View RSS Feed

title

Fellowship of Litnetters

Rate this Entry
This date last year I created the second blog entry which became the very first posted.

A year later it appears I have learned precious little to enhance the appearance of the blog.

What a difference one year can make. I had been waffling on staying on board. Comment responses went mainly ignored or I felt praised when I only saw my own shallowness.

This was never about writing to me. It was a way to ever so slowly put an identity out there that would acknowledge the warts but NOT glorify the sins. Other then occasionally wanting to bring a flame thrower to all the egos running rampant in the religious forums I'm generally at peace here. Only a couple of litnetters grate on me but I rarely acknowledge them and I'm definitely below their radar.

What the blog has come to mean to me other then a history of the Mtpspur life and how he came to be is still what it started as. Therapy for the soul.

I have been meaning to print all the entries into a notebook for a sort of legacy for my children on the hopes that some day they might like to know more about dear old dad other then that he loved the Avengers comics and Batman. I'm convinced the three guttersnipes would know Captain Blood is a favorite fictional novel but suspect only one of them with a ten dollar bill at stake could tell me who wrote him. Haggard still seems a mystery to them.

The first few months were dicey. The ego was constantly getting in the way. Entrys that I thought would charm and delight and get me Logos private phone number largely went ignored. It was with a bit of dismay that entries on the deaths of real people elicited little in the way of pain and outrage. Grace86 was most helpful at that time.

I believe the turning point for me was relating the tale of the long suffering wife and I getting married. Comments became more frequent and there seemed to be a warmth involved in them. I began to read other blogs and start to think of the Litnetters beyond their reading likes and dislikes. I liked the quiet dignity most here have and the ability to embrace almost anyone at face value.

I began to actually (and Logos warned this would happen but I was a doulting Thomas) have friendships here. Grace86 will always have the honor of being the first person I carried on a dialogue with. There have been others. Some are no longer here. There is one blogger I tried my best to make her stay but there is another who I feel responsible for hastening their departure and for her I feel a loss and no its not who you think. That one made her choice my conscience there is clean but I no longer PM using the two PMs without an answer rule- a third is harassment and lets not go there please.

I began getting PMs from people. Stupidly I would erase them and forget their real names. Names are precious and each of us is of value and should be honored. I now have a small but growing list of first names in the library. Oddly there are only two of you who I actually know the real names of and about four that know mine. Two know precisely where I live. My circle is growing and my affection for this site is becoming a cherished habit.

There are the times when ho-hum more poetry I can't figure out and why is 1984 so popular anyway? But overall there is a sense of finding a small niche where I can safely be myself and not be condemmed thereby.
And oddly enough liked yet alone cared about!!??

It's been a nice first year sharing with Litnet and I hope to continue as the Lord allows me life.

Then as now this blog is dedicated to the beloved Logos. With special mention (and I know I've missed a few: Grace86, Andave Ya, Pendragon, Mchockenberry, KizPaws, B-Mental, Mahuri, Virgil, Captain Pike, Grayfoxdown, Kathcf, Idril, and most especially the well regarded Countess who is a woman among women and I wish her book could get published that others should see her fire.
Categories

Comments

  1. andave_ya's Avatar
    Goodness gracious, thank you for this blog entry, Rich. I'm very honored to be mentioned here. I've browsed through your older entries, I admit, and wondered why nobody had commented. I do NOT remember when/how I got interested in your blog and in knowing you but I distinctly remember having a mental picture of some handsome young buck in army camouflage. It took me a while to figure out the truth but it wasn't hard to exchange handsome youth for handsome wit and wisdom. Yes I know you haven't posted a picture of yourself but inner 'handsomeness' doesn't need a picture. (I can't exactly call a man pretty now can I?)
  2. mtpspur's Avatar
    In return Andave I noticed you when you mentioned a comment regarding Christianity of mine that you thought I had rendered in a rather nice way. Oh to have seen me in the zealot days when doctrine was everything and tolerance was lip serviced. For the record I remember being humbled by your remark and strove for just a bit to be more Christ centered in the religious forums but I fear the results were so-so as the Drama Queen is even more subtle then the serpent and will have her due. I then began noticing your name more and more and was startled to discover how young you were. I tend to read everyone here with an approximate age of 23 in mind until I look at a profile or given more info. Being just bit more careful now when I comment unless I'm on a soapbox. You always write older then you are. Thanks for the comment . Rich
  3. 's Avatar
    Congrats on ONE YEAR of blog entries mtpspur! . . . . . "Therapy for the soul"--that's great! . . . . I've been watching, hoping you remembered your own blog's anniversary! . . . . Now, when you want to print it, please, don't hesitate to ask for a how-to
  4. Virgil's Avatar
    Well, thank goodness you didn't leave Rich. I guess back then I may not have replied as much because of several reasons: (1) I didn't really know how these blog things worked and whether comments were desired or not (2) I didn't know you as well then and (3) your blogs tend to be long, so my attention span (when it comes to computer screens I'm convinced I have ADD) wouldn't allow me through the whole read. Thanks for mentioning me. And congratulations. These will be great for your children and let me say you have the best blog of all here.
  5. kiz_paws's Avatar
    I like your attitude about writing your blog as Therapy For The Soul. How very true, and I hope that your beautifully written blog will indeed by read by your children/grandchildren, because me as an outsider, feel so privileged in getting to know you through your tales and comments. I echo the sentiment that your blog stands alone as one of a kind, and I am proud to call you a friend. With much admiration, Karen (a.k.a. Kiz_paws). **hugs**
  6. Niamh's Avatar
    Therapy for the soul is a great title for your blog/bio Mtpspur! congrats on one year of a wonderful blog!
  7. applepie's Avatar
    Love you too Rich*big huge hug* I know I've not been around as much, but I'm still trying. I for one and very grateful that you stayed around my friend. Friendships are often too few and they should be treasured as the jewels they are:)
  8. Captain Pike's Avatar
    Rich:
    This is the third time that I will begin typing something to you, whether in a private message or here, now in response to your blog entry. The first two times, my PC hung -- and it was two different PCs, so no, it's not a micro-crack in the motherboard of my albeit antiquated PC. And this last time, Little Mrs. wonderful just came home from work and that of meeting of the members of the board of directors of one of the many service organization she belongs to. So anyway, hello! How are you doing? After I read your entry, I got to thinking and discovered I first came here early in January. I didn't dare to do any blogging until the middle of the summer. So many things about this particular site seem in stark contrast to most of the garbage out there. The short story contest caught my eye, but it didn't seem reasonable to have to make 100 posts. These days, I have been staying away from the contests and forum itself, instead reading from a heady mass of good literature. Here I go, talking about me again, but it's O Henery I'm reading these days. ONE THING: I don't understand the first line of your entry. Your second entry was the first posted? I'm essentially blond here -- what there is left of it. I think of you has a friend, but I can't really picture you. _p
  9. mtpspur's Avatar
    To Capt Pike: I thought about explaining the first remark and then forgot. When I created my first blog entry I had typed a full glowing account filled with the family background blah blah blah but when I went post it the entry would not take. The forum had booted me out. I had to log in again and my history was GONE. I started over and made it shorter. Remarkably for someone of my personal appearance I got kissed more then I deserved but I liken my looks to a less cuter Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) but the smile is more sincere--or so I hope.
  10. Countess's Avatar
    Somehow I missed this entry till now (bad, tired eyes must have accidentally missed it). You know, Rich, of all your entries it is this one that shows the depth of your soul, and the thought of your intellect. Here you have actually looked across the forest, apprehended some of the trees and come to a higher, spiritual understanding of what it means to be alive. You should do this more often - you're at your best. You're not shallow; you just chose to be sometimes. (-; I have a horrible, schizophrenic record with PMing people. I used to meticulously maintain correspondence (even as a child, I had 8 pen-pals at one time) but in the hurry-blurry of life, I've let that go. It's never about you or anyone else for that matter; usually it is about me and time-limits or emotional status. So, forgive me, and never take it personally, unless you enjoy suffering, and then who am I to deprive you? (-: I look forward to another year of your blogs. MERRY CHRISTMAS and GOD bless you.
  11. Countess's Avatar
    PS: You must print your blogs out and leave them for your grandchildren. That is not an option.
  12. andave_ya's Avatar
    Oh yes, I remember! It was on the 'my apologies' entry. You reassured me that my posts were fine and dandy and insightful. Though I glowed at that, I distinctly remember thinking that that was high praise coming from someone like you. That must have been at least eight months ago............Countess is right, you know. Printing your blogs for your children is something that is not optional . And I too wonder why 1984 is so popular -- I read it because everyone here seemed to revere it tremendously but I never did understand why!
  13. Niamh's Avatar
    That happened to me once Mtpspur. So now when ever i'm posting an entry, i copy the intire text before hitting post just in case that happens! Also if you sign back in and then click the back space button until you get back to the comment box and hit post it will post for you.
  14. mtpspur's Avatar
    A belated lament that while I knew I had forgotten to mention someone of value to me on the Litnet I could not for the life of me remember who. Until Bluebiird posted on her blog. I stand convicted and embarassed I forgot her. There was a short while I indulged in a blog war to see who could get to 100 first and took advantage that she has a life to live and pulled ahead when her schoolwork got in the way. So Bluebiird if you read this please forgive. I plead the advancing years.
  15. B-Mental's Avatar
    Another great entry Rich...you know the funny thing is that Logos just keeps giving me her phone number, and I keep going what am I supposed to do with this...anyways, next time she sends me her phone #, I'll forward it on to you with haste. LOL>ok, very revealing entry, and I share its sentiments....sorry for teasing you about logos phone #.
  16. Bluebiird's Avatar
    No worries. If I weren't so lazy you'd have never caught up But that doesn't matter. I'm racing to catch you up again but I keep forgetting . I wish I'd remembered to do a blog thanking everyone properly for a whole year. But, me being me, I forgot. So, technically, I think I'm the one owing apologies.
  17. B-Mental's Avatar
    ......I need more COWBELL!!!!.......