So thanks to Kate Harding and Jezebel, I have just yesterday, discovered Dooce.  Where have I been since 2001 you ask?  Honestly, I have no idea.  I thought I was here, you know, hanging out, but it turns out I must have been in outer Mongolia, or the Congo, or maybe just living in my backyard with no internet connection, because this woman has been a major blog presence for EIGHT YEARS and has written TWO books* and was on the Forbes Most Influential Women In Media (#26 represent!) list and I’m just TODAY learning about this.

Frustrating.  Regardless, I’m on board now and I’m SUPER on board.  I’m going to have to slowly work my way through eight years of posts, but honestly…every single one I’ve read so far has made me laugh out loud.  Ms. Armstrong has a fantastic, honest voice that has the huge benefit of being constantly hilarious.  I think (so far) my favorite thing about her is how “normal” and like me she sounds even though she has kids.  If gives me hope that if I ever have children that I’ll be better able to hold onto that “me” that I like (the parts I don’t like…happy to be rid of).

But I think the biggest lesson I can learn from Dooce, is that people hate people that I think are AMAZING AND TALENTED BEYOND BELIEF.  And I don’t understand why they do that.  But maybe it will make it easier to bear when they start hating me.  I seriously doubt I’ll ever be as famous or prolific as Ms. Armstrong, but as my blog has become (slightly) more popular and I’ve had to seriously consider the idea of my book actually OMG getting published and bringing attention to myself…it’s been hard for me to imagine people actively hating me…even though they don’t know me.  I don’t like how that feels (who does?) but it seems like I have have a little more trouble dealing with it than other people (case in point Adam – “who cares what other people think – they’re morons and they usually can’t spell”).  Anyway, I’ve gotten a little tiny taste of the vitriol this summer when my blog got some serious page views and I really didn’t like it – but learning that people actively hate Ms. Armstrong somehow makes it easier to understand that some people are always just going to be crazy nutbags.  And that I can ignore and laugh at those people…hopefully all the way to the bank like Ms. Armstrong.

I’ll also confess that we have the “Utah connection” and though it sounds like we had totally different experiences (in a nutshell she was raised Mormon and I was not) I totally feel like we would bond over that.  Um, that sounds all stalker-y, but I mean it in the most normal non-stalker-y way possible (seriously though, CALL ME).  Anyway, this was just a post to acknowledge how far behind the curve I am, and to formally rectify said situation.

Done and done.

*Okay, she only wrote one and edited one, but STILL.