On Dresses and Opinions

My best vintage score of the year came just at the end here, when I got this perfect Gunne Sax sun dress from bonetoothantler at the Bizarre. Thank you Chelsea! It is the culmination of actual years of patiently searching. And I actually got to wear it sans sweater sitting out in the sunshine yesterday.

Since I've gotten back in the swing of things here in vintagey fashionish blog land, I've been thinking a lot about feedback and comments. Explaining to a friend why I wanted a Blogger plug-in for WordPress to make commenting easier, I was unashamed to admit that receiving comments is a big part of posting blogs. I mean, what is the point of creating anything if you can't share it with people and hear their reactions to it?

My dad was and remains a huge fan of telling people when you like or support or admire what they do. The few times he was able to come to a high school football game when my sister and I were teenagers, he'd wait outside the locker room afterwards to congratulate any player he thought did particularly well. As a former athlete himself, he understood the value of positive feedback. It's a practice he passed onto me, and I always strive to do the same now, to compliment and praise people in as straight forward and specific a manner as I can muster. Especially when I recognize how hard they've worked or how little feedback they've received.

But it can be so hard on the internet, when there are a million things vying for my attention. I miss so much. Or I really like or admire something, but then get distracted and never let the person know. I am always surprised by how many people in my real life approach me to say they liked a particular post or am glad I'm posting again. I'm like "Really, you read it? Why haven't you ever said anything (left a comment) before!? I would have loved to have known your opinion at the time."

The chasm between readers and commenters is especially obvious when I have a Giveaway (as I am going to very soon!). Suddenly all sorts of folks come out of the woodwork with some clever thought and I wonder "Where have you and your brilliant mind been this whole time?"

And then there are the actual comments themselves. I love you ladies who take your time and post a very thoughtful response. I try to do the same. But I often, very often, fail. Blogging and commenting aren't all there is to life, and they can be much too time consuming. And at least a brief comment lets the person know you were there and you paid attention. It's easy to see the bloggers with huge blogroles who post one sentence comments on as many blogs as possible in order to receive as many one sentence comments on their own blogs as possible. But where's the fun in that? The true human connection that we've all discovered by now actually IS possible through the internet?

I'm not trying to bitch here. I love my readers- the fact that anyone keeps up with and cares about what I have to say still feels novel and extraordinary- and I treasure most every comment my li'l ol' blog has ever received, and especially the friendships that have grown out of them. I'm just letting some thoughts tumble out. Thoughts that have been brewing for about three years. Thoughts that I'm sure many of you have had. And I'm curious to know how my fellow bloggers would expound on them. And very curious to know how you all balance your real life activities and commitments with finding the time to post blogs and comments.

So uh, you know, leave a comment :-)