I'm sorry

Oh dear, I think I’ve done it again, made myself laugh so hard with a joke that no one else was ever going to understand, that I went ahead and wrote it any way.

I couldn’t help it, sometimes I get a little bit of scribed Tourette’s, I think it and immediately have to write it and send it. I’ve sent a lot of embarrassing emails that way. Sometimes my brain screams at me to not press enter, but I just can’t not enter it.

The thing is though, that it just made me laugh so hard, the gag popped into my head and immediately I had to write it.

It was over at KB’s Wanderlust. I am sorry mate – but I’m a victim of an undiagnosed imaginary syndrome (the syndrome probably isn’t imaginary, just my suffering), so it wasn’t really my fault.

No doubt the majority of people reading this will be bloggers and will understand the rest of this post; the rest of you (Jo, Mum & Dad) might as well put the kettle on and go back to Facebook or booking a holiday, because you aren’t going to get this at all.

Commenting and following people’s blogs is a funny old thing. One of the chores that just has to be done in order to spread the word about what you are doing. There is no getting round it, you have to be prepared to read some blogs that have absolutely no relevance to your life and hold no interest for you at all. Some are well written but boring, some are simply awful.

I’m not completely egocentric, so I know that there will be plenty of people who think that about my blog too – this is life.

Having read their blog you then want to leave a comment to show that you have done so, this also can hopefully encourage them to come and read you in return. It’s a simple system.

What I hate though, are people who aren’t prepared to put any effort in, they have a stock comment that they use “Hey nice blog, very interesting I hope you visit mine http://www.cannotbearsed.bloggy.com/”, and you know that they simply haven’t read a word you have written. I did a bit of that too in the early days (come on, be honest), but quickly realised that I had a choice, so I gave it up.

When I check a blog out, I read it, not just the latest post but two or three, so that I can get a feel. This can sometimes be a chore, but sometimes it can be great. One side effect of doing these chores is that occasionally you come across some exceptions, people who you actually do enjoy reading, and who you want to comment on simply to let them know this. If I leave a comment, then it’s because I have seen something interesting, and have something relevant to say. If I cannot come up with something relevant then I won’t leave a comment. If I don’t really see anything relevant or interesting to me then I may leave a comment, but chances are I won’t be going back again. This is fair enough I think, why would anyone read my blog twice if they didn’t like it the first time?

There are a handful of blogs that I genuinely like though, and on these I will go back, time and time again as well as adding them to my reading list for you lot to see (Barbara, I keep forgetting to add yours, but will get round to it eventually). KB’s blog is one of these blogs.

A recent post of hers is a short piece of fiction, where an incapable father struggles to take his son on a trip, letting him down very clearly not for the first time. It’s apparent straight away that you are supposed to side with Timmy and tut the father. Being me, the first thing that came into my head was the reverse, clearly the child was just rude and attention seeking, there had also been a hint of anger from the father towards the mother, so I decided that I could sympathise with him.

I realise that this is not all that funny, but I started to giggle, why is it that sometimes silly things can really make you laugh much harder than its comedic value actually deserves? So I wrote a comment along those lines and was just about to post it when…

I spotted that the person above me had got the boy’s name wrong on their comment. She had said how she really felt she was worried about Tommy. Tommy? Who’s Tommy?

Immediately, without even a blink of an eye, I changed the name of the boy in my post to Jimmy. I couldn’t not – this was hysterical to me, I hit enter knowing full well that no one would get it. I made no effort whatsoever to explain the gag. The fact that no one would get it and that instead they would all think I hadn’t really read the story because not only had I got the kid’s name wrong, but also I’d completely taken the opposing view point to everyone else made me giggle even harder. In my head I assumed that everyone who commented after me would change the name slightly too. Of course they didn’t – they didn’t get the joke. There is a possibility that they got the joke but just didn’t laugh as well I suppose.

I’m not saying the person who called him Tommy hadn’t read the post, in fact I’m sure she had, and is probably a frequent commenter, but her lack of being able to remember a name for twenty seconds made me laugh. It’s like when I email people, and in their reply they call me Glenn, what? I wrote to you and spelled my name for you – four letters! Why did you feel the need to add a 5th?

Any way, I’m sorry KB. Sorry for confusing you by taking the P out of your innocent readers in nonsensical ways with no explanation, and sorry for getting little Johnny’s name wrong.