The Space

Remember Mario Vasquez? That dude who left American Idol because he was about to break into pop stardom on his own?

So over a year after he quit AI-4, he's finally releasing a cd. And as much as I want to not like it, you know with the betrayal and all (Joe and I worked really hard to keep him in that final...), it's pretty good. You can check it out on his myspace profile.

Ah, myspace. I joined for the sole reason of being friends with Pete Yorn, but of course my other friends found my profile, and I'm obligated to be friends with them, you know, because they're people that I actually know, not people who have cd's to which I listen over and over ad nauseum. But somewhere along the way, myspace became a big popularity contest. Who has the most friends, who gets the most pageviews, who gets the most comments on their blog, etc.

Remember way back when blogging was a national phenomenon? How it was sweeping the nation and was on the cover of Newsweek and Time and whatnot? I'll admit that I was in the middle of all that, because I thought I was cool for blogging before it was a big deal. I even went so far as to compete in Blogwhore (a survivor-esque online game that is gone, so I can't even link to it, but check out the banners and the archives to see the aftermath), and although I met some really great people that I still talk to, forcing myself to write by a certain hour so that I'd post before the challenges were over marked the end of my devotion to all things blog.

We're approaching 1000 posts here (not counting the Waffle House diary of 2000) and I have to say I'm happier with the state of my site than I've been in a long time. I often think of funny things that I'd like to write about, but sometimes it doesn't happen. I pretty much write when I feel like it.

I'm not writing for my friends, I'm writing for myself. I removed the site counter years ago, (because who really cares how many people read your blog?) and although I like the comments, I don't need them to validate myself.

You know why? Because a blog is not a substitute for interacting with someone in real life. The ex used to have a blog, but quit when she realized that she wasn't talking to her friends as much, because she just assumed they were reading her blog and knew everything that was going on with her. She's a wise one, that ex.

Have issues. Write about them, if you want. Lord knows I write plenty about my hatred of flip flops. But please remember that writing about your issues doesn't make them go away. You've just put them on the internet for everyone else to see, and that's not going to make it any better. In fact, it might make it worse. If you're only letting people see one part of your personality, they're not getting a very good sense of you as a person, or as a friend.

So Mario, don't forget all of the people that voted for you way back when. If you hadn't been on Idol, you would probably never have gotten that audition with Clive Davis. I'll still buy your cd, but there will always be a little part of me that is mad at you.