Had a wonderful weekend at the beach — more on that to come. While we were soaking up the sun on Saturday, there was some discussion about my blog. I learned that there were others in addition to Nikki who read my blog everyday (like Meg — hi, Meg!), and some who, although they haven’t seen it, are very negative about it (like Rich — see, no last names!). A few folks I met for the first time this weekend asked me about it, so I hope they stop by. As I mentioned to several of them — I love it when you comment, because then I know you’re out there! I’m going to try to put up the pictures later tonight, and will give a better run down of the pig roast, but boy, am I looking forward to a quiet night at home tonight — having 20+ roommates for the weekend makes you crave some alone time big time.
Category: Weblogs
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Making the Blog
(courtesy of Gaping Void)Very often, when I attend an event, or go on a trip, or have a conversation, someone will ask, "is this going to make the blog?" For example, I went to a family wedding in DC last weekend, stayed with my friend Christopher, and hung out by his pool with some friends, and until this moment, it never "made the blog." Why? It’s not because it wasn’t a great weekend (it was), or that I didn’t take any pictures (I took one or two). It’s because I never really decide exactly what I’m going to write about until I actually sit down and write. And if my writing takes me in a direction other than a recap of what I’ve been doing, so be it. So if you’ve spent some time with me, or had a conversation with me, and it doesn’t "make the blog," remember — it’s nothing personal.
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Gettin’ WYSIWYGy
I had a great time performing at WYSIWYG last night, and I’m looking forward to seeing it on video when it’s up, so I can get the audience perspective. Thanks to Mom and everyone else who made it out to the show. For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s the story I read about my rather innocuous run-in with the law (I am a lawyer after all — how bad could it be?):
I was much cooler in high school than I am now. Hard to believe,
right? You look at me now, and I blend into the crowd, just another
thirty-something semi-professional, somewhat mainstream, but back in
1985, I was sooo much cooler. In fact, I was at a party recently where
there were several relics from my past floating around. Someone
introduced me to a young woman, who, upon hearing my name said – oh my
god, I thought I recognized you. You were one of the cool girls in
high school. I so looked up to you. She was in 8th grade when I was a
senior – I had no clue who she was, but it boosted the hell out of my
ego that night, that’s for sure.So yeah, I was one of the cool girls, and I fancied myself a bit of
a wild child – I had short spiky hair, streaked every now and again
with a strip of blond across my forehead, I wore short black
miniskirts, ripped white t-shirts, and doc martens. Yeah, I was a bad
ass — or at least I thought I was. I was always trying to push the
envelope. Not much of a challenge in my little suburban town of Pelham
NY, where merely being a girl without an aqua-net shellacked wall of
bangs was considered radical. -
No Turning Back
Come see me at the next WYSIWYG Talent Show — despite all those years singing a cappella, going to band camp and getting my diva on at karoke bars, I won’t be singing, but because I won’t be singing, I’m actually quite nervous and would love to see some friendly faces in the house. I’ll be joined by fellow bloggers PJ Gallagher (chromewaves.org), Gothamist Food cohort Martha Burzynski (alice_ayers.livejournal.com), Andrew J. Lederer (ajl.blogspot.com), and soce the elemental wizard (socetew.livejournal.com)as we share our stories about our run-ins with "The Man."
Buy tickets in advance if you can, as they tend to sell out — call the P.S. 122 box office at 212-477-5288 or buy them online. If you can’t come, just show up afterwards to buy me drinks and tell me I was good.
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Elvis Alert!
Okay, internet. I know I’m asking a lot of you. In addition to sending good karma my way for the hunt, I’m asking another favor. If you can only handle one, however, the aforementioned good karma is MUCH more important than what I’m about to ask. I have an extra ticket to see Elvis Costello at the Beacon tonight. The ticket’s a little steep: $80 — it’s in the orchestra), but I’m willing to negotiate. If you’d like to buy it from me, send me an email and tell me how much you’re willing to spend.
And in other news, I ate at the bar (downstairs, not the three-star upstairs) at BLT Fish last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself (although I have to admit, I still think I prefer the fried oysters at Pearl). Several years ago, I never would have eaten alone. Now, eating by myself, particularly at the bar rather than a table, is one of my favorite pastimes. I had my New Yorker out, as did the woman next to me. We started talking, and then she asked, "are you Laren?" "Yes," I replied, stunned to be recognized by someone who looked completely unfamiliar to me. Turns out it was none other than Ms. Maccers! We chatted away about friends and acquaintances we have in common, she gave me handy tips about performing at WYSIWYG, and eventually she and her dining companion were whisked away to their table upstairs. I asked her to email me to tell me all about the meal, since it’ll probably be a while before I can afford to dine up there, but for now, the bar is just fine. -
Shoot Me Now, Take Two
First there was the Google thing. Now, turns out I was yesterday’s Gawker Personal ad of the day. Since when did I become the poster child for single women in New York?!? Ack!
UPDATE (4/26): So today, I’m the Salon personals "Catch of the Day." Who knows where I’ll end up next. . .
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Shoot Me Now
I am apparently the top Google search result for Manhattan blog single girl. Welcome to my fucking life.
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Safe Blogging
Almost as important as safe sex. But not quite.
This article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else) is a must-read for all you bloggers out there. More here on why blogging is good (or bad) for your career.
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Guilty As Charged
I am guilty of quite a few of these, probably over 50% if my oh-so-scientific calculations are correct. [via Lindsayism]
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Is Blogging Good or Bad for Your Career?
There’s some question out there about the impact of one’s blog on one’s career or job search. Last weekend, the AP ran an article about folks who were fired because of their blogs. Now let me just say for the record that if you’re going to a) pose provocatively in your work uniform, or b) trash your employer on your blog, you probably should have given that some serious thought beforehand.
As for me, I will always assume that my boss, my family, work colleagues, future employers, and any past, present, or future romantic interests are going to be reading this thing, and I write my content accordingly. I can’t imagine that it anything here would be damaging to any current or future employers, but as someone in the process of a job search, I will admit, I was a bit scared when I heard a story from a law firm recruiting coordinator recently. She mentioned that her firm had recruited a pack of potential summer associates, and then someone in her recruiting department Googled the candidates and one of them "belonged to this thing called ‘blogspot’ — has anyone heard of this? It’s an online personal diary! Can you believe that?! Who would put their personal lives up in public like that?!" So they ended up nixing that particular candidate.
If you Google me, this blog comes up, but then again, so does Gothamist Food, and things I’ve written for Pro Bono Net. Blogging is listed on my resume as one of my hobbies. I don’t write anything here particularly personal or racy, and certainly nothing offensive, and I have no intention of giving it up, so I’ll take my chances. In fact, there are some out there that thing that blogging is good in terms of your job. I have to say, I agree. Among other things, it is great for keeping the creative juices flowing and helps you make contacts. Just keep some common sense guidelines, like I do, and everyone should be happy.
What do you think, gang?
