One giant leap for blogging kind
Some people have jobs that require them to commute from one end of the country to the other – they’re bicoastal.
Some people have an illness that makes their minds jump from one mood extreme to the other – they’re bipolar.
Some people are a combination of these two. Their minds make the daily commute from one world to an entirely different world – they’re biplanetary mental commuters. Also known as bloggers.
Experts have discovered life on both Planet Blog and Real World, but there are significant differences. I hop on and off the interplanetary shuttle all the time and here’s what I’ve noticed:
On Planet Blog I’m a writer. On Real World… not so much.
On Planet Blog people want to know my thoughts. On Real World people also want to know my thoughts, but only if I’m lying on their couch at $250 an hour.
On Planet Blog being Freshly Pressed is a great event worthy of stop-the-presses accolades. On Real World it’s Tuesday.
On Planet Blog I strut around in sky-high, red heels. On Real World I shuffle along in brown Rockports (with Velcro closure and orthopedic inserts.) Oh, my aching bunions!
On Planet Blog the repartee is sparkling, bubbly Dom Perignon. On Real World, the average conversation is flat, warm Schlitz.
On Planet Blog the assertion that holiday-themed Reese’s are better than traditional peanut-butter cups because of the creamy-center-to-chocolate-coating ratio (it’s a scientific fact) is sure to spark a lively debate. On Real World the same utterance causes people to back away from me. Slowly.
On Planet Blog the coins of the realm are good words and pictures, well crafted. On Real World the same currency won’t buy a single McFriendly meal at a fine dining establishment.
Meet you later on the interplanetary shuttle, my fellow travelers. I’ll save you a seat.
What strikes you about your travels between Planet Blog and Real World?
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
On Planet Blog people think I’ve got it all together. Um, they should see my Real World dining room. It’s a mess.
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Jeez, can I relate! Although I don’t think anybody thinks I’m as organized as you, Renee. The number of things you have going on just on your blog, let alone on Real World, makes me exhausted just reading about it.
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OMG – Schlitz, can you even still buy that?. I find it amusing how my mind works (or not – I have a headache this morning, probably too much “Paint” fumes, if you know what I mean.)
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And I love the red Moon Boots. Love ’em.
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I’d like to think we still inhabit a world that has Schlitz in it. “paint” fumes? What is that a metaphor for? Or for what is that a metaphor? Or of what do you speak? Or…huh?
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I spent considerable time using “Paint” yesterday to enhance some photos…you will like, at least here in the Blogging World, where I meet up with my friends and look good in a swimsuit.
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I can’t believe I missed that – you’re a nut! Wish I’d known you were posting my “Envy” entry today – I would have posted a link to your blog today instead of this crap. Ah well, plenty of time to direct people your way when I’m in the finals. A girl can dream.
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On planet blog I can talk like I do in my brain and wasn’t Real World a tv show or something?
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It probably was, unless you’re thinking of Boy Meets World. Or Around The World in 80 Days. Or As The World Turns. Or…
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Oh, beam me up, Scottie
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Sorry – you’ve got to book a seat on the shuttle.
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Wait. You can see the borders of countries from the moon? That is so very cool!! Oh – that must only be on Planet Blog.
You entertain me on Planet Blog, Peg, and I am quite certain you’d entertain me in Real Life, too. Provided you bring the Schlitz. (I charge everyone else $250.)
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If you look real closely the names of the countries are even painted on! Boy, were the planet painters ticked off when the Soviet Union broke up.
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Strikes me is that the people on real world who have never been to Planet Blog, not even looked it up in the brochure, they just assume it’s grey and depressing and not much fun, which is just aswell as Planet Blog has a strict immigration policy and they wouldn’t qualify.
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True dat. We don’t just let anybody in here. Oh wait, no, strike that. We DO let anybody in. But we don’t gotta like em all, right?
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I’m speaking specifically of my friends who think we’re all losers with no lives. 🙂
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This reminds me uncomfortably about my attitude historically about people who are all caught up in online role playing. Is it the same thing? Reassure me, here.
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Crikey! It can’t be can it? We take breaks to use the toilet, wash and prepare food so we’re very different right?
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If this is reassuring, it’s not working. I’m turning into a World of Blogcraft zombie!
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We’ll send in a rescue party…..Bloggers transform/assimilate!
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On Planet Blog there’s a tribe who gleefully indulge in your guilty pleasures and secret desires. In the Real World, those stay safely tucked in the closet between the “Dark Shadows” LP score and the Star Trek paper dolls.
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Ha ha! You’re right. Although my guilty pleasures and secret desires are pretty tame, still, I don’t talk to many people on Real World like I do to y’all on Planet Blog. Wonder why that is?
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I don’t know why we even bother traveling back to Real World. Wouldn’t it be easier just to stay here in Blog World, where red high heels don’t hurt your feet and I’m not allergic to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?
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I think about that sometimes. It reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode where 2 kids whose parents are fighting find the entry to a secret world in the bottom of their swimming pool. They come back to real world only to find the parents are getting a divorce so they swim back to the fantasy world. The parents are frantically trying to find them in the pool, thinking they’ve drowned.
Maybe what looks like a catatonic state, or even deadness to us, is somebody choosing an alternative world?
After I think this I swim smartly back to reality lest it come true.
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I don’t remember that episode, but I’m putting on my snorkle gear.
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Is it wrong to make the snorkle gear our uniform? That’s what scares me.
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There are no fashion snobs here in Blog World. You’re free to wear snorkle gear with your hot red pumps.
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I remember that Twilight Zone episode – big fan of that show.
Just returned from BC. The My Lady was launched today and I had the day off so I went over and helped Bill and Dad. Hot – forgot to put on my shoulder sun screen ’cause it was so windy and dusty at the launch site so now I am burned. Glad I went. Dad so winded he didn’t even captain her to her slip. Sigh…
Still, it’s been probably 20 years since I’ve participated in the launch. Had lunch around 3pm, then sent Bill back home, and headed to M&Ds to plant her flowers. Whew…
Guess I don’t have the same level of bloggy life that you and your blog owner friends have, but got to say, I do spend time reading yours and your best buddies!
Did I also see you have another post for today???? Will be reading.
Enjoy the Memorial Weekend. Should be good and toasty Sun and Mon.
SO GLAD I HAVE Central AC. Talk about making life so much more comfortable!!!
I go on. Nothing witty, just reporting out here. Love ya Sis!
T
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Thanks for the report. I’m so glad you and Bill went to help Dad – you’re a doll. How many weeks left of school for you?
It is going to be hot here – you’re so, so right about the AC. I know we got along just fine without it growing up, but it is a joy to have now. Thank you, Jesus! (and the Carrier folks, too.) Love you more!
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I wish I could spend more time on Planet Blog. I like it better there.
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Me too. That kind of worries me.
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DITTO!
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Reblogged this on Irfanbengo's Blog.
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On Planet Blog we can create a world of our own creation where everything makes sense and there is peace and harmony and no road rage. In the real world I’m stuck with the “leaders” somebody else elected and an upcoming holiday weekend with psycho drivers coming to visit. They manage to create “pedestrian rage.”
I’ll take Planet Blog and I LOVE those ruby space slippers!!
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Time for a little vaca if the best thing about the holiday weekend is the psycho drivers. That’s the price you pay for living in paradise, right?
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Planet Blog. Love it. It’s a place I get to wear my hot pink boa all the time. Real World: mostly at the Pink Poodle Humane Society fundraiser. Notice I said “mostly”. (Yep, you never know when Audacious impulses will crop up and merge the two world together — scary & FUN!) Thanks for the very real smiles!!
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You wear your hot pink boa out in Real World? Audacious indeed – you’re my hero!
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What strikes me is I don’t want to ever leave Planet Blog. Is there a medication for this state of delusion? Also, I’ve been trying for while now to get hubby Jimbo on board with me but he prefers to stay grounded in the incredibly boring-as-hell Real World where you have to work and pay bills and sleep. Who needs that stuff? Psbbbt.
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Maybe Planet Blog is the medication for the state of the Real World.
Psbbbt. Sounds like the sound it makes when you pop open a cold one. Are you ready for the weekend???
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I am more than ready. Just picked up my son from his half day at school, my husband has the next four days off. There is a bottle of white wine chillin’ in the fridge. BBQ tomorrow… Par-tay time! Enjoy your time in the AC, Pegolicious.
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On Planet Blog, I’m smart, witty and insightful. On Real World, I’m just “dad.”
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Me too. Except I’m “mom”. Funny how that works…
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I’m pretty much the same person on both worlds. I realize that’s weird.
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No, it’s great! I wish I was that kind of honest. And to tell the truth, I have trouble making these sort of friends on Real World. I’m sure it’s me, but it’s hard to get to know people more than superficially and know if we want to hang with.
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Boy, that strikes a nerve. I moved 1500 miles from my long-time home and although I’ve been here more than 18 months you can count on one hand (well, maybe one finger) the number of friends I have here – and she is one I met online before I moved down here. I also have trouble making these sort of friends on Real World. It is hard to get to know people – I think harder than it used to be. I used to cultivate friendships from my neighborhood or workplace, because those were the outlets I had. If not for Planet Blog, though, I might have been forced to get out in my new community and find friends (or stay in this cave and drink tequila).
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Or go out into the community and find some friends to invite back to the cave for tequila!
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I find that I don’t want people on Real World to read my blog. Yesterday, I mentioned to my Weight Watcher’s leader that I had posted about some topic we were discussing on my blog. He got really excited, started to grab for a pencil, and asked me the name of my blog. My brain did a quick mental scan (I can do this in both the Blog World and the Real World) of every post I had ever written with the words Weight Watchers in it, and then not quite as skillfully and/or quickly came up with a lame excuse for not telling hime the name, “Oh no, no, no, I don’t want people to read my blog.”
He gave me a very confused look and asked, “Then why do you have a blog?”
For the Blog World, silly!
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I really go back and forth on this. On the one hand it seems odd that Real People have no idea about this part of my life, which has become important. On the other, I’m already careful not to say anything about family – what if I had to edit every other facet of my life?
We’re living a Clark Kent/Superman existence, eh?
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That’s good, Peg. Like the analogy!
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Notice how I make myself Superman as the alter-ego. Or should I say super-ego?
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On Planet Blog, people remark how witty and intelligent and talented I am. In the Real World, my most frequent comment is “All you ever do is stare at that laptop.” No wait. There is a close second. “What’s For Dinner?”
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Ha ha! I have a feeling my employees WANT to make that first comment, followed in no time by “thanks to you staring at that computer and NOT selling insurance, now we’re all out on the street!”
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On Planet Blog, when someone is nasty, or hurtful or assholic, you can hit “edit” or “delete” or “unfollow” or even the dreaded “UNLIKE.”
In the Real World they have all the power.
On Planet Blog, though, we get to make fun of them. And they are too foolish to recognize themselves.
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There isn’t really an “unlike”, is there? Didn’t you do a post about that? Cripes – that would be tough.
Love assholic – not the people mind you, but the term.
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There is, in fact, an “UNLIKE.” When I actually call up a blog, it shows my website name, then a “Following/Unfollow” button I sometimes bump just to make life annoying, a “LIKE” Button and a “Reblog” button. If I have already “LIKED” a post, it gives me the option to “UNLIKE” it.
Somebody once announced on my blog that she was “UNLIKING” my post because she was offended by my joke. “Don’t let the screen door hit you on your way out,” was all I could think, but natch, I was a perfect angel when I responded.
But I’ll never “UNLIKE” you, Peg. I promise!
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have been quietly following and enjoying your blog. So much we are giving you the versatile blogger award! Congrats!
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Why thank you so much! For following, for enjoying, for commenting and for the lovely award. I am far too lazy to jump through any kind of hoops for awards (with the possible exception of the Pulitzer, and we won’t know for sure until they call me), but I really appreciate the shout-out.
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I absolutely loved your post. I have been giving this very subject a lot of thought lately because I am a recent arrival to Blog World. I was completely caught off guard. I did not expect Blog World to pull me into its vortex. Like Worry Wart, I wanted to blog, but then I began suffering real anxiety over the possiblity of someone reading my blog. I lost sleep over this, considered deleting my blog entirely and never showing my face again on Planet Blog- the Blog World equivelant of leaping off a tall building. I decided to spend some time investigating other people’s blogs to see how others go about this thing, and that was when things really got out of hand. This is what I noticed about myself at once. In Real World I rarely speak. In Blog World I have to rein myself in. I leave my musings behind me everywhere I go like a trail of breadcrumbs, almost frantically. In Real World, I’m very quiet. I take up way more space in Blog World.
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“pull me into its vortex” is exactly right. Maybe the attraction is that we DO feel free to let the “real” us shine forth, unrestrained by all the preconceptions everyone has about us on Real World.
Thanks for stopping by!
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My Planet Blog and Planet Real World are similar–I don’t Know what I’m doing in either. There is still time tho. Off to drink a warm Schlitz.
Suzanne
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Go ahead – treat yourself to a cold Schlitz!
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Occasionally the two worlds collide. I always get really dizzy when that happens.
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Ha! Better take some Dramamine along.
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On an unrelated topic, I just got an email notifying me of your latest post, but when I attempted to read it on my phone and then my PC, it seemed to have disappeared. Am I losing my mind, or is you triflin’ wit me?
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WordPress is trifling with ME. That’s just some ditty in progress and when I hit the space bar in edit mode, WP decided to post. Talk about self-publishing! I had to scramble to take it down and now I have to start all over. Grumble, grumble, grumble. Kinda kills the surprise when I finally do get it done.
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Don’t worry bout me, I have the short term memory of a goldfish. In fact, I may have coined the phrase “Oh look! A castle!” I just don’t remember.
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My two worlds are very, very far apart. On Planet Blog I tweak and rewrite to find that just right word or phrase. On “real” all the husband wants to know is “when’s dinner” and why am I on the computer so much. Sometimes it’s very confusing for me when my mind is still with Planet Blog.
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It’s the modern-day equivalent of taking your head out of the clouds. You’re so right – I wish I could edit everything that comes out of my mouth like I do what I type!
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Planet Blog doesn’t seem to have any border crossings so you don’t need a passport or photo ID and you can travel in your pajamas.
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News flash, Margie. People are traveling in their PJs (and worse) every day on Real World. Hell, I just got back from WalMart and they apparently have a dress code that reQUIRES PJs or stripper outfits.
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On Planet Blog (the Planet Blog of my mind) you are Freshly Pressed for this.
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Big smiles, my sister friend! 🙂
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Aw..thank you both! On Planet Blog you and all my worthy, writing friends just pitch their tents on the front page and hang out there forever – you’re all just that good.
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I’ve noticed, Peg, that on planet blog your phasors are always set to witty.
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Hey, that’s a very elegant turn of the phasor there, Al!
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Always on the beam, eh Peg?
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In Real World there’s the “house wine” or recommended champagne and only the conversation at my table, on Planet Blog there’s recommended humor–Peg-o-Leg’s ramblings where the conversation is lively and the shoes outrageous.
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Very elegant compliment Georgette, thank you so much!
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On Planet Blog, I have many, many friends and a social life. On Real World – well, let’s not go there.
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I can’t tell if you’re joking or not. You seem like the sort of person who would have a ton of witty, fascinating friends; every evening another artistic, intellectual gathering around really good wine.
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Planet Blog: You are what and how you communicate
Real World: You “are” the sum of the things people associate with your external assets.
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Wow. This is so succinct, so devastatingly true that I’m not even going to go for a funny response. You hit the nail on the highest for sure (oops.)
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Um, if I knew you in the Real World, I would still wholeheartedly agree about the peanut-butter-to-chocolate ratio of the holiday-themed Reese’s treats. There is no separation of worlds there for me. What I try to deal with (and fail) is the dissonance involved in the fact that, on Planet Blog, the people I like most are those who share my outrage at the misuse of your/you’re… and yet, the WordPress annointers still make lots of those misusers Freshly Pressed. Ipso facto, the WordPress annointers must regularly misuse words.
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While I share your outrage, I am surprised and alarmed by how often I make that mistake and only catch it when I review my writing before submitting, posting, printing. I can’t believe my brain doesn’t pick the right one automatically by now! Stupid brain – always making more work for me.
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Oh, don’t get me wrong – I do it much more now than I ever used to – but as a mistake rather than intent. I’m a snob about it and I’m mortified if I do it – and like The Byronic Man, if I see a typo in my post, I obsessively edit it to fix it. Even if a bunch of people have already read it.
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I do like Planet Blog and Reese’s Eggs! 🙂 This post says it all – I love it. I think Planet Blog is such a comforting and supportive environment. The Real World, not so much sometimes. I don’t share my blog with many folks in the Real World. Sometimes the Real World just doesn’t get the importance of a post about how my child farted during Open House or my philosophy on why no one changes the toilet paper roll in my home!
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I don’t know why everybody wouldn’t understand those things – they’re universal experiences!
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Planet Blog: I am hilarious and witty.
Real world: I can’t even tell left from right.
This was a great post! I’m really not that funny in real life. I need those few extra seconds or minutes to figure out what I want to say, and I edit myself to death (or as I like to think of it, to perfection ;)). It’s interesting though – I can see ‘real life’ opinions of me change once people read my blog (they get to it mostly via my personal Facebook account). They suddenly think I’m a lot more interesting, and it’s empowered me to be more myself in social settings. (The trippiest, most flattering thing is whenever I go to a get-together, someone brings up my blog. It still blows my mind to hear who some of the people are who [say they] read it.) I think my two worlds have meshed a bit – in a good way.
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Nobody outside of family knows about my blog, and I’m ambivalent about that. Maybe they would think I was much more clever than they do now, or…not. “Edit to perfection” – so true.
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On Planet Blog, people listen to what I say. In the Real World, I have children.
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Ha ha! SO, SO true. Our kids can’t believe we have the sense to come in out of the rain and can’t even imagine us being cool or relevant.
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honesty seems to be highly valued here in blogland as does wit and fun … but in the real place too much honesty gets you into trouble, as can wit and fun
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Yes, honesty isn’t necessarily the best policy on Real World, is it? And bosses have a real problem with employees engaging in wit and fun during a meeting.
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I know and so few even know what wit is 🙂
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No matter where I’m at I always kinda feel like I’m on the Moon, Peg.
I’m beginning to think…
I’m beginning to think…
it could be ME?!
🙂
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No way…not you, SIG! You’re one of the most grounded people I’ve met here on Planet Blog. If by grounded we mean out-of-this-world vision.
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In the Real World, only my mom thinks I’m cool, and that’s probably because I pay her. In Blog Land, maybe a half-dozen, unpaid, not-related-to-me folks think I’m sorta cool. Haha, suckers! 😉
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You’ve got me fooled, Dana. Do you have any bridges I might like to buy?
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Planet Blog. A good place to avoid your mother-in-law; train your dog to pick up after himself, , and watch a hunky fireman pour you a tequila. Are you running for president? I’d vote for you.
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I’m still having fantasies about the fireman, Barb. Hubba hubba!
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In Blog Land one can talk to complete strangers and if one is polite and socially ept, as opposed to inept, then they can’t look at you funny because that is what is expected. In Real World if one talks to too many random Real people then one can be labeled a ‘nutter’ and ones husband will beg and implore you to ‘Stop speaking to people and stick to Blog Land’.
In Real World people tut tut at ones Parenting techniques, teaching children about breeds of animals that are domesticated in the pet food aisle of the local Grocer, we took a blanket and bought some snacks and juice in the human food section – it was a fun morning. In Blog Land, people applaud this ingenious way of educating little people who also need something to blog about one day.
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Real World people are just too, too clueless, aren’t they?
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Fantastic post, fantastic thought-waves, fantastic writing, Peg! Although, if you said all this to me in real life, say in the grocery store checkout lane while we’re waiting for a woman to get her soda price-checked, I’d probably slowly back away from you and go to a line behind an old man counting out his pennies on the counter.
I love that Planet Blog Angie appears as an awkward, droopy-eyed child who needs to be loved and taken care of. In contrast, Real World Angie appears as an elegant supermodel who has it all together, who everyone adores and hopes to emulate. Real World Angie is also a tad out of touch with Real World reality.
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How well Real World Angie keeps it real probably depends on which Angie we’re talking about. There’s 1983 Real World Angie, 1987 Real World Angie, 2012 Planet Blog Angie, etc. ..that’s a lot of Angie for anybody to keep track of.
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I love Planet Blog, but I still have small children on Real World who aren’t old enough to take the journey with me yet. So they keep calling me back to Real World. One day maybe I’ll be a permanent resident of Planet Blog. Though I think my husband might miss me…
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Sometimes I worry that my obsession with Planet Blog is merely a substitution mechanism – a way of coping for a lack of sustainable, interpersonal relationships in reality. They I read something funny here and forget all that nonsense!
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Well said. I totally understand what you’re saying as you reflect on your life.
Nonsense! 🙂
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On Planet Blog the repartee is sparkling, bubbly Dom Perignon. On Real World, the average conversation is flat, warm Schlitz.
This is the most akin to the biggest distinction I see! I’ll throw out a conversation-starter, sure it’ll get lots of different and unique responses, to find at most a single raised eyebrow as folks steer the conversation elsewhere. Real World wins in some ways, but I embrace Planet Blog for this!
Oh! I also enjoy how much easier it is to get around Planet Blog. Traveling here is much, much less expensive. Also, you don’t need hair to wear a rockin’ yellow bowtie here. :p
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When I wrote that I thought “Hmm, maybe you need to make some new friends, Peg?”
Hey Deb, I was over commenting on your blog while you were here commenting on mine! It’s like a wacky Three’s Company episode where Jack is borrowing sugar from Mrs. Roper while Mr. Roper is making suggestive comments to Chrissy over at his apartment.
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