W I N C E. 

Question posed yesterday afternoon while Tad and I were on a leisurely stroll speed-walked our neighborhood.  We’re in one of those delightful pre-Spring weather patterns that give you an mmmmm-delicious sip of what’s just around the corner. 

"Your blog was a lot better when you just wrote…when you didn’t do all those ‘games’ or whatever you call ’em, I don’t know what you call ’em…."

I didn’t have to "blink. blink".  Even though he doesn’t speak Blog, I KNEW what he was talkin’ about because his conclusion was one at which I had already arrived the night before.

I made a mistake.

While I think the "Ultimate Blog Party" is GREAT for many, it’s not for me.  I can’t "do it" :/.  I just can’t.  I tried, but like attending a party that you thought would be ALL THAT, only to arrive and realize it’s loud and overbearing and no one cares that you’re there because there are SO MANY in attendance, I realized that an intimate setting is more my style. 
Redlamepair
Don’t get me wrong; I STILL think Janice and Susan are BRILLIANT for coming up with this; they are
generous bloggers who have something substantial to say and offer, and their stated goal (for their site) is to help maximize exposure for bloggers and internet-run businesses.  If I was brand new to blogging, I’d be singing a different tune, I’d be reveling with the best of them, wearing a pink-polka dotted party hat and red-hot go-go boots, blowing those little roll-out-horn thingies, trying to visit all 76freakin7 invitees (I’m not kidding, I just checked the number of "registered" party goers!). 

But I’m not brand new.

I like my LITTLE blogging community of friends.  Again, I just did a check and I have 166 feeds on my reader (I guess that’s artificially inflated, I subscribed to myself so I could see what it looked like when I updated…); I don’t even get to all of those every week (let alone every day).  I prefer adding newbies after I’ve followed their comments elsewhere a while, or somehow they "find" me and their quirky/thoughtful/snarky comment captures my attention, or they comment and I follow a link to their blog and there’s instant "chemistry".  I remember something MaryMert wrote a while back–"Not everyone is going to like [your blog], and try as you might–you won’t like [everyone else’s blog] either."  Yep, that about sums it up. 

Now, having said all that, I have to also say this:  a few Blog Party Players have commented here, and after returning a visit to their blog, I’ve found some blogchemistry; I know they’ll be bloggers I’ll continue to read (and hope read me).  So, I guess you can say "mission accomplished" where the goal of the blog party is concerned.

But it takes TIME to visit new blogs…my blogmates KNOW I’m not a "drive-by" commenter, no siree, no "ring and run" from me.  To do so feels … disingenuous … like fakin’ something I shouldn’t be fakin’….  That’s exactly how I felt visiting a sea of strangers.  And while I was "there", where ever that "there" was, I found myself thinking "Why am I HERE when I rather be "THERE"?" the "there" being blogpals who I haven’t read in a while (how’s that for a wretched "Fun Monday" sentence? lol).

So, there you go…I’mMess leavin’ the party early.  It’s ESPECIALLY difficult following Janice’s comments HERE and HERE .  Like I said in one of those posts, Janice is a GREAT commenter!   My departure is not a back-handed, subtle shot against "5 Minutes…".  It’s about guarding t i m e and priorties….

If you happen to be reading this as a result of a party visit, I don’t know quite what to say…I’m glad and appreciative you’re here, if you comment I will CERTAINLY pay a visit to your blog; I’m simply not going party hopping myself.

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