Are good bloggers still around?  Who do you like to read and is Xanga still a good place to find interesting, creative and intelligent writing?  Every so often, I read that blogging is on the wane.  What was once very popular turned out to be a fad for most people.  Maybe those that looked to Xanga as a social network site has gone to Facebook.  I’m sure there are many that have both but are spending more time at Facebook.  Others who consider themselves serious bloggers probably moved on to WordPress.   I’ve looked around there a bit.  The themes there seem to be more polished and professional looking. 

How does Xanga fit in to this world?  I wonder if it’ll start to concentrate on only 1 demographic or will it try to be a bit of everything?  And if I move to WordPress, will you folks still follow me?  That’s probably one of the best things I’ve found here – the readers and the feeling of community.  I’m just not sure I’ll find it anywhere else.

I still like Xanga.  I would hate to start over again at another site. I sometimes wonder what the average Xangan can do to drive more traffic to this site.  What can we do to help Xanga thrive?

Ah... so many questions circling my head tonight. 

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Xanga’s text editor is getting to be a pain.  I always write my entries on a Word document first before transferring it to Xanga.  But it always messes up the fonts, the spacings and leaves a bunch of funny characters at the top.  Whenever I load my pictures, the text never seems to align itself properly. 

I always have to go back and re-edit everything in Xanga’s editor.  In my last entry, you’ll note that there’s 2 blank lines between the paragraphs.  But when I edit my entry, it only shows 1 blank line.  It’s so frustrating. 

Has anyone else had success transferring their entries to Xanga from Word?  Is it because I'm using Firefox?  I'm leaving those characters up this time (as a protest).  Grrr....

It’s been over a year since I’ve restarted my Xanga.  This one seems to feel a bit different.  But I think it’s just me.  For the most part, the folks who subscribed to me before are still here (thank you).  I subscribe to about 130 blogs in Xanga although about 30 to 40 of them are now inactive.  I’ve started to prune a couple of them.  But I keep thinking and perhaps hoping that they’ll start again.   Maybe that’s just part of blogging.  The online friends and community keeps changing and evolving.  

It’s interesting that over time, you get a good impression of the person behind the blog.  How much of that is accurate, I’m not really sure.   But I find it very interesting how we are able to develop a level of friendship and trust with each other even though (for most of us) our interactions are mostly through Xanga.  

If someone was really sneaky, they could create an online persona that is very different than their real one.  I mean, I could be some weird stalker.  And all those pictures of food – maybe they aren’t mine.  And I probably hate babies too. 

Ok, I’m just kidding.  I do miss some of the folks that have dropped off.  I’ll always wonder what happened to them.  Sometimes it seems a bit ruthless that these connections can be cut off so quickly. 

This may sound a bit odd. 
But I still get a bit apprehensive and nervous when I subscribe to someone.
  I
always ask myself, what if they don’t like me? 
But of course, that's silly.  No one knows who I am. 
All they see is this picture of a sailboat (or a wonton in my old
pic).  There’s minimal information in my
profile.  When I first started, I only
subscribed to blogs in my blogring (Asian GLBT).  Everyone was brand new to me at that time.  If I liked what I read, then I would quietly subscribe to them. 

Gradually I started to read blogs from other people who weren't in the same blogring.  I think Jonas was the first straight
guy I subscribed to.  He was also the
first Xanga celebrity I subscribed to.  I
figured with all those comments he gets, he won’t notice me.  I wondered though if he ever felt
uncomfortable that a gay guy would subscribe to his blog.  But I was pretty sure I wasn't the first gay to subscribe to his blog. He’s always been very polite, pleasant, humorous, good natured and never made it an issue.  Eventually he subscribed to my blog (wow...I thought).  We’ve been exchanging comments back and forth
since then.   About the only bad thing I can say about Jonas
is that he’ll never turn down a cupcake.  
Sorry Jonas… I hope I didn’t embarrass you. 

There were many others who offered encouragement, a kind word, suggestions and feedback.  One of those that stood out was Kelvin.  If it wasn't for him, I probably would have just plodded along.  I hope I see him back in blog land soon. 

In fact, no one in Xanga has made my
race or sexual orientation an issue.  I’ve
only had one hate comment from some angry person ages ago but that was it.  I wonder if I’ve been simply fortunate or if
everyone pretty well has had a pretty good experience so far.  Maybe Xanga is doing something right? How's your experience in Xanga so far?

Now for some pics…

This pear tree isn't from some farm.  It's from my bf's backyard.  I don't know what they feed that tree but it was just overflowing with pears.

I think this is commonly referred to as fuzzy melon.  They've got three growing in their backyard. It remindedme of my mom's garden.  This was one of her favorite vegetables to grow.

The clouds looked a bit scary on Sunday afternoon.

French toast with maple syrup from the farmer's market.  Mmmm.... of course, it cooled off by the time I finished taking the pictures.

I've been trying to make this dish.  It's minced pork with salted duck egg.  I can't seem to get the texture of the pork right.  It's still "rough".  But the flavor is starting to get close to how my mom made it. 

I sometimes wonder how you choose your Xanga name.  Some are pretty obvious “John” is well,
John.  By the way, did you know he
subscribes to 800 Xanga blogs?  I
subscribe to a bit over a hundred although some are dormant.  ZSA_MD – when I first saw that name, I
wondered if she was a doctor.  Well – she
is!  I wonder if her children ever told
her “I don’t feel well – I can’t go to school.” 
Brent has AppsScraps – hmm… I wonder if somewhere in there is his
name.  Sheldon’s Brooklyn2028 – I wonder
if that was from some movie.  Rob’s
Fatcat723 – from what I remember is from a jazz singer.  I like Mike’s Love_Eternal_Desire – pretty simple
& straightforward message. 

When Albert becomes a successful lawyer and a published
author – I wonder if he will still use spacerboi?  JonasApproved – well, it’s got his stamp
of approval so it must be good.  Zozoyork
– now there’s an interesting one and a bit mysterious.  Blizzardi – I have this image of a rum based cocktail.  CareyGLY – apparently it’ll take ages to
explain what GLY means.  It can’t be his
initials – perhaps it’s from a place or something to do with his gang of
friends. 

 Bennykan – I think his is the only Xanga that I know of with
his real name.  Bleuzeus – a blue Greek
god?  *scratches head*.   Gary’s
curry69curry – either he likes curry while doing ahem… no, that can’t be
it.  Maybe Gary in Cantonese sounds like curry
(ga-lay?)  But what could that naughty 69
be?  Christao408 – the Chris is obvious,
but I wonder if he is Taoist?  And
408?  *shrugs*.  Criticaldamage15 – here’s a mouthful and I
think it’s from some game.  Ambrose’s
abcyeung – perhaps the ABC are his initials? 
Kevin has a slightly naughty one – Devilzgaysainboi.  Perhaps he’ll change it now that he’s
older.  Dolphin27 – perhaps Patrick was
27 and thinking of a dolphin when he thought of this name.  Jason’s gyjcwang – could the other letters be
part of his name?  Benson’s imagination
probably was responsible for mmmgination. 
Lcfu – it’s fufu’s name!  Kunhuo42
– I think this was Aaron’s Chinese name but I don’t remember what the 42
is.  That’s probably how many degrees he’s
going to get.  Stevew918 – I’m sure the
918 is how many flights he takes in a year.

Trendyhedonism – now that’s a catchy name.  ZenPaper – the name always intrigued me but I wished he updated more often.  Vsan79 – I
think Vsan is a play on his name and 79 is for 1979.  Franco’s Tomatoboi – well he simply explains
that his name in Cantonese sounds like tomato.  GracePrince - an elegant name.  And who knows how whonose came up with his name.  I can see Tim in Apocatim but what does the rest mean?  Twistedoff - hmm... I wonder what got twisted off? 
 

As for me, ElusiveWords was simply me trying to describe one of my many writer’s block. And the former Onetonman – was simply a play on wonton mein, one of my favorite meals. 

 Ok – enough silliness for tonight.  I know I miss quite a few names and there wasn't any slight intended.  So how did you come about your Xanga name? 

Xanga:  Hi Matt, how’s
it going?

Matt:  Hi,  I’m doing fine thanks.

Xanga: I’ve been meaning to check in with you since you’ve
returned.  But I’ve been busy making a
lot of changes on my site.  How do you
like them so far?

Matt:  So far so
good.  I really like the Universal Inbox
and the ability to preview my subscriptions. 
Did that improve your server performance too? 

Xanga:  You’re asking
a technical question?  HAHAHAHA…

Matt:  Grr… I happen
to understand some of these basic concepts.

Xanga:  Of course, I
forgot.  But didn’t you tell me once that
although you work in I.T., the only thing you know about I.T.  is what I.T. stood for?  Ok ok just kidding… I don’t worry about system
performance and stuff like that.  I have
a team of techies that monitor server performance and stuff like that.

Matt:  The only pet
peeve I have with you is the layout of the themes.  I don’t
like how narrow the layout are in most of the themes.  It also makes picture placement a bit tricky
and awkward.

Xanga:  I see… maybe
some of the designers will change them.  So have
you linked back up with all your old subscribers? 

Matt:  Not really, I
think I have reconnected with most of them but not all.  But I’ve also found a lot of new Xangas that I
enjoy reading.   

Xanga:  That’s good.  Who’s your favorite nowadays?   

Matt:  Well, that’s
like asking who your favorite child is.  
Everyone is different and I like the different styles and perspectives.  There are a lot of good writers out
here.  I hope you’ll feature more of them
so that others can find out about them. 
Sometimes it’s more than the number of comments that matter. 

Xanga:  You’re right
(ed. note:  Matt’s always right).  Is it my imagination or are you writing less?

Matt:  I write when I feel
like it and post when it’s ready to post. 
But I must admit that the long hours at work continue to take a
toll. 

Xanga:  tsk tsk…. that’s
no fun.   You really need to focus on
what’s important in life.  You still
enjoy writing?

Matt:  Yes yes… I
know, I should focus on that.  I still
enjoy writing.  I also enjoy the sense of
community here although I know the bonds can be somewhat tenuous.  You know, I’ve always wondered how much you
can find out about someone just by reading their blogs. 

Xanga:  I just provide
a forum for everyone.  I don’t judge them
or vouch for their honesty or their character. 
I leave that to you – that’s part of the fun of reading and writing
blogs I suppose.

Matt:  Yeah I would agree.

Xanga:  So I see your
bf now reads your blog.

Matt:  Yep, it’s a
nice change compared to before.  I feel good about it.

Xanga:  Awww… that’s
good to hear.  Hey, it’s getting late,
you better wash up and get some sleep.

Matt:  Yeah, see you
later.

Xanga:  Bye Mattie

Matt:  The name's Matt. 

Xanga:  tsk tsk... so grumpy.

Food porn:

This is a simple beef stir fry with carrots and broccoli.   I had marinated the beef before.  The veggies were all washed the night before.  So all I had to do when I got home was to simply cut the veggies and fry everything up with a bit of oyster sauce.  It looked better than it tasted though.  I think I should have added an onion to counter the saltiness of the oyster sauce. 

This is one stubborn bug. 
It’s clinging on to my throat and sinus cavity.  My dad is also sick with a bad cold and my
sister is recovering from a cold too.  I’ve
finished my antibiotics but am still taking cold medication plus some Chinese herbal
tea.  I’m feeling better.  My bf and I have tickets to the symphony this
weekend so I’m hoping this bug will be gone  by then. 
I think part of the problem is that I don’t get enough exercise as
well.  I don’t think twice about working
late and taking work home.  I really need
to fix this part of my life.  It’s been a
struggle for the past few years now. 

I read John’s entry the other day about Xanga.  John actually works for Xanga so it's interesting to read a bit about what goes on behind the scenes.   Of
course, as luck would have it, I can’t find his entry anymore.  But he started to write about Xanga and how
different it is from other sites such as LiveJournal and WordPress.  I checked out those sites before coming back
to Xanga.  Part of the reason is that I
was simply too lazy to learn new things.  But I
really enjoyed Xanga because of this sense of virtual community.

I’ve come to enjoy the “regulars” who drop by
since I’ve started my Xanga and the new subscribers who I’ve come to know.  What I also like about Xanga is the “cross
pollination” that goes on.  I come upon
new sites that I subscribe to by simply reading their comments on blogs that I
subscribe to.  That’s how I came across Zsa_md and Christao408.   I’m sure most of you do the same thing
too.  What’s also interesting is the
sense of community isn’t necessarily generated exclusively from the blogrings
that I belong to.

I used to belong to a blogring for Asians something or another.  With the exception of a couple of visits, no
one from that blogring visited my site for a couple of months. 
Part of it was partly my fault too. 
I wasn’t exactly very active on their sites.  But it felt like I was in this big city and
no one really cared.  I was just another
drop in the ocean.   

I subscribe to about 60 sites now compared to about a hundred a year ago.  Some people have dropped off and some I lost
tracked off during my hiatus from Xanga.   I’m sure a
few of them don’t write anymore.   I
sometimes wonder what happened to those that have dropped off.  People like Len_q, Hijack88, Toroboy, Jcfans,
etc…  They were around when I started my
Xanga and then their entries sort of just stopped.  I hope they are doing fine.   There were always a few regulars back then that encourage newbies such as myself with tips, comments and kind words.  One of those was Kelvin who some of you may remember.  He's my role model for writing and blogging.  He simply was a craftsman and I enjoyed visiting his site.  He took a lot of care with his entries and would constantly edit it to make sure it came out right. 

So how strong do you feel this sense of community is?  What do you think differentiates Xanga from
other sites?