mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be cliches
So there I was, walking bleary-eyed down L Street this morning, when I stopped to get some breakfast- a bagel and a Diet Mt. Dew. (Shut up, it’s what I drink instead of coffee.)
I got my bagel without a problem at the shop I frequent for this morning ritual, but when I reached for my liquid refreshment… Denied! Not a single Diet Mt. Dew in the case.
I paid for my bagel and headed for the CVS next door- they usually have what I need. But no love there, either. Crap. It is at this point that my uncaffeinated brain started plotting to explore every shop in a four block radius until I found the electric yellow-green crack I needed. But I was already running late for work, so I headed to the office instead.
Once I had finished my bagel, I felt fortified and resumed by search. Off to SoHo, my back-pocket option. Surely they would have what I craved. But no, thwarted again! The reptilian part of my brain started to panic at the prospect of a Diet Mt. Dew shortage in DC. What would I do?
As a last resort, I headed to the Au Bon Pain I pass every morning on my way to the office from the garage. I knew I’d overpay for my sweet elixir there, but it no longer mattered. And yes, they did have it.
But it was warm. Dammit.
As I trudged back to the office to put my hard-won soda in the freezer, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the Chocolate Chocolate window. I had a realization.
Not only am I apparently a junkie, the reason I was jonesing so hard today for Diet Mountain Dew is that I stayed up late last night to play World of Warcraft.
Oh god, I have become a cliche.
Well at least it wasn’t because of you were playing with your Dungeon Master’s Guide and 12-sided die in the garage (thank you weezer)
OK, so how is this post relevant to DC? If you want to whine about personal problems, don’t you have any friends to do that?
So, if you don’t have anything to do but whine about what I write, aren’t there like 25 other posts on the front page?
And millions of other blogs on the internet?
I enjoy reading this blog, but I have to agree with NP on this. This is a blog about DC, and a post about a quest to fulfil a caffeine fix really has nothing to do with DC. And, furthermore, as a regular Metroblog writer, one would think that one would be able to take a bit of criticism without being snarky.
Before I’m told that this is not a blog about DC, but a blog about people that live and work in DC, I already checked several other cities. Any whiny posts were about things going on in the city – not about personal situations.
That’s my comment and I’m sticking to it.
As another metblogger I always assumed that stories, personal or not, about trials and travails in the city were fair game. They may not always be -uniquely- DC but they are about residing here.
Really, I get if you don’t dig any particular author’s stuff. Not everyone is as tickled by license plates as I am and someone once joked to me that it’s not a Tiff post without a grump about the traffic. But jeez, there’s TWENTY of us now. If something doesn’t blow your skirt up then try something else. Hopefully at least some of us are writing stuff you enjoy….
OK then, I’d settle for stories about all 20 of you, as long as they were interesting reading, and didn’t sound like the stuff I hear all day from the people in the cubicles surrounding mine who just need to vent.
Again, there are multiple authors and multiple posts per day. There are bound to be some posts you really like, and some that you’re just not that excited about. I’m not sure where this idea comes from that every single post has to appeal to every single reader. That’s completely unrealistic in any publication, print or web. They can’t all be winners, folks.
I’m with NP. There are def. some topics or rants that warrant us readers to react to but if you want to go on about a caffeine fix that means nothing in the realm of being in DC, put it on your personal blog. You can’t take offense to a reader criticizing your post, as you have put it out to the public and it is fair game for comment and the fact that you feel that you need to steer readers away, just because you don’t agree with their comment, makes it more apparent that either you grow a thicker skin and deal with it or don’t write about something that will get you this very reaction.
Obviously, we readers have an option and can be more tolerant and just skip your post and not subject ourselves to this snivel.
This isn’t about criticism, it’s about this idea that some people seem to have that readers get to tell bloggers what they can and can’t blog about. Seems pretty contrary to the whole idea of blogging as expression, actually.
I don’t particularly mind that some people didn’t LIKE the post- hell, someone was complaining the other day that the Fictional DC posts didn’t belong here either (wtf?) despite their popular reception with everyone else, so clearly there are always going to be people with nothing better to do than complain when a site isn’t tailored to their personal tastes.
I just can’t figure out where some people get the idea that every article in every publication is supposed to appeal to them personally, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t belong there. A site that’s only about what interests you is called… YOUR blog.
Besides, given the number of people I see staggering in and out of every coffee-serving establishment downtown each weekday morning, it occurs to me that with the possible exception of traffic jams, there’s nothing more universal to the DC morning commute than craving a caffeine fix. (An unsatisfied caffeine craving is only relevant to me? I thought this was DC, not Salt Lake City.)
Give up, Tiff. You’ll manage to train enough pigs to sing for a choral ensemble before you can have a rational argument with someone who responds to the feeling of wasting their time reading a pointless article…. by spending more time engaging in debate about how pointless the article was.
Re: readers get to tell bloggers what they can and can’t blog about, which is not what the reaction is about. If I’m not mistaken, the description of the purpose of Metblogs as written on the myspace.com page is as follows:
“Metblogs are a hyper-local look at what’s going on in your city. Each of the bloggers are hand-picked to give each site a new perspective on daily life. Our motto is less calendar listings, more friendly advice! With Metblogs, you can read (and participate in the discussion) about life and times in your neighborhood, your favorite places to visit, and/or places where you’ve never been.”
What you wrote isn’t even close to meeting this criteria. However, this is just ONE post out of many that you’ve written that is off target. Just saying that the reason you’ve got the readers you have is because they are expecting to read about life and times in your neighborhood, your favorite places to visit, and/or places where you’ve never been. This post belongs on your personal blog.
P.S. I like Don’t take on license plates. I love Max’s contributions about photography. I laugh at Wayan’s request for a new mani-pedi place. I like your story about the ball that was caught at a Nats game. All that is 10x more interesting than the search for Diet Mtn. Dew in the morning.
Maggie, singling out an author that you don’t like isn’t acceptable. Please let this die.
Tom Bridge – City Captain.
What, we can’t single out an author or post we don’t like and go snarky on it/them? Damn, and that what I live for. I know Don lives for my efforts to miss-use loose/lose.
Maggie, laught at me please. I love the attention, and unlike Tiff, will go toe to toe with anyone, even NP, who thinks me too self absorbed.
I know I’m more absorbed with Wayan than anyone here!
Tom – no one is “singling” out anyone. The point I brought up is valid and your poo-poo’ing it by saying that I am attacking your wife’s post is a big cop-out.
I actually said I enjoy about her other posts, re: your friend who got the Nats tix and caught the ball at the game. Might I point out that I was not the original commentator who questioned your wife’s post. I was in fact supporting the others who wrote and did question whether her post was true to the criteria that is outlined on myspace.
Your response to my last comment was taken personally by you and you tried to pull “rank” by noting your position as City Captain – which means nothing to me. To sum up Tiff’s complaint, she thought that when readers express displeasure of her post, that it inhibits her ability to blog as a freedom of her expression. Well, isn’t this hypocratic of you to step in as City Captain to say cease and desist?
Look, I do enjoy reading metblogs and everyone usually provides great color commentary about living in DC, including you and Tiff. Again my point is that I am only echoing those who wrote before me – perhaps I didn’t sugar-coat, or should I say, caffeine-coat it enough. If anything, I feel that you have singled me out to be the “bad guy”.
Is it a crime to express dissension? Am I still in America?
No, it’s not a crime to express dissent, and I’m certainly not limiting your speech, but when you said “However, this is just ONE post out of many that you’ve written that is off target.” That suggests that you believe that more of her posts are off target. if that’s not what you said, then I’m sorry, but it really looks like you’re singling out one of my authors from the rest for criticism, and I think that’s not acceptable for our comments section, and reeks of trolling. if that’s not the case, then I’m sorry.
Perhaps Maggie failed to notice that I’ve been a Metroblogger for a lot longer than I’ve been Tom’s wife? Or that I’ve been a Metroblogger longer than Tom has been City Captain, or that Tom defends the other writers just as vigorously….
And yet has apparently been paying enough attention to the site for the last just-over-two-years to be able to say with authority that most of my posts suck. How ’bout that.
Tom, you read my “However, this is just ONE post out of many that you’ve written that is off target” incorrectly, or perhaps I should have written it differently. I meant that this post about Diet Mtn Dew was an anomaly.
Would it have been better if I rewrote it, “this ONE post is an anomaly out of the many interesting ones that were written”? This was the original intention of that statement. I guess it’s back to Grammar 101 for me!
Where is the proof that I have criticizing one single author? Have you seen my other comments to Tiff’s posts? I really disagree and resent the accusation. However, I will accept your apology and will end this discussion on this note.
That’s all I was looking for Maggie. I don’t like it when people come after my Authors with what seems like singled-out-criticism, whether it’s my wife, or whether it’s Doug or Smoouie or Wayan, I just think it’s not acceptable. That said, I apologize for thinking you were going after one our authors, it seems your criticisms are about this entry and not the author.