Redding Up The Lair

Tomorrow will be the 3 year anniversary of the Lair of the Okapi. Before I created the Lair, I thought blogs were just the very public personal diaries of the dramatic and self-important. Then, my little lamb started The 9th Circle, and I found myself coming back again and again - mainly just to keep up with her new life in New York. She's great at really getting her voice into her writing, and I could just hear her in every snarky "viewer mail" post and every scathing observation on public transportation. It somehow made her seem not so far away.

So, just out of curiosity, I started the Lair. I knew that I didn’t want to do a daily diary type blog, and I didn’t want to do a specifically themed thing. I thought it would be less obligating, and more my style, to think of my blog as more of an online scrapbook for ideas, pictures, stories and stuff. I started to read other blogs from The 9th Circle blogroll, and found myself “getting to know” a few bloggers – Jackie, Hof, Van, Vegas, Dan and Moo. Over time, each and every one of my original blog-friend circle closed up shop, and I miss reading them more than I probably should.

The Lair certainly hasn't been the most prolific, or beautifully written or the most influential blog out here...but apparently, it scores pretty high on longevity. I guess my attention span isn't quite as short as I thought.

At any rate, in honor of this illustrious occasion (and in reference to my recent post about Pittsburghese) I'm redding up the Lair. I'll be cleaning up, adding to, deleting and rearranging my links and blogroll. I'm on an active search for new blogs to lurk on, and new sites to investigate, so if you have any suggestions...I'll be here. Probably for quite a while.

The Okapi's Favorite Nibbles

A little more than 2 years ago, this blogging thing was still a mystery to me. It just seemed a little self-important…to think that the public would be interested in your diary. Then, my little lamb, started The 9th Circle, and I found myself coming back again and again – mainly to keep up with her life in New York. She’s great at getting her voice into her writing, and I could just hear her in every snarky viewer mail post and every scathing observation on public transportation. It somehow made her seem not so far away.

So, just out of curiosity, I started the Lair. I knew that I didn’t want to do a daily diary type blog, and I didn’t want to do a specifically themed thing. I thought it would be less obligating, and more my style to think of my blog as more of an online scrapbook for ideas, pictures, stories and stuff. I started to read other blogs from The 9th Circle blogroll, and found myself “getting to know” a few bloggers – Jackie, Hof, Van, Vegas, Dan and Moo. Through Moo, I met Val. And she made me laugh with her cricket finger puppets. Then I went through a “not so good” period, and I was surprised by how my blog friends really rallied around, when I needed a few kind words. I, myself, couldn’t put much into words then, but I spent a lot of time surfing blogrolls and filling my temporary emptiness with other peoples’ lives. During that challenging time, both Val and Marisol suffered terrible losses, and my heart just ached for them.

My life did get back on track, and as I became interested in the world again, I expanded my blogroll with blogs that caught my attention because they were smart or funny or particularly well-written – like Scott-O-Rama, Get Your Life, Random Speak, The Martian Anthropologist, Afarensis, Meanwhile and Joe.My.God.

Recently, I noticed that a lot of the blogging friends I’ve made over the past 2 years, have, for one reason or another, bowed out, and my blogroll was looking like a museum collection of blog relics. So, I searched and I lurked. And I pruned and grafted my list of daily reads. And I’m getting to know a few new fantastic sites and their really, really talented authors – like Cooper’s Corridor, Circumlocutor, Getting Myself Together, Intelligent Design , Sad and Mad, Juliepatchouli, Angry Black Bitch and It’s Just Ice Cream.

I’m leaving for Las Vegas today for a week. While I’m gone, I’d love if some of my “old” friends introduced themselves to some of my “new” friends – and vice versa. Go ahead. Most of them won't bite.

Now tawk amongst yourselves.