To Blog or Not to Blog

I've spent alot of time today looking through blogs that are similar to my own. I've noticed that there are a number of things that they all do well, and that I don't.

• They all have links to other blogs (which I presume are reciprical).
• They all have their blogs listed in directories and search engines.
• They all have personal anylitical comments, rather than "my friends and I did this".

Maybe that's where I'm going wrong. Maybe I'm being too honest and blunt. Maybe I should add myself to alot of these blog things tonight. Maybe get a few links and track backs. I suppose I never really wanted to put that much work into it.

I've also found that having a picture can help how I feel about the blog. But I still don't want to put a clear headshot on the site. It does affect how people percieve the writer. So I've taken a leaf out of
GWAOTM (award nominated) and put a clear shot, thats not of my face on the site. It will also stop [friends - still nto sure if I'm using real names] sending me photos of them to use.

Sabatical

I've not posted on WhichShoulder for almost 2 weeks. The blog itself, and infact it's manifestation, has taken me a bit by surprise. I suppose I never really thought anyone would read it, and if they did, I never thought they'd stick around. I don’t suppose my friends did either. It's caused issues.

I think the biggest lesson London has taught me is that you really need to roll with the punches, so I stopped posting to see if that would make things better.

After Valentine's Day it all became a bit weird. Nav, Kev and James all have girlfriends. Kev, will never change, which isn’t a great compliment, but in terms of this website it means he’s comedy gold. James is making a big effort with Deborah. He’s being good, being honest, and trying hard not to end up on this blog. Nav is sorting out his life, growing up, and spending all his time with the visiting Geraldine. It’s actually a great time for us all, but the group dynamic is changing somewhat. Caterpillar to Butterfly and all that.

• Kev, sadly, sends me rants for this site on a daily basis. I’m not posting them, I’ve told him to go back to write as Tranny and Suvannah (folks, funniest thing I’ve ever read). He was unhappy at me not posting his stuff after all the help he’s given.
• James, is trying to change. And he’s doing it successfully. He doesn’t want to be the guy on this blog anymore. He also doesn’t want the woman he’s seeing to read it and get the wrong idea.
• Nav, well he’s stilled pissed at me posting about the GILF. He has privacy issues with this blog, and I can kinda see why.
• Lisa, has hardly appeared on this blog. She asked me that from the get go; but I do hate 2nd guessing what I write cos she’s a big part of my life.

The site was having additional detrimental effects

• I was receiving a lot more porn instead of funny pics
• I was receiving a lot of emails from SexBlogs (really porn links for free). At Work.
• I was happily talking about sex a lot more. But, mainly, as my opening line.

And the clincher…

• The site is no longer safe for work; and it was reported on one of our work systems.

So, I took some time off. But, y’know, I’ve missed it. I’ve missed posting, I’ve missed receiving the emails, I’ve missed the comments, I’ve missed your chat. I can’t say I know what to do with this info. If things with my mates continue, I may revert to using codenames, or initials, or something. I dunno. It’ll be easy to find out who everyone is, but not immediately obvious, i.e. If Nav’s mum does a google for NAVEEN SEX WITH GILFS she won’t automatically be brought here, which is one of his conerns. Not that I think it’s ridiculous that a 60 year old missionary will be googling that, but, well, I do but he doesn’t; and I need to start taking his feelings my decision making process.

Gimmie this week, there will be no Friday Funny, bit I’ll try to be back posting next week.

Mastercard

Double vodka and Coke - £3.50

New "mills and boon shirt" - £26

Taxi journey home - £9

Texting James every 5-6 minutes that Liverpool were taking Arsenal apart, and that the final score was 6-1; while he was on a date with his new girlfriend. - Priceless

How was your Tuesday?

So, was your Tuesday anything special? Did you get dragged to a fancy restaurant to pay 300% it's normal price, or did you get to watch the Liverpool vs. Arsenal game?

I did the later, and while celebrating Liverpool winning, quite a brave thing to do in Highbury, I came to a epiphany as I watch couples swarm by the pub window:

Valentine's Day is way too commercial. The fact that there are businesses which depend wholly on this one day a year should be proof enough of that. Yet despite that, I still believe that at its core, there’s still something genuine about this quasi-holiday.

Valentine’s is about expressing affection for a special person in your life. As far as I know, there’s no 11th commandment telling us that it has to be a significant other. The funny thing about feelings is the variety that they can come in.

And yes, technically speaking, we should all be telling the people in our lives how dear they are to us on a daily basis. But considering that the majority of us spend a good portion of our days involved in our own personal shit, I think this day serves as nothing more then a reminder, and an excuse, should we need one, to pull our heads out of our asses and spend some time with the people we care for.

With that in mind, I hope you focused less on the expensive dinner, or the elaborate bouquet, and instead just did your best to make someone else happy. Be it a boyfriend, a sister, a grandfather or a mother, it makes no difference. You’d be surprised how simple and utterly rewarding it can be.

It's a very Jerry Spinger moment of clarity I know.

Take care of yourself and each other ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day (now here's more David Hasselhoff)

Weekend Break

Nothing funny happened this weekend. Nothing non-funny happened this weekend. It was the weekend of nothingness really. Friday night came and went with work and a video. Saturday night last 2 drinks, then home for an early night to be up for the Old Firm game with Kev.

In the end, I listened to Rangers being humped on the radio while doing my ironing.

Sounds boring I know, but honestly, I feel great for it now. I'm thinking that I might try and not do anything for this whole week, nicely avoiding the sham that is Valentine's Day. If work's quiet, i might try and catch up with postings for my fellow bloggers too.

Friday Funny

After having their 11th child, a Cockney couple decided that was enough because they could not afford a larger bed. So the husband went to his GP and told him that he and his missus didn't want to have any more children

The doctor told him that there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem but that it was expensive. "A less costly alternative," said the doctor, "is to go home, get a firework banger available from most east end corner shops all year round, put it in an empty beer can, light it then hold the can up to your ear and count to 10.

The Man said to the doctor, "I might no be the smartest tool in the shed, but I ain't gonna see how putting a firework in a beer can next to my ear is gonna help me to not have any more kids."

"Trust me," said the doctor.

So the Ned went home, lit a banger and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count: "1" "2" "3" "4" "5" ..... at which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs and resumed counting on his other hand.

This procedure is available on the NHS, by the way, and works in Houslow, Croydon, Stratford and Uxbridge to name a few...

Steve vs. Celine

While I was on MSN on Tuesday, Celine popped on and we had a really good long conversation. I'm really getting into chatting to people who post on my blog, so if you have an Instant Messenger, pony up and add me!

Anyway I'm considering posting the whole conversation (with the exception of two excerts that will be kept private), the only downside being that it's a bit long. I might send it to Kev to make a webpage out of and that way I can link to it. But for the time being, can I suggest going to the following link that has a cut down version: http://www.gumtree.com/london/18/3901918.html

I'll let you guess how many replies we have both had, and the winner gets... something. I've no idea what yet. Though it will probably start with E and end in card. there will be no money in it, and I think shaking it to see if it has will be a really bad idea

Thank Crunchie it's ...

... Friday. And I've not posted for a few days, which isn't totally unusual, but some of you good folks from CyberSpace (does anyone use that word anymore) have sent some very kind emails wondering about my health. Actually, no, you wondered if I had been fired. The answer is thankfully, NO.

My Boss wasn't annoyed as apparently, "there is always some idiot that ruins [the evening]". He was just disappointed it was me. While he personally found my friends quite amusing, he thought it showed "lack of judgement" to invite them. I was close to giving him the blog address so he could see how bad an idea I thought it was too, but I decided against that.

So, I decided not to post for a few days and I tried not to sit on MSN/Yahoo, hoping to pretend to be a valuable employee; and an excellent person to have working in 'middle management'.

FYI. Valentine's Day posts coming up later, and a post called "What Steve and Celine did".

Outlook Calendar Reminder

You have a new appointment!

From: [My Boss]
Subejct: A quiet word
Location: Board Room
Date: Today
Time: 10am

Now, I wonder what this could be about.