Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Who's your neighbor?



I have set out to write this post on several occasions, but I always get distracted. I don't know why...

But my friend Stacy from Louisville (I mostly just call her Stacy, cuz we're Facebook BFFs and all) wrote a really great post about community that reminded me about writing this particular post. When I started blogging, It was mostly just a way to write really long comments about what I thought about stuff, thereby saving space on other blogs in the comments section. (That's worked out pretty well, don't you think?) But it has become so much more than that. I have met so many great people through blogging that I can honestly say I consider my friends. I've even had the great pleasure of meeting some of them face to face, and am looking forward to meeting a few more. A few of my bloggity gal pals were discussing/wondering if we would have ever become friends if we had all met in the "real" world. I would really like to believe that we would, but I think the odds are against it. The blogs I follow are pretty diverse, as are the people who write them, but there is something that caught my attention, some kinship, about each and every one of them. My reading them was not random, it was intentional.

So....In the interest of being completely random, I'm challenging you to meet your blog neighbor! You can do this every day, and your neighbor will be different every time. If you have a blogger account, go to the top of your blog and click on "Next Blog". There's your neighbor! (You are allowed to skip the blog if it is in another language or just a little too freaky-deeky for your taste. That has been the case on several occasions for me.) But this time, my neighbor was Tanya at Trixi's Stretching. No, she's not a Pilate's instructor. She's a photographer and all around creative person. She also lives in Texas, like me. Considering all the blogs in locations all over the world, what are the odds of that? I left her a comment telling her that I was her neighbor and what I hope was an encouraging comment about the post I landed on. She's a great photographer, btw. You should go check out her blog. I haven't heard back from her, but her friend RRamone entered my Super Skanktacular Saturday Giveaway. He also made me laugh out loud. That dude's a riot, and also an artist - Kewl.

So, there you have it. Are you going to stay inside your little circle of friends? Or are you going to go meet your neighbor? Inquiring minds want to know...

25 comments:

Beth said...

I miss Mr. Rogers.

Beth said...

Okay I'm back. My blog neighbor was just full of advertisements for TV shows. Strange. I'll try again later. For now, I gotta help the kids clean their rooms so we can go to the park. It's supposed to be 70 degrees today. I want OUT OF THIS HOUSE! :)

Helen said...

I found an interior design blog. The post I read was on lighting. I left a comment about decorative vs. functional lighting.
Happ St. Patrick's Day.

♥ Kathy said...

I used to always use the 'next blog' button but it got so aggravating to me because I landed on the different language blogs more than anything. I have found several of the blogs I follow that way though. And I find new blogs through my 'old' blogs too. That's how I found you :) through Sherri. Oh, btw I sent you a friend request on Facebook while ago. :D and ps I can actually say you're my real neighbor since we're only 20 or so miles apart LOL kewl

Marni said...

First click got me a blog in Spanish. My espanol is rusty (or rusty-o) so I clicked again. I was taken to a blog called Tom Tom and Jo Jo. It featured 2 precious little Korean children (not named Tom Tom and Jo Jo, strangely enough). So I told them a friend suggested this experiment and told them I was praying for them and to have a great day.

Good idea Kat! See how awesome you are when you use your powers for good and not evil??

Stacy from Louisville said...

Katdish-
I'm glad to have met you. Your blog makes me smile so much. And the other day with your "made you look" comment on SCL I left the nest comment "I am certain we are somehow related". I would love to meet you some day. Our correspondence on and off our blogs has been great! I love your passion for others and Jesus Christ. And, since we're such good friends you can even call me "Stace" on occasion...

Wendy said...

Whoa! I didn't even know you could jump around blogs like that! I also didn't know that there could be so many languages that I don't recognize... Still looking!

Wendy said...

Me again! Okay, I just found the coolest blog!

http://admiralblacklersletters.blogspot.com/

This gal is posting letters from her grandfather to her grandmother (while he was in the Navy) from 1889 to 1925. I totally dig stuff like that!

And yes, I left a comment. And bookmarked it!

Anonymous said...

Okay. I did as you said (because I've been hypnotised by the "window to the soul")and, you probably already know this because you see all, but my first neighbor was...well, I don't know who he/she was cause they spoke in another language (how rude). The next was a younger girl, lover of antiques, which is something I happen to love myself. I left her a comment.

my wv is UNCLES.

I have many Italian Uncles. Some are in the mob.

Annie K said...

All of my neighbors are Brazilian or Hispanic. Seriously. I clicked like 9 times before I got to one in English. And then it was a Techie blog. I don't speak that language either.....

Annie K said...

Ok, I finally got one in English. It's author is James Wong Wing-On (I am not making that up.) He is a journalist and former member of the Malay parliment.

Beth said...

I got lots of blogs in other languages, too. The first English one I found is a lady in Louisiana who blogs about incredible food. Way fancy grown-up type food! I left her a nice comment...she will probably roll her eyes at me...

jasonS said...

My new layout took that option away, but I tried from Burn Frequency and got 4 in other languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Vietnamese- just guesses) and then a Wrestlemania blog with scantily clad men and women adorning every nook and cranny. At that point, I gave up!

I did do this a while back though and found an awesome quote by Audrey Hepburn... There you go.

Christy said...

Nope! I'm going to be anti-social today. Well, I might try later, but I hope I don't find ANOTHER blog that I like, cuz good grief! I'm on the computer enough (more than enough) as it is already!

Oh, and as my husband would say, "Don't tell me what to do!"
;0) He thinks he's funny.

Brenda said...

Hi Katdish, I'm a long time lurker but never have commented. I'm a fan of SFL and SCL also. I had never thought to click on the Next blog thing until a wonderful woman named Mara stumbled upon my blog that way. Now I try it occasionally, but most of the time they are in a foreign language. Anyway, just thought this would be a good time to say hi to you. I see you all over blog land, btw! One of your most funniest posts was when you met Jon and you fell. Hilarious!

Tony C said...

I landed on a brand new blogger at:

http://staples-raedy-olsonfamily.blogspot.com/

Now I follow his blog.

Great suggestion...you're so darn smart!

Prodigal Jon said...

we met our down the street neighbor tonight and asked her how long she and her husband and children (who are the exact same ages/sex as our kids) have lived in our neighborhood. She replied "5 years". I replied, "we are horrible." Not really, but it was convicting.
Jon

Sherri Murphy said...

katdish- I put you in time out over at my blog, and there's no rlease date until you come give me a BLESSING! Not a joke, no sarcasm, pure love and encouragement only. Even if it kills ya'!

Joyce said...

I was feeling neighborly so gave this a try. May I just say there is some whacky stuff going on in blog land.

Got a 'content warning' from Blogger on my first neighbor so drove on by. I bypassed a few questionable and a few non-English speaking and finally landed on one I could read. She'd just been to Prague and had some fab photos with lots of tips for visiting which I've filed away as it's on my list of places to go.

Wondering now if when my blog pops up do people say, wow..boring...next one please.

Nick the Geek said...

I have tried this 3 times now. Each time I get two foreign blogs in a row (I speak and/or read 4 languages but haven't hit any I know) and the second doesn't have the option to look at their neighbor.

Blogger doesn't want me to leave the already corrupted.

Marni said...

I"m trying to guess the 4 languages Nick speaks:

1. Sarcasm
2. Techie
3. Texan (he communicates so nicely with Kat and I)
4. Klingon

How close did I get Nick?

Marni said...

And Jon...if it helps, my hubs and I did the same thing with some neighbors. They had live across the street from us for 4 or 5 years. Then a small tornado hit our neighborhood and we were all outside assesing the damage, struck up a conversation with them, realized our kids were the same ages, and all that. They ended up being our bff's until the moved away some years later. We even got them involved in our church. We joke how we were so lame in not going over and introducing ourselves to them, that God had to send a storm to get our butts in gear. Don't tell my other neighbors that tornado was our fault...

wv: maters--that's East Texan for those red things you make spaghetti sauce with

Nick the Geek said...

Marni,

hmmm, I forgot about klingon I guess I speak more .. who am I kidding I'm not that kind of geek.

I met a neighbor down the road when a humongous tree branch (giant silver maple with a trunk over 4' wide and this branch was about 40' long and 18" wide at the bottom) fell out of a tree right by our house and across the road narrowly missing the powerline. He came and helped clean up the mess and haul off the wood. We ended up becoming good friends after that.

Shelley said...

I haven't commented before, but love your blog! Your experiment was so fun! This is my blog neighbor
http://southernjewel4jesus.blogspot.com/

She's 10 and her favorite friend is God. Absolutely precious! I was really blessed by her blog! :)

katdish said...

Now, see? I really don't need to write blog posts to get conversations started here. Perhaps in the future, I'll just type something like, "The Stimulus Package: What say you?", and then just sit back and read the comments!

Helen - the chandy on that blog was the bomb!

Kathy - I know. We live 20 miles apart, and yet I meet you in Illinois. Go figure.

Marni - Cleary, I'm awesome, as are you.

Stacy - you know I'm gonna call you Stace until you block me as a follower...

Wendy - I checked out that blog. I love that kind of stuff, too.

Sherri - for you to tell me "I left her a comment" is akin to telling me "I am still breathing". Some things I just know instinctively.

Annie - James Wong Wing-On! That's hilarious!

Beth - No doubt rolling her eyes. Don't you just love leaving those type of comments?

Jason - wait...what Audrey Hepburn quote? I love her!

Christy - Or as my pastor sometimes tells me, "You're not the boss of me!"

Brenda - Hey there! I'm glad you left a comment. I see a bunch of peeps on different blogs, but you're the only one who I consistently see on blogs that many of my regular readers don't read. Kewl.

Tony C - I couldn't agree more.

PJ - I have no comment on your comment. I just wanted to refer to you as "PJ", cuz I know you dig that...

Joyce - Yeah, there are some pretty sick puppies out there, huh?

Nick - Spanish, Japanese....I give up. What other languages do you speak?

Prairie Cottage Rose - Oh, that little girl is adorable! Thanks for sharing that link.