Monday, September 26, 2005

"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.

9 comments:

Erika said...

Not only do I find ads every time I venture out into the Next Blog world, I inevitably land on one that tries to download a virus onto my computer. Bastards.

I actually "met" the Fox through the Next Blog button, I realized recently. And from the Fox came ST, Lord B, etc. etc., then you, and the rest, as they say, is history. All hail the Next Blog Button.

HistoryGeek said...

Now look what you've done, Ka...wait, do foxes get big heads?

Actually, I have to make a correction...I happened onto Ka's page in a manner I cannot recreate, and her blog was my entry into this little community. So Ka found everyone through Fox, and I found you all through Ka :).

red one said...

Spin, what a brilliant post! I thoroughly enjoyed that.

If you must come across a Mauser wielding Hitler Youth fan, have them brought to you by Spinsterwitch, I reckon.

Rather you than me finding her blog... eeek! That could have been the final ingredient for my spontaneous internal combustion.

Are you going to do a Next Blog stroll again? You should, you know.

red

HistoryGeek said...

I'm sure I will. It was actually fun this time around because of the lack of ads...in the past I got really sick of forwarding through those continuously.

HistoryGeek said...

ACK! I just did it again...hit next blog to see who was out there and I came upon an evil, evil site whose first post was titled "How to clean a turtle" and we ain't talking bubble baths here, folks! Descriptions might be bad enough, but they had PICTURES!

I am horrified. Was that really necessary. And how do you put a parental block on that? I'd rather my child surfed porn sites.

Fred said...

The "next blog" button is how I've found some of my bestest friends! I actually think it's gotten better, too. You get less of those advertising blogs.

Matt said...

I quit using the next button because I kept hitting adds. I may have to try it again when I'm feeling more adventurous.

Anonymous said...

Adventure is no fun without a litttle risk, Spinny. I am glad to see you taking some. I knew you had a sense of danger about you.

Erika said...

Turtles need cleaning too, you know.