State of the Nation Address

It appears that my readership is growing, and I am feeling more and more like I should post daily.

One of the main problems that I have discovered is that the people who read my blog, know everything about me, but I don't know anything about them. We'll meet each other in a bar or at a party, and the interaction will seem bizarrely awkward. I can sense that they don't know what to say because they don't really want to let it slip that they know about my life.

At times, I forget what I've written, and someone will mention it offhandedly. There is a brief moment when I can't figure out how they know that detail about my life, and then I remember that I have posted about it. That is usually followed by a reflection on whether or not I should have written it. I try not to worry about it too much, but take pleasure in the fact that someone spends a little time reading my blatherings. I am particularly interested and curious about those people who read my blog daily whom I have never met.

I wonder sometimes how long this blog will continue. Has it grown stagnant? Will it evolve into something else? I guess that I have two possible options: become less personal, or become even more personal. I suppose that I need to examine why people read blogs:

1) They are a friend who lives out of town and still wants to know what's new in your life.
2) They think that the writer has something interesting to say and they like reading the writer's tranchant insights.
3) The blog gives you an insight into a world that you know nothing about.
4) The blogs teaches you something, or offers up opinions that may change/impact the way you see the world.
5) The blog is funny and pleasurable to read.
6) The blog is depressing, but makes you feel better about your life.
7) It is simply an exercise in documentation and pleasure is gained merely through the act of writing.

I suspect that people enjoy living vicariously when they read blogs; I know I do. I suppose that my life is a good one, but a part of me just can't wrap my head around the whole thing even after 14 months and 258 posts.