[ THANKS FOR LETTiNG ME VENT ] which brings me to my next thought. ive been weighing the options of what to do "privacy-wise" with this site. i could always upgrade and get the password-protect feature. however the problem with that would be having to give the password out to people who i dont mind viewing the entries ... but after that, controlling exactly WHO finds the password becomes a pain. another thing would be to change the URL name ... instead of sillywords.blogspot.com it would be something-else-here.blogspot.com ... and that would be super easier to do. the thing i have with that is the fact that i've had the SiLLYWORDS name since June 2001 and its grown on us ... especially on me ... and i dont think i could see myself letting go. another thing ive been considering is getting our own domain ... finally ... lots of problems with that though:
i want to stay away from doing the whole LJ-friends-only thing ... again, because i dont want to move too far away from Blogger and the whole Blog*Spot network. i like this place. it grows on you.
[ CONTROLLiNG THE PEACE ] i do feel there needs to be more control over who has access to the insecurities, feelings, thoughts, and opinions that we lay out here in writing. the purpose of this page was to bridge a communication gap between a group of friends. it isnt about the number of hits we have or the number of comments we get (although we do like hearing what you think each time you visit!!) that drive us to keep doing this. its like our own email system with letters to each other being published in the form of diary entries to each other. no obligations of sending a reply email ... instead, the feeling of WANTING to comment is established. a lot more convenient ... and a lot more meaningful in a different way. its a place to vent ... to share your day, an experience, an opinion, whatever. we all can write. sometimes they're short entries. most of the time they're long. and i dont understand people who complain about entries being TOO LONG ... personally i think *novels* (as the SUPER-FRiGGiN-COOL people like to call them) are the best. shit, even comment entries turn into novels! i look forward to reading whats next whenever i load up the page. its fun anticipating what someone else has to say about what i've written. i love reading an entry from a friend i havent talked to or seen in months ... years. having grown into a public blog and having more friends and people we know visit the page is also a nice thing. we've all found that busy friends, people we've moved away from, and long-lost ones use this to keep up with us and whats going on. being here never fails to brighten up my day. here i have peace of mind.
[ REMiNiSCiNG ] another even cooler thing about this: entries since the beginning have been archived and saved. our memories are saved ... accurate and descriptive entries are right THERE to look back to. before we had this site, we had a composition notebook that we'd write entries in ... we used to write so much to each other that we actually ended up with a lot of those books. now they're scattered between the different members of the group ... which is totally fine ... but the advantage to this online system is that we all can have instant access to those memories whenever we want them ... and looking back and being able to reminisce with the details and facts right there in front of you, it just makes the memory that much sweeter. i seriously have a memory problem (something my friends can definitely attest to!) so for me, looking back at those entries is a double treat because im brought back to a time that i almost completely forgot. we used to joke about those books and these entries ... it was actually shay's idea ... that one day in the future, we'd have all of this documentation and have a reunion on the OPRAH show! whether or not that happens =Þ i sure am glad we have this.
[ EVERYONE WiNS ] so when i thought about changing this into a private site, i was first thinking about things like how in the beginning of this site's life (haha) we were so excited to put this to use - blogging almost 2 or 3 times a day! we learned fast that having to deal with negative comments, gay ass internet rumors, and the usual "frequent visitor who NEVER leaves a message" became the unwanted side effect. there were even times when we considered abandoning sillywords for good. i mean, who likes haters anyways? after over 2 years, those negative aspects became insignificant ... just something to look past and get over. so now its over. they're gone. we're still here. i thought about people who found this page ... by chance, by fate (haha), by other friends' links, or simply because they wanted to find it, and was kinda lifted to know that our friends like what we write about, are interested in our lives, and look forward to the next entry just as much as i am. even strangers have commented on things like being able to relate and understand ... sometimes offering their advice, opinion, and constructive criticism. it makes me feel like the effort we put into layouts, into adding neat codes, and taking the time to sit here and WRITE is somewhat worth more than just having a place to store memories. maybe YOU are glad we have this too.
you get it now?
have a safe one, kids!
love you and miss you all!
