"Won't you be my neighbor?"

There have been any number of strolls around the familiar blog neighborhood by members of the community to see what everyone was doing. But Sunday night when I strolled around, the shades were drawn and everyone was already asleep. And it seemed that a couple of you had gone away for the weekend all together.

Anyway, I took that as a sign to go for a little walk outside the confines of this neighborhood using the random chance of the Next Blog button to guide my way...these are the folks I met along the way:

Mauser Girl: Age unknown. She lives in Virginia and apparently came by her moniker because this is the type of rifle she uses at the shooting range. She's in the military, which branch I couldn't determine, and very excited about the upcoming movie Jarhead. She also wrote a borderline apologist post about Hitler youth. Yikes!

Carmen: 17 year old, origin unknown. She seems somewhat punk rock/anarchist. Some notable quotes from her "F*ck, what's everyone's problem?" and "bani, I miss our smoking sessions..." Her template is all black and gray - maybe she's Asian gothic. It could happen.

Jeznia: Age, gender, and origin unknown. J is in the first year of high school and taking a religion (Christian religion) class. J is using J's blog as a sort of workbook for the class. There is a rudimentary discussion of J's understanding of evolution and creationism. It's actually a little disturbing.

Sandy: Age unknown. She is in Germany where her husband, an American serviceman, is stationed. She gives you wealthy Brit motorists a warning that the Germans are cracking down on Cannonball type races on the autobahn - so look out! She's also just discovered the joys of frozen biscuit dough. I thought of commenting, but she's got the Pledge of Allegiance in her header, which makes me think we wouldn't see eye to eye.

Hiroko: Age unknown. She's a Japanese exchange student in Portland, OR. She's exploring watersports - rafting and kayaking - and generally practicing her English. It's better than my Japanese, so who's to complain. It sounds like her rafting experience was a wild ride - she got thrown out of the raft once.

Tim: 21 in southern California. He's a student of animation and recently had to go out sketching people to catch their poses. Apparently people weren't too thrilled about this (he got some dirty looks) - but his poses looked great.

Leezy: 61 year old woman living in Missouri who was born and raised in Oakland! She's all about keeping a positive attitude. Some of her advice is a bit religious: "Praise the Lord for all you have..." and doesn't work too well if you are a social worker: "Don't dwell on the negative." But overall, the sentiment was sweet. Of course, I just love that she's originally from Oakland, so maybe I'm biased.

Matthew: Age unknown. Living in Hong Kong. He's very into economics and "the market." That's really all I needed to know...and really all he talked about.

Sheri: Age unknown. Living in San Diego with her daughter. She had a great joke in her most recent post. Then there was this quote from a bumper sticker in an earlier post: "When the rapture comes, can I have your car?" Now that's what I call a positive attitude! (She's already commented in the post below...the only new person I felt compelled to say "hello" to.)

Isn't it always interesting to meet new people?

P.S. I didn't run into a single ad during this ramble - which I was fully prepared for (weed killer was in hand). I wonder if blogger is trying to clean up that mess.