One of my friends recently posted on a topic that I had been meaning to write about for a while now, but have just been too lazy to actually do. That topic: How personal should one’s blog really be?

As anyone who reads my blog can probably tell, I don’t hold much back. (Which makes my narcissistic, self-absorbed ass wonder if I didn’t at least partially inspire Sara’s post.) I don’t necessarily believe that everyone should unload all of their dirty laundry out on the very public internet, but it sure does make for a much more interesting read.

I kind of have my own philosophy when it comes to how I post. A blog, I suppose is a diary, yes, but a diary just anyone can read. I really don’t understand blocked posts. I mean, if you don’t want anyone to read it put that thought or feeling in a real diary. Posting a private thought to the internet is a little counter productive, don’t you think?

I almost see my blog as a long, long, very long novel. Sometimes it’s very interesting. Sometimes it’s kinda boring. But I think what makes it interesting is that you never know when those interesting bits might come. It’s just like life, which I guess makes sense, because it IS your life. Today I’m interested in how many different breakfast cereals I’ve eaten in my life. Tomorrow I have a life changing event to talk about.

Right now there seems to be a real interest in reality (however real or fake it may be) in this country. Reality TV is everywhere and extremely popular. In increasing numbers people are actually going to the movies to see documentaries instead of summer blockbusters. People are more interested in the runaway bride than in how many men died in Iraq.

Why is this? I think we’re all tired of the Hollywood cliché. We want to be surprised. We want to be shocked. But most of all we want the unexpected to happen, because the anticipation of the unexpected makes it all so much more exciting when it actually happens.

Let me give you an example. One of the greatest things I’ve ever experience (I’m actually not joking) was watching a man drive out of the Dunkin Donuts parking lot with a coffee on the roof of his car. He didn’t realize he didn’t have his coffee. Jeremy and I watching expected to see it just slide off the roof and explode. That is until we noticed that his sunroof was open. Then things became more interesting.

What happened next was truly astounding. Not only did the coffee fall into the car, but it flipped as it fell one complete rotation. And then he caught it. With one hand! While he was driving! He didn’t miss a beat even though he seemed just as surprised, if not more so, than we were.

I like reading a journal where the equivalent of someone catching a coffee while driving away can happen. Why? Because it’s real. You can’t fake real life. It just isn’t as interesting.

C’est Non Un Blog is a blog about me. Warts and all. The mundane and the interesting all rolled up into a big ball. There are a few ground rules. As much as this may surprise some people, I do try to avoid posting anything that may hurt someone else. I may like to hang my life out there for everyone to see, but not everyone is like that. There are exceptions. If you do something that has a major impact on my life and don’t talk to me about it, well, I’m going to post it. What else can I do? It’s my life. I want to share it. I do things I’m not proud of all the time and have to live those actions down. Why should anyone else be different?

That last paragraph makes it sound like my life is usually interesting, which unfortunately is a gag. It’s usually anything but. I like to see a sense of purpose out there though. You never know what you’ll find. It is good to post as much as you can, exciting or not, because then your readers (because let’s be honest, who else are you doing this for?) can take your life’s journey with you and be just as surprised when something great happens.

Likewise I welcome back feedback. One of the great things about having your life in a public forum is that others have the opportunity to change a direction in your life. Something big or small can make a tremendous impact. I see myself as very zen, bending to whatever new influence comes. Maybe that’s why I’m not worried about something personal I may post here. Because the me of today isn’t the me of yesterday or the me of tomorrow, so I’m not really that worried about mistakes I have made. Better to learn from them than sweep them away.

And hell, people do read this, so I must be doing something right.