I have returned. I am writing; I am hitting return.
A poem (inspired by the recent journey) has been chopped and put into the pot. It is simmering nicely. I’m not sure this blog is not the best venue for debuting a poem. But I may—when it is ready.
Thanks to Google Earth, I can show you where (in the wilds of Arizona) we went.
Yes, that compound looking thing at the end of the road. The Scout’s aunt and uncle live there. Through artfully designed windows set in thick adobe walls, we watched big-eared bunnies chase insects and quail shimmy in the dirt at dusk. Alas, I did not see a javelina this time around.
You really don’t want to see one of these things unless you have a drink in your hand.
We also went here…
…though the photo above was taken before this was built:
Photo credit: The Hot Sheet
Watching sports must put me into some kind of alpha state, because on the way home we stopped here too…
Sometimes I envy those who got to see Jackie Robinson play baseball. Others will one day envy me for living in the heyday of the Roger Federer era, or more precisely, the Federer/Nadal era.
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With all due respect to the venue with the view and these charming people…here is your daily dose of kitsch. I wish I could explain why this makes me feel like I’m watching laboratory animals in an experiment. Even more, I wish you were here so we could laugh together.
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Heads up! I have a blogging-related question. Say you read someone’s blog (their personal blog) and after a while you start to feel like you know them, or at least know something about them. Then you meet that blogger in person. Is there a difference between the blogging persona and the person you meet? A little difference? A big one? If there’s big difference, why do you think that is? What’s your experience? Feel free to comment, or to blog on this topic yourself and link to your post in the comments here.
(NB: The question doesn’t apply to someone you already know in the 3-D world…just to someone that you met via reading their blog.)
West Coast Grrlie Blather 
I like the title of this post.
That’s an interesting question about the blogging persona. I haven’t experience any gap between 3-D person and blogging persona.
I’ve become online and in-person friends with several people from my cancer banter blog. When I meet someone in person for the first time, I’m as nervous as if I’m on a first blind date. I’m always afraid that I won’t measure up to whatever image they’ve created of me in their minds. I’ve never been disappointed in the face-to-face contact, and I think the other parties can say the same thing.
Welcome back, blatherererer and baseball geek! My dog looked just like a javelina. She’s gone now.
That’s a weird link but I love the view of S.F. from up there (and the flowers, oh, and the cakes). Blogging… there has been some surprise and incongruence in the past. That trend seems to be changing.
WCGB, sounds like you’re going to the World Baseball Series Classic at Dodger Stadium.
btw, I would expect a difference between their limited blogger self on the internet, and meeting someone in person where their blogger self takes a backseat.
It is an interesting question, and I believe I’ve been surprised each and every time. Never disappointed, though.
In fact, in real life I look and sound exactly like a Javelina so there is a vast difference between my blogging persona and my actual self. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
WCGB, were you at C’back Ranch for the Dodgers or the White Sox?
I know, seems like a silly question, it’s not called MIDWEST G. Blather, but as Billy Joel or someone or other once sang, “Los Angelenos / all come from somewhere…”
In my experience, what we bloggers put out there on the interwebs is an accurate slice of who we are (“Our Bloggies, Ourselves”?), but only a slice, not the whole pie. What we so glibly call our “personality” is a whirlwind mix of perceptions by others, perceptions that we both are aware of and try to manage and those that we are unaware of but others notice. The blog is part of this highly managed front for many people, but, depending on their approach to writing, it may also be a free-form gonzo open-up-my-skull-and-peer-on-in sort of thing. Then again, that may also be a deliberately created perception.
Every single one of my blog friends that I met in the flesh surprised me. Yet, now I cannot for the life of me remember what it was that surprised me about them. One had a much, much better sense of humor and a much, much worse wardrobe than I had imagined. Another was far more methodical than I had imagined. Yet another was a man, when I had imagined a woman.
There you have it…
Your vacation spot looks like my kinda place. End of the road. Weird critters. Drink in hand.
My online personality is completely different than me myself in person. Right?