A very public affair

Is publishing a diary-like blog a good or bad thing?

If it is good, why is it not recognized as a valid therapy?

If it is bad, should it not carry a health warning?

I am wrestling with this dilema and am afraid I may be airing my linen in public when it may be counter productive to do so. I refer specifically to my situation with Madeleine. I announced our split up on Blogger before telling anyone else!

I wanted to let the people I care about know, and those people read my blog.  A bit like sending a text message to multiple receivers, I was spared the hassle of repeating the same thing over and over again.

On Facebook I was more cautious and chose to drop a couple of subtle hints instead of making a full announcement. I don´t know why that should be; why I should differentiate between FB and Blogger, but I know I do. Or maybe it´s because a lot of FB friends are not real friends but acquaintances and friends of friends - people I would not normally confide in.

Should a blog be treated in the same way as we treat a best friend or relative?

We talk to friends about our problems and normally get some sort of uplifting feedback. Blogging produces a similar result if/when we get comments.

Blog friends are, to a degree, virtual. I can´t be sure those people I´ve come to like as friends actually do exist. They may even all be the same person with different pseudonyms.  A bit far fetched I know, but possible nonetheless.

Whether blog friends can be considered true friends or not is up for debate but I can´t see any good reason as to why not. I feel as if I know my blog pals quite well. At least as well as I know some real friends.

On blogland I enjoy reading about my friends exploits and daily struggles, such as:

Annah´s quest for famosity - Nessa´s DIY skills - Dickys ´Dirty Old Town´ of Farnborough - Dan´s trips down the dark alleys of St Kilda - Sharon´s Sleepless in Otford Nights - Baglady´s Nile adventure - Louis Wu´s attacks on the Tea Party - Cold´s Moscow Tales - Pearl´s kindness to Banjo players - Momma C´s book reviews and recipes and many many others (sorry for those who didn´t get a mention, I love u also) too numerous to mention.

Those people I consider to be friends even though we have never met.  As communication goes, the written word comes a close second to speech.

Going public - Is this what I´m doing?

Seems like the jury´s still out on this matter. Time will tell.

On a lighter note, I´d like to share a conversation with you I had with my uncle JS from London, yesterday morning. JS sent me the pic above from his iPhone.

JS:   Hey Joe Boy, how´s it goin´?

ME: OK... still in bed, late night last night...

JS:   I read your blog, about you and M

ME: Oh yeah, that... not very nice

JS:   Don´t worry Joe, plenty more fish in the sea!

JS´s intentions were to give me support and encouragement, I know, but being as curt as he is, it didn´t have the desired effect. JS is as blunt as a brick when it comes to sensitive matters but I know he means well.

Its all very well saying there´s plenty of fish in the sea, but how can I be sure my bait is as effective as it once was?

Maybe I should change bait if I want to catch a different kind of fish.

:)