Monday, August 06, 2007

Woo Tube (p. 3)

I started this blog about a year ago.

The intention, as I described in my first post, was to tell stories about France to people back home.

But most of these friends were not internet fiends. And they were swiftly outnumbered by strangers on my site.

Just one month into this electronic endeavor, some website listed me as one of its favorite blogs. This brought the Brits and a bunch of other unknowns to my door.

And they started leaving comments. It was weird.

"Who are these people?" I would shout across the room to where my husband was sitting with his own laptop. He would roll his eyes, rightly so, and then return to Googling himself.

Our courtship long ago had been conducted over the wires. Eight years and another continent later, we were still susceptible to those screen-based shivers.

Only not so much from eachother.

However odd the sensation, it didn't take long for me to adapt to writing for the invisible. It didn't matter that my readers had no faces and were prone to over-punctuation.

What mattered was that they loved me, insofar as that could be deduced from comments like " :-) " and "woo!!"

I found myself rushing to check the computer like I'd done back in the old days. They weren't romantic, these exchanges, but they held the same thrill of discovery.

Not all of these readers remained strangers. My first friends of blog origin were two Canadians who introduced themselves at a concert. They recognized me as "Le Meg," much to the amusement of my visiting friends. They later posted about the night as bloggers (I now know) are prone to do.

I began to spend more time online and outside the apartment. Things weren't going well at home, and this new universe (which had expanded into writing for Expatica and Parisist) was wonderfully distracting.

Eventually it became large enough to climb into.

It's odd to look back upon one year of blogging and think about everything that's happened. My marriage ended, I stayed in Paris and decided (after a brief pause) to stick with the blog.
To all of you who I've met in some way or other through this site...

...and to all you unlinkables, invisibles and old dears - it's been lovely to have you around in this year of new beginnings.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honey, I'll just say :

woo!! :-)

la fille en rose said...

aw. i sing the wienie man song in your general direction as thanks.

anna said...

yay. love you too!

Juh Rio said...

Wow!
Now I'm a character in english too!
(-:
See you around the city!

The Late Bloomer said...

It's been nice to have the chance to get to know you a wee bit too, Meg dear... Even if you've splattered my infamous grimace all over the Internet! ;)

No, all kidding aside, I too am grateful for the friends I've made through this blogging thingamajig -- and I've been going through my own kind of "new beginnings" in the past couple years, so I can certainly relate.

BTW, I've been reading CityWendy for months now as well, and she wrote me an e-mail one day and told me that you guys had met in the States! Talk about a small world... Funny thing, this blogosphere.

amy said...

I had no idea you started this blog mere months before I started mine -- when I arrived on the scene, you already seemed like a venerable institution.

Anyway, I'm glad you realized that lovers may come and go, but the internet will always be here for you. :)

Anonymous said...

oh, that's sweet. joyeuse anniversaire!

Unknown said...

awww le meg, I'm all aglow with the linky loveliness of this post... countless times I've come here looking for nudity and disreputable revelations but found myself laughing like an asthmatic hyena instead. but I've learned to make do...

Bennett said...

Now you make me feel all gooey inside Meg, hug, hug from us all to you.

Anonymous said...

Sending the love right back atcha, sweetie!

Anonymous said...

You are very lovely. And very right. The internet is a lovely comfortable thing to climb into. And if you just close the door behind you and close your eyes, you never know where you may end up...

Garrincha said...

Happy birthday!
(the real question is : how many of these people have you tried to sleep with?)

Le Meg said...

Only you, Garrincha. Only you.

Garrincha said...

That makes sense.

Libération Army said...

what a lovely bittersweet post

Anonymous said...

It was wonderful to meet you and I'm hoping that I'll get to see you lots more. Bonne anniversaire -- may it be the first of many.

negrito said...

It was delicious to meet you, even if it was a bit short, probably too short :)

Tin Foiled said...

What? We were among the first of your admirers and hangers-on?? You managed us with such gentle aplomb that I naturally assumed that you were used to an adoring entourage!

(That was really a great night -- thanks for reminding me!)

Anonymous said...

Feel the same way about you too! Thanks for this post, I really got choked up at the end (no joke)

Gros Bisous Sista,
Ms. Glaze

Anonymous said...

Awwww! Bonne anniversaire Meg! big bisous... big bisous