As The KnitBlogWorld Turns

I swear. (yes, I do, but that's not the point.) What I mean is something along the lines of an opener like, "My goodness." But I say, "I swear." Then, of course, I got off on a tangent. But I'm pulling in the reins now. I really am.

Uh. Norma? Get to the point.

Okay, the point is this: KnitBlogWorld is like some strange universe. It's "Ask and Ye Shall Receive" Universe. (Well, within limits, I admit. If I were to ask for some illegal substance to be sent to me -- well, hell, I might just get it, but I hope not. Or if I asked somebody to push me off a bridge, I would hope all you lovely knitbloggers would politely decline.)

Yesterday in my post I asked for help and suggestions about Celtic buttons or brooches to adorn my new bag -- buttons or brooches that wouldn't break the bank.

A number of people, in true random acts of kindness and in the true spirit of the movement, came forth with wonderful suggestions, and some even volunteered to search through their stash to find something they might have that might work -- for me. (And by the way, Susan, the Miracle pins are JUST the ticket. I've bid on several and hope to get them all.)

THAT is what we're talking about, people. Random. Kindness. No expectations of anything in return. No entitlement. No whinging. But of course, the beauty of it is that kindness begets kindness. I have said thank you in personal emails to all who helped me out, and I may or may not send them a present to say thank you in a different way. If the mood strikes me and/or if I run across that perfect something for that perfect person, I will, and if not, I hope they won't hold it against me. I don't think they will, because they have already shown the kind of people they are by extending that helpful hand to me for no reason other than they felt like it.

And of course, this was all just about buttons and brooches. If I had some SERIOUS need or seriously NEEDED a friend, I bet they, or others like them, would be there, too. I have gotten to know some of these people over the short bit of time I've been blogging for various other reasons, and we have developed relationships. Some of us have practiced random acts of kindness with each other way before the RAOK ring started up. Some people practice random acts of kindness just because they are who they are, whether or not they are in the ring. I remember reading about Sharlene sending Greta a most wonderful handmade card when Greta lost her dog. That really struck a chord with me.

Some are strangers to me, but in a six-degrees-of-separation kind of deal. They know somebody who I "know." Some are just introducing themselves to me for the first time. That is how relationships get built. It takes time. When I first started blogging, only less than six months ago, I had maybe three people a day reading my site. Ten on a really good day. One of those first very kind and inviting and inclusive readers was Teresa. She's a doll. This was way before I joined any rings, and she somehow found me and made a point of saying hi often.

Now I have several hundred readers a day. Some bloggers have several THOUSAND a day, or maybe even AN HOUR.

That said, the whole thing is, as Greta has said often before and many others of us have picked up, a little odd, really, when you think about it -- we're relating with our "imaginary friends." Ah, the age of the Internet. I have only met in person TWO of my blogfriends. For many others, I feel as if we have known each other forever and are peas coming together from the pod we fell out of mumble-mumble years ago and scattered in different directions. Some (like me) have ended up in the chicken gizzard pot pie of life and somehow magically managed to get out unbaked (or half-baked) and are emerging to have real LIVES -- or something like it -- complete with real imaginary friends. Imagine!

And this has all magically happened in only six months. We may, as Ann and Kay feared, actually hate each other when we meet in person, but I doubt it.

I can't get to every blog, and I don't think I have an obligation to, even after I join a ring. When I go to a cocktail party, I do not get to say hello to every single person there. Sometimes a very good friend is way the hell across the room, and I might see him or her and intend to get over there to give a hug and say hello and have a chat with him or her, but the crowd keeps shifting and people keep grabbing my attention -- and oh, yes, I have a life, too, that gets in the way -- and hell, I'm at home and I've already washed off my makeup and as my head hits the pillow, I say, "Damn, I never got to say hello to Barb." It's just not humanly possible. It's great when somebody in KnitBlogWorld reminds me they're there and says, "Yoo-hoo, I'm here! Come and see my blog!" and I might stumble upon a really great blog that I wish I'd known about before, and then I STILL might not be able to get back to it on a regular basis. Not out of meanness or lack of caring. It's just not possible.

Anyway, not a sermon, just an Op-Ed piece. By the way, best RAOK? Write really great shit, and make me laugh. Or give me something funny to write about -- bonus points for that. Pull my leg, josh around with me, don't take me or yourself too seriously. Then I've really been RAOK'd.

Tomorrow:

Mittens, and why Yarn Harlot scares the living broccoli (I've used "shit" too many times in this post already) right out of me.

Comments

[Shannon]

I admit I've only heard abotuthe RAOK rumble from various blogs and my SnB. All sounds a little crazy from what I've read... anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the blocking advice. I'll have to find out if any of my faithful LYSs carry that product you mentioned. Sounds fun and I do love eucalyptus.

[Nathania]

Great post, Norma. You've really hit the nail on the head.

[Anne]

Amen.

[sandy]

Hold your broccoli a minute, I"m going to put some moving music on, perhaps something patriotic and appropriate....
Okay, You said IT sistah! I bow down to you and your eternal wisdom.
I would go to the ends of the earth for you, Miss N. or perhaps as far as Rhinebeck! :)
xoxoxo

[amy boogie]

You said it and well.
Each comment I get is like a RAOK.

[Kim]

Well said, m'dear. Now get to bidding on that Miracle pin, will you? I'm bidding vicariously here, yanno! ;)
xxoo

[Lynn]

Norma, you've got your broccoli together. ;-)

[KnitSteph]

*applause*

It's really nice to see that someone "gets it"

*hugs*

[Susan]

Norma, you rock and you RAOK!!

[Mary Beth]

Thanks, Norma! Well said! This post was a great kick-off for my day!

[Annie]

Wow~ I second what Amy Boogie said, each comment is a RAOK. Okay, *almost* every comment....

Very nicely said, Norma. Great post. I love when people write THE TRUTH. You are a welcome breath of fresh air in the knitblog ring.

[Dawn]

Hell yes. Thank you. That is all.

[Kae]

Imagine, the crazy image of a little 5 foot tall Puerto Rican woman doing the "Egyptian" around the room... That's me this morning. My version of the victory dance, that is... LoL.

Thanks m'dear, this really does brighten my day!

[Vicki]

Right on!

[Elisa]

Just about every morning I check out Amy Boogie's blog, and her post today sent me here - and I'm so glad it did!

I know there are blogs I don't check in on as often as I'd like, but I do try and make a point of leaving a comment to let people know I've been there, because I know how much comments mean to me...

Thanks for such a great post, and for putting into words how so many of us feel.

[Cathy]

People have 1000s of hits a day on their blogs? Whew. Is that legal? Agree with everything else you said here. Especially about the mittens. I have never made a mitten. I have never made a sock. If I ever made a mitten or sock (or even a glove) I would be so amazed that I would ... huh. Probably reward myself with another bichon. Another bichon who loves only me...

[Margene]

Oh wise one, oh sage of Blogland I prostrate myself at your feet. You are a goddess...a woman of the centuries sent to keep the rest of us from going off the deep end. RAOK on!

[Sharlene]

Well said, m'dear! :)

I'm touched that you remembered that little card I sent to Greta. I needed to hear that today too. Thanks. :)

[Kerstin]

Detective Daisy reporting for duty. Do I sniff a whiff of controversy?

I'm thinking of starting a new ring. Kind Acts of Randomness.

Just a thought. :)

[Ann]

Great Op-Ed, Norma.

[alison]

For all you bloggers out there, your daily posts of inspiration, humour and even knitting are RAOKs for those of us who are just readers and can't join the ring.

Ok Norma, you've chided me, ureged me, and now you've DARED me - no more blogger-copout. So how do I do this blogging thing?

[alison]

Actually, you never ureged me, but you certainly urged me!!

[Debbie]

I was just commenting about this to someone I email but have never met. I read a number of blogs regularly and sometimes during my daily travels, I'll see something that reminds me of a blogger or I think "Heh, it's like the time such-and-such happened to so-and-so!". And yet these people are strangers to me. I don't know them and even weirder is that they have absolutely no idea that they take up this space in my brain. Technology has created an entirely new way of relating to people. It's kind of freaky, but not in a bad way.

Debbie

[Charlotte]

I don't have a blog but I do read a fairly long list of them regularly -- yours among them. I think what you are describing as "imaginary friends" is the same thing that people who have pen friends or pals have discovered. I've written letters (and now emails) to people for years without ever meeting them. Some become as close as a sister but others remain at the level of an acquaintance. Some have invited me to visit, including those living overseas -- and I've gone. It's scarey to think of meeting only until you remember that you already "know" this person through your blog reading or through the letters you've exchanged.

[Christy]

coming out of lurkdom to say...you said it!!!

Great post, Norma!!

[Sharon]

"Real imaginary friends"....that has to be the best oxymoron ever. You've said it for all of us, Norma.

[Michelle]

Thanks for a great post!

[Michelle]

Thanks for a great post!

[Teresa C]

Okay, so I am a few days behind, but I am stopping to say hi! I'm so glad to have "met" you through knitting and blogging. But at the moment you have me worried. No bee sting? Well that is good. Hope there is no writhing and screaming in pain this weekend!

[Annie]

I happened onto your blog after clicking on a link from a blog by the sister of an incredibly kind blog reader of my own who invited me to stay with her in her home when I visited LA last week.

Amazing, huh? The wealth of person to person communication and connection that the internet has fostered?

Lovely post - thanks for writing it!