On June 1, I hosted my first guest post here on the site. Finally I got to put this idea in the boat and see if it floats. I must admit, things were turning out very different than I'd expected. The idea of an ageless, faceless, gender-neutral, culturally-ambiguous "service" had gone completely out of the window. I blogged and tweeted as a real person, and made some wonderful friends in the process, folks I'd never have met if I hadn't started this little experiment, all of whom add so much to the whole experience. It seemed that this might actually work, and I could do something good for people who really deserve it. Oh, and I was enjoying myself to boot.
Today it's July 1, so I'm listing the guest bloggers and their posts from the previous month that helped convince me that this is something that definitely has value, and I sincerely hope they have gotten something out of this as well. If just one reader of these posts has gone back and subscribed to their main blog; if I've managed to publish a new deserving post that wouldn't have existed otherwise, or even if I've granted these people one more Twitter follower simply because, well, they're worth following, then I've done my job and got a warm fuzzy out of it in the process. More importantly, I've met some fantastic people in the meantime. If July's anything like June, I'll be very happy indeed! - but, hopefully my busy June will give way to a July where I can concentrate more on finding some more wonderful posts.
Anyway, enough of the fluff. Onto the people and posts that really matter; just a brief note of appreciation for each. This will probably be my #followfriday list this week as well, but don't just follow them, make sure you read what they have to say. There's everything from childhood memories to giant robots in there :) Before I start, though, a quick mention to those readers on the 'shadow' blogs (Blogger, Wordpress, Xanga, Tumblr, and LiveJournal) and even those people who've seen the embedded media from the blog posts in the Flickr stream. Thanks for giving these deserving folks even more exposure and readers this month.
- Some say that he's a very funny blogging househusband, obsessed with Twitter. Others say his blogging about a dream featuring Twitter might just be an indicator that maybe he's gone too far. All I know is he's called @goonerjamie - and he's been an avid supporter of this effort. Jamie will readily retweet my blog post announcements and add his comments; after all, the more views they get, the more views his posts get, the more views everybody else gets, and the more visitors Jamie's own brilliant blog gets as well. He also pulled me in on a meme, without which, I couldn't include two of these wonderful writers. That's what it's all about. Thanks, mate.
- I was very fortunate early on to discover a lovely post from a lady in Massachusetts who has quite a story to tell, and knew immediately once I read it that I'd be honored if she'd let me repost it here. @Raenie360 describes herself as an "autodidact in seventh heaven once discovering the Internet" and has an infectious enthusiasm for everything she tries her hand at and details in her writings on her Multiply blog. She's pointed me to a lot of wonderful resources out there as well. You should enjoy discovering them, too.
- @RohanLikhite sent me a post a little while ago that took me completely by surprise - I hadn't interacted with Rohan at all before, so it was nice to receive a submission out of the blue. Rohan has the honor of having the first post here that includes an embedded video and a photo gallery - an example of the smart things the wonderful Posterous platform supports. I'm hoping that there'll be more submissions that follow his example, and more blog posts that include media. Rohan has an advantage, though - he's already been sampling the Posterous Kool-Aid for quite a while - and loves to embed media in his site.
- And then, there's @teambudd1. Honestly, I'm not really sure what I could possibly say about Carri without getting all gushy and stuff - suffice it to say she's become a very special and valued friend of mine over the past several weeks, always makes it to the top of my #followfriday list, and, quite simply, makes my day. I just had to see if I could tag her with the "me, me, meme" and was blessed with a warm, heartfelt introspective which is definitely worth reading and enjoying. All too often, it's easy to forget that we're all real people out in this amazing digital world, and we all appreciate a hug. Hugs to you, hon.
- A special mention - @katjaib isn't a guest here, but she took me up on the invitation to play the tag game, created her own Posterous, published her own answers, and passed the tag game along. What's more, above and beyond the call of duty, she even went ahead and recommended me as a way for her tag 'victims' to respond. Kat's positive attitude and smiles about life, plus the information and value she brings to Twitter, are well worth a follow, and getting her support for what I'm doing here was a much appreciated bolt from the blue. Make sure you check her own blog as well, particularly her own spin on #followfriday.
Thank you all. And, of course, I'm always looking for more submissions - it's an open invitation to all.
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