites

I finished reading all of my posts from 2005, and after a bit of weeding, I came up with the list in the sidebar. Since several of my favorites date back to the time before anyone read my blog, I've left them in chronological order, starting with the earliest post.

Subject matter and length vary quite a bit. I was amused by how short several of my favorites turned out to be.

Enjoy!

Fallen snow

Saying it well

This is what I've been thinking lately, but AlwaysWrite wrote it more coherently than I could at present.

Mulling

I took Neil's post from a couple of days ago to heart. I've been rereading my entries from 2005 and making a list of posts I like best.

Maybe it's weird for a blogger to admit, but there was a moment of dread before I began when I thought I might not like anything I'd written. I'm glad to be finding that's not the case, but it does have me mulling over what I want out of ttat.

Wring in the new year

The crick I've had in my neck all last week went all severe on me last night and totally kills today. 2006 is going to up from here, right? Argh.

Even dosing advil and a heat pad on it all day have not loosened it up. I think the only thing to do is go watch more world's strongest man qualifying competitions on espn (seriously, it's got to be the best sports tv one can watch).