I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

What’s in a blog?
That which, by any other word, would be as inconsequential?

It’s amusing to read everyone else’s blog. I used to feel a little bad about it, it’s kind of like snooping. But suddenly everyone had an opinion, and an undying lust to be heard (and in my case, with comments turned off, uncontradicted). And it’s funny to see these people put themselves out there.

Then there are the blogs which are glorified diaries on the internet. Those are funner to read, but I can’t help but feel guilty about having the details about someone else’s I otherwise wouldn’t have bothered to elicit or pay attention to. In those cases it’s more fun to read about someone you don’t know. That way you don’t have to really pretend to know/not. There really is less baggage to deal with, especially if you’re a snoop like me.

I surfed on by a bunch of blogs today, just idling reading whatever that was there. A selection of local blogs, some from tomorrow.sg, a few I found on friend of friends’ profiles, a few phlogs I used to visit, and am hereby distilling my findings:

Why Blogger is the de-facto blog product out there in the face of more functional products.

• Probably not because it was the first mover (was it?) but it was certainly around the area
• It’s a neater name than “livejournal”
• It had cooler templates
• It’s dumbed-down and mostly idiot-proof
• It’s free, wasn’t a beta, and it didn’t have a silly invitation-only attitude

Which proves once again, you don’t have to be the best to garner mass appeal. The winning formula is distribution.

Why blogs are so popular in Singapore

• The community serves to cater to the love and belonging need
• Being featured or read serves to assuage the esteem need
• In a culture so steeped in restrictions and rules, running wild on the internet is cool
• Blogger dumbed everything down enough for blogs to be a convenient outlet
• The media thinks they stumbled on the best thing since sliced bread
• Governmental agencies think the media is right
• Local TV is crap, and the news is too depressing

Yet there are distinct types of blogs:

1. Gen-Y blogs: where these young ‘uns talk about life, school, their hopes, their dreams, their friends, their loves, their hates, their this, their that. It’s like reading Growing Up in sTrAngE wriTinG StYLe aNd LoTz oF PiNc aND fLaSHinG ThINgEyS aNd aLSO pRetTy pHOtoS or the slightly more angst-y versions feature lots of hokkien, swear words, and hokkien swear words. Occasionally you get a few who are Gen-X blog wannabes, they voice strong opinions, make a few edgey statements and throw in a few swear words, as if hoping for the cathartic experience that will define their lives. Large 4 syllable words and fancy sentence structure populate these blogs full of sound and fury.
2. Gen-X blogs: where these in-between ‘uns talk about life, grad/postgrad/work, their hopes, their dreams, their friends, their hates, their ideas, their opinions, their take on how things should be done. It’s a bunch of financially independant, technically competitive, highly strung people who blog about coping with life and trying to make a stand. The format of some of these blogs tend to be lighter, airier, more non-sequiturish. TV and movie references pepper these blogs in a campy kind of way. You get the distinct feel that nothings happening, and no one’s getting anywhere.
3. Gen-W blogs: where these old ‘uns talk about life, work, their kids, their lottery purchases, their co-workers, their spouses, their bosses, their cars, their mortgages… They tend to be less fervent, more serious, less dramatic, more cautious; but there usually is a point at the end they’re trying to make or a moral of the story. Sometimes they throw you a lesson or two in finance, motivation, management and the like. There are far fewer of these.
4. Phlogs: I like these. Just fly on the wall observation of life.
5. Functional blogs: for products, services, people with products and services. B-O-R-I-N-G.

And at the end of this all I can think of is why Google bought Blogger and did nothing useful with it.

Ear we go
While meditating on the incessant ring in my infected right ear, I thought of a great way to clean out ears. Of course, it sounded a heap better in my head – kind of like some of the things I write in birthday/christmas/thankyou cards that end awkwardly – and now as I attempt to put it down I’m cringing.

But anyway – if you ever had to make a cast of your teeth at the dentist, you’ll probably remember this paste they slabbed onto a tray and shoved into your mouth. Your dentist would hold it there for a minute or two until the paste dried into this latexy resin that’s a perfect mold of your teeth.

So imagine a similar paste, except it sticks onto wax. You mix it, drip it into your ear until your entire ear canal is full and you wait in an uncomfortable position with your head cocked to a side for a minute or two, and then when the resin hardens you slowly manoeuvre it out, with the wax steadfastly absorbed into the resin.

The paste they use at the dentist is peppermint flavoured, so if they can flavour or scent the ear resin, that’d be great too. It’d be nice to know my ears smell good. Even on the inside.

Yeah, I know I’m just full of these great ideas.