Dr. Strangeblog – Or, How I Learned to Start Posting and Love The Attention

HAPPY 1000

By the time I get this blog composed and posted, I should have reached the one thousand visitor mark.  This was not something I considered when I set out on this journey.  It’s probably not something very many bloggers considered, before they started.  If you get into blogging for the fame and fortune, you will achieve neither fame, nor fortune.  You have the wrong mindset, and most of the potential fans will feel that.

I wonder how many of my readers GOT the title.  It is, of course, a reference to the movie, Dr. Strangelove.  It was a seminal movie, and number three on AFI’s 100 Funniest Movies.  I remember watching it as a teenager.  Then again, I remember having our paper delivered by a T-Rex.  He had trouble getting it up onto the porch, because of his short arms.  The movie was released in 1964, long before most of the people in “my group” were born.

I feel sorry for my wife.  She has inhalant allergies which keep her in the house much of the time.  A day of shopping can mean two or three days of breathing problems.  She don’t get out much anymore.  Once, a fairly social person, she had to “divorce” her toxic family to prevent anxiety attacks.  When the medical problems forced her to stop working, she lost what little other social contacts she had.  The daughter set her up with a WordPress account, and she blogged once, back in December.  I feel that, if she would get into this blogging thing, she would be happier by being more socially cocooned.

The blogosphere is a huge multi-faceted place, with something for everyone, and a few things no-one should have to see.  It can be a wild and crazy carnival, and that suits me fine.  I’m sure the wife could find a group of safe and pleasant bloggers, who could be a support circle for her, and help lift her depression and feelings of abandonment.

As I retired, the wife was worried about what I would do to fill my time.  Perhaps she was worried, as many older wives are, that I would be bored, and that boredom would impinge on her peaceful lifestyle.  As previous posts have revealed, more and more of that spare time has been taken up driving her, the daughter, and now myself to a bewildering array of doctors and medical facilities. 

 When I first started posting, I thought that the writing was *what it was all about*.  I soon found that, followers, and the give and take of commenting and being commented at, was the replacement for the intellectual and social intercourse (Heh, Heh.  I said intercourse!) I’d had when I was working.  Also, I can pick an intelligent, insightful, interesting, linguistically capable, expressive group to associate with, something not guaranteed at any place of employment.

The World Wide Web is indeed, worldwide.  I am intrigued by the geographical span of my readers and followers.  I have readers from Ireland and Australia, but at least they speak English there.  I wonder more about readers from places like Denmark and Croatia.  Who/what are they, and why are they there?  I have a follower who is a Texan, living in a beautiful old city in southeast France.  I have a new follower, who is an English-speaking Asian, from Singapore.  I can take advantage of these contacts to learn more about their regions. 

I could question these folks about their backgrounds, and, if the Cheeky Monkey curiosity becomes too great, I may.  I find though, that not knowing is more exciting.  I can write a back-story in my mind, for each of them, explaining how they followed a husband or a wife or a job or an adventure, to a foreign land, or how, as natives of these far-off countries, they came to read and write, sometimes impressive prose and/or poetry, in clear, easy-to-understand English.

 My mind, my imagination and interest, continues to expand.  Fortunately, the thick bones of my Scottish skull will prevent any possible sociological explosion.  I don’t think I will ever be able to cram so much in, that I develop cracks and leaky seams, like Edward Hotspur, and spew forth such a wildly esoteric mix of reality and strange imagination.  I’ve been plodding, but I hope to start treading more quickly, composing-wise, perhaps even getting to the point of skipping lightly.  Please continue to visit.  I feel that it can only get better, and I feel better when you visit.