Blogging vs. "Too Personal" Writing (Also known As "When To Keep It To Yourself")

I'm all for airing out things if need be on your blog. And yeah, I do believe in "your blog, your decisions on what to write about".

But I feel that even in the world of blogging, there is and NEEDS TO BE a line of how much of your PERSONAL life should be divulged to the masses.

For one thing, I really do NOT wish to know about the hanky-panky you and your partner have in your bedroom (or anywhere else in the home). Your personal sex life should be left where it belongs..in YOUR home, behind CLOSED doors. Be it with your hubby/partner or with another man/woman. I really don't want to know in explicit detail of your "hot and wild night" between the sheets (or hanging from the rafters).

If you are losing followers/readers, then it may be for good reason. I don't like going to someone's blog I have gone to for quite some time, knowing that while they can get a bit crazy (in a good way), they won't go ALL out there. Plus showing ANY kind of "private" body part is a HUGE turnoff for many readers, including myself. I'll go to Playboy/girl to see some skin and raunchiness, thanks.

Though I must say, that MOST of those bloggers that DO write about way more than I and many others care to know about the writer's real (and private) life do have their pages set to "Adult Content Warning"...But when it is up for EVERY single page, be it "adult-like" or not, it's hard to avoid what you wish to NOT read about, and instead, you are too late and are "suckered" in to it. For me personally, I REFUSE to comment on such "open" posts and just hit the back button.

This past week, I had also taken the liberty of "un-following" some blogs. Mainly because of this very problem and because some just no longer held my interest or the content just wasn't up my alley. Like I had said, if I want to see skin, read about sexual innuendo and what someone did in their own home and life, I'll seek out Playboy/girl or rent me a porn movie.

I'm sorry if this angers anyone. But you are honestly hurting yourself and your readership, as well as your comment rating as a writer/blogger by posting things that I don't even tell my own father. And we tell one another everything. I just don't go in to THAT part of my life. I don't want anyone to know about my sex life. And I sure as hell don't wish to know about yours.

Some People Make Me Want To Bang My Head On The Desk...(Blog Hop Stuff)

What part(s) of the following do people apparently NOT get when I post this??...

"The *ONLY* stipulation I have is to please LEAVE A *GENUINE* COMMENT here on my page to show that you have read it. Not a copy/paste thing or a "I followed you/follow me back" comment... I am okay with people stating if they came from another blog hop and found me. But I don't play the "followed you/follow me back" game.

**If you cannot abide by that one simple rule for linking on my page, I wish for you to NOT link it at all. I hope you understand. Thanks.."

You will find this one my posts that I add my Linky Tools link up button to. And that is only maybe (now) twice a week to run in time with For The Love Of Blogs as to give them more exposure and to further help out my fellow bloggers from that community and other places within the blogosphere.

I don't "have to" add the tool to any of my blogs. I do it because I want to and I like helping others to gain more readers. Not just myself.

Thanks to "link and run" types of "users and abusers" of the link up ability to my page, I removed it. Then decided to bring it back here and there. Then, I felt that I wanted to help Vic and Ashley at FLOB by also doing a link up capability on the posts I run to show case them and two of their blog hops I'm involved with.

So now, I will say it this way from now on in ALL FUTURE blog hop posts that I provide a link up tool for others to add to...

"The *ONLY* stipulation I have is to please LEAVE A *GENUINE* COMMENT here on my page to show that you have read it. Not a copy/paste thing or a "I followed you/follow me back" comment... I am okay with people stating if they came from another blog hop and found me. But I don't play the "followed you/follow me back" game.

**If you cannot abide by that one simple rule for linking on my page, I wish for you to NOT link it at all, nor even leave a COMMENT on my page.

If *anyone* is caught breaking the rules for MY BLOG PAGE and the way I wish to run MY blog hop/link up, then the comment and/or blog link and button will be DELETED.

I hope you understand. Thanks.."...

Now, do you all think that THIS will make it clear? Especially if you have actually READ FTLOB's "rules" about blog hopping and leaving comments on other's blogs. They also *DO NOT CONDONE* copy/paste comments or the "followed you/follow me back" comments and also feel it is TACKY as well as RUDE.

If these things keep happening on my blog, then I will put an END TO PROVIDING a link up/blog hop on my blog page.

Blog Hop Linky Tool On My Page... BE SURE TO READ ME!!

I'm sorry, but I have closed up the current Linky Tool Blog Hop linking area. I started seeing that most of those that were linking up to my page were not even "reading" my stuff. Let alone following the blog, or even leaving a note of ANY kind.

And I did in fact give fair warning in a previous post (refer to Blog Hop Tool Rules) that in the event that something like this happened, what the consequences would be.

If that makes me a mean and/or bitchy blogger, then so be it. I am not a "tool" for others to gain by. I wouldn't allow this on any of my other sites, or in my life. So know it certainly won't be tolerated here.

I'd opened an on-going "Blog Hop" to HELP other bloggers. Not to be taken advantage of.

So, from here on out, at my discretion, and *WITHOUT* prior notice, I will open the Hopping Tool again as I feel ready to do so.

Handicap Parking & The "Not So" Disabled

I know a while back somewhere along the line, I had touched on this subject. But seeing as I hate "recycling" posts and honestly, I really don't wish to go through my previous 192 posts to find the sucker, I shall write about Handicap Parking Spaces...again.

Thanks to someone I follow on Twitter, who shall remain nameless (and genderless) as to protect their identity, the subject has once more come to me, especially with Christmas shopping in full swing and the fact that some shoppers can be real humbugs about parking lots and parking spaces.

My Mother and Father-In-Law both have poor health. Primarily my Mother-In-Law. She has Systemic Lupus. Systemic Lupus affects all the main organs (including lungs and heart), as well as muscles throughout the body. She literally is drained even after a short shopping trip for groceries. It doesn't take much for her to tire out or to bruise, or get sore throughout her body.

When she goes to public places, she parks in Handicap stalls. She looks fine. She walks fine. She sees and hears just fine. She walks (for the most part) fine. But indeed, she IS legally disabled.

No one can see (unless you REALLY know her, or of her condition) her internal handicap. Her illness that is tucked within her own body.

So, when she climbs out of her van and starts walking "normally" in to the store, I have been witness to a few stares and sneers. People in general think that she is just being lazy.

Yes, she is heavy set (not fat), but that is NOT due to being "lazy" or over eating, seeing as she has to watch her intake, due to her Colostomy Bag (that she craps in to, having only two INCHES of her colon, thanks to cancer). The Lupus plays with your weight as well.

And it can mess up her breathing. After a while, you can hear her breaths get heavier, as she tires. Hence why her trips to the store are as minimal as she can make them.

When I was little (as in a toddler), I was allowed to be on "Day Trips" from the hospital (for new readers, I didn't go home until I was almost 3 YEARS old, due to many medical problems at birth). My parents had a Handicap Sticker to use when I was with them, seeing as I had to have my medical equipment close by in the car in case I had a breathing situation (a suctioning machine for my trache).

An elderly lady called the police on my parents (I know I spoke of this last time lol) because she didn't see where any of us were handicapped and "required" a spot for those that were REALLY handicapped.

Needless to say, my parents were caught off guard when a Police Officer side stepped them inside the store and let them know what was transpiring. After hearing this, my mother took me (in the cart) and walked off to "cool down" after eying the lady that made the report.

My poor dad. He had to take the officer outside and SHOW HIM the equipment, sitting there on the floorboard of the back seat area of the car. The Police Officer thanked him and apologized for the intrusion and the trouble (as well as the embarrassment) that the situation caused.

After going back inside, the officer pulled the lady aside and let her have it for being a nosy old bag. He even took HER to see that INDEED I was LEGALLY afforded that spot and why. Also, she got a better look at ME, sitting in the cart and started to cry (by my understanding of what my dad said), all the while apologizing to my parents.

My mother walked off without accepting the apology, due to the humiliation and the rudeness of the woman in the first place. Plus, it kept Mom from wanting to punch the old woman (by what was told).

So, the next time you see someone parking in a designated Handicap spot, don't be so quick to judge by their outward appearance. You don't know their full medical history and what may be going on internally.

Believe me when I say that there are days when I really wish I had a sticker/plate due to my son and his "outbursts" (due to his mental disorders that LEGALLY make him 'disabled' by our state) that he has. I'd be able to get him out of where we are and out to the car MUCH quicker when an episode hits. Most of the time, we are parked most of the way towards the end of the lot area. Just my luck I guess.

RE: My New Linky Tool (rules)

Yes! I finally figured it out. I now have a "Blog Hopping" link-up capability for both my blogs.

Now, readers can leave their blog link-ups on my page when they stop by. But!!..Yes, another 'but'. Sorry, gotta do this though.

There WILL be some ground rules for linking with my blog. This way it's fair for everyone.

1)*I don't want my page to be "used" and "abused".* In other words if you link your blog to my page, then be sure to leave a comment on the post you had read.

2)*Be sure to leave a comment on any others you read as well.* I'm doing this to not only make more traffic for my blog, but to also help out my fellow bloggers as well.

3)*For respectfulness among the masses, do *not* say "Please follow me back".* Personally, I find it tacky and disrespectful. If readers like your content, they WILL follow without your "begging". In fact, I did touch on this last week. Blog Hop Do's/Don'ts...

If there is apparent "abuse" of the link (as in link up, but don't say anything about reading my work), then I MAY REMOVE IT. And then, I may only let others link up say on my Sunday Sunrise meme/carnival posts.

Now, with all of that said, be on the lookout for another post later today of a memory brought back by a kid on the radio and a "kids say the darnedest things/chew it over with Twix moment".

Blog Hopping Etiquette

Ok, I'm just going to throw this out here. And yeah, it may piss a few peeps off. But do I care? Nah! Not really. If you read me regularly and know me well enough, you know I don't sugar coat and I shoot from the hip.

I've been with Blogger for a year now. Yay me!!...*Okay, celebration over.*

And before then, I was blogging through CafeMom or MySpace. Don't look for me at either, seeing as I don't go to those anymore. Especially not to blog.

There is a new Blogger page aptly named 'For The Love Of Blogs'. So far, so good. I have now found another wonderful lady to follow. I love the title, too! She named it 'Just Hide The Dishes In The Dryer'. Believe me, there are days I wish that I could!

On Monday's, 'For The Love Of Blogs' does a Blog Hop. I'm down with that. Heck, I even posted BOTH of my blogs up on there in the hopes to get a few hits.

After commenting on my newly found blog page that I instantly liked, I was kind of taken aback. Not surprised, really. Just disappointed.

Yes, in my comment I did state something about the post that I had read. And yes, I also let the blog author know that I am now following her and that I found her on 'For The Love Of Blogs'.

But there is one thing that I did not say. Nor have I ever said it on another's page. And I will NEVER say it... "I'm following you. Please follow me back".

Excuse me? That is just tacky as hell! And I find it rude. I will NOT follow you when you come to MY page and "beg" me to follow you just to be another reader's notch in your damn blogging belt.

I will follow someone *IF* I like their content, their page set up, the subject(s) that they write about and/or that I can relate to and how well thought out that the content is in it's written form.

But if you (generally speaking) come on to *my* blog and get tacky like that, I can guarantee you 100% that I will *not* follow your page, and I WILL let you know that I will NOT and give my reason why.

I may not have that many readers/followers here or at my secondary blog, 'ParanorMel'. But I have followers that came on their own, without any begging from me. If they wish to follow my blog(s) then they will. If not, then so be it.

To beg for followers of your page is like being a lawyer that is deemed to be an "ambulance chaser" to just make a few bucks and up his name in the community some more.

Believe me. That lawyer's name WILL be better known. But for the wrong reasons.