Traveling through Blogspace (finding things)

I remember when I started this blog, I couldn't even find anyone else's page. Then from the dashboard I found, "Blogs of note" from there I would hit the "next blog" button and I could cruise through blogs that way. That's how I found a lot of blogs I regularly read.

But I kept noticing more and more ads, inactive old blogs, and pages of weird crap.

I have found a better way to travel. I click on a blogs comments, pick an interesting one, and go to that persons blog. From there, I find an interesting coment someone else has made and go to their blog. This way, I jump from cool blog to cool blog and I seldom, if ever, come across any junky ones.

It's also fun to follow the "tags". When a person "tags" someone, it's like they are given an assignment to answer questions or something, and then tag someone else. It travels around and around from one person to another and one can follow the tags in either direction. You find a lot of stuff, and you find loops, that take you around to places you've been before. A while ago I followed a tag all the way around to myself! That was cool, things started getting familiar but I was still surprised to see my name and page pop up! (By the way, I tagged Anduin a long time ago but she apparently hasn't found it yet! (scroll down, way far!!))

When I first started my blog, I was searching out to find out how it was done and what it was all about. Now that I have a circle of friends here whose blogs I regularly read, my circle tends to quit growing, maybe even to shrink. I try to always search for a while for new stuff, as well as maintain my regular "rounds".

One pitfall is that this tends to make you spend an ever increasing amount of time online, which I do not recommend, almost anything outside is better than being on the computer. If I am online, it is because it is cloudy and/or raining, dark outside, or (don't tell a soul) I'm at work. Right now it's cloudy and there's big waves from the storm that passed, so no beach, no diving.

Its the same on this island, it tends to shrink with time. When I first moved here, I knew only one person. I went out, met people, and got a circle of friends. Then, having a circle of friends, I kinda quit actively looking. Over the years, people from my circle leave the island and they are not replaced. So my circle of friends slowly gets smaller and smaller. One tends to become more and more isolated. I think this happens in larger communities too, but it's easier recognize it here.

I think it's important to not let this happen. And it takes ACTION!