(This post contains gratuitous repetitions of the phrase “FatAss.” Please don’t get your knickers in a twist about it. It's someone's bloghandle.)
169.6
SOOOOOOOO CLOSE. But no cigar.
So I can’t celebrate all party style like I wanted to today.
But this blog isn’t just about celebrating weight loss success. We can also celebrate the fact that I’m getting less neurotic. And that’s almost as good as losing weight.
I’ve been learning to use the twitter. But there are some things I just couldn’t grasp. They use completely different lingo than facebook does. (Not to mention the 140 character limit. I don’t appreciate limits on my commentary.) I would read about HOW to do things, but I’m one of those people that learns by hearing and doing. (ie: I can’t read music, but play by ear.) And because of this, I was totally loose. (EDIT: I was LOST. Not loose. But that's pretty funny!)
Enter my buddy, Mrs. FatAss. She offered to schedule a call and walk me through the basics. (Bless her for offering.)
I first came into contact with Mrs. FatAss because we are going to be at FitBloggin together. We are both on the speaking roster, but I’m just a lowly panel member. She’s going to be in charge of ME. (poor girl, she has no idea what she’s in for…) Nevertheless, I have been trying to reach out of my comfort zone and network with some of the folks I’ll be meeting. And there’s a whole lot of them.
But Mrs. FatAss is one of my particular favorites. She’s REAL, and if you read her blog at all, you know what I mean. There’s no pretending. And she’s FUNNY AS HECK.
Still, there is this part inside of me that freaked out about the call. Mostly because I have learned just because you are friends on line with someone, doesn’t mean when you are face to face (or phone to phone) that you will have things to discuss. Sometimes, phone calls can just be awkward. Especially when I’m on the other end.
When it comes to meeting new people, I’M A HOT MESS.
But I didn’t have to worry about talking to Mrs. FatAss. She not only made me feel right at home, but a little less crazy. And that, my friends, is a miracle in itself.
There are times that we need to reach out to people with the same struggles we have ourselves. Specifically, Mrs. FatAss understands my plight to lose weight, and deal with the underbelly of dieting via a public blog.
It’s not like you are “just” trying to lose weight. By dieting on a blog, you open yourself up to criticism, opinionated and (sometimes) uninformed comments, and a whole lot of ideas that make no sense. (Obviously none of YOU READING THIS POST are the ones I’m talking about!) But when you reach out to a person, you never know what you are going to get. You have to tread the waters with strangers carefully. So I have a tendency to avoid all contact with new folks. I stick with who I already know.
Then today, someone reached out to me and I reached back. And I’m better off for knowing her. She reminded me that we are all an important voice. We can make a difference. Mostly, that laughing TOGETHER is way better than laughing alone.
(And my twitter skills have improved significantly… Mrs. FatAss is the Twitter Ninja. Which makes her a Twinja. And I am her Ralph Macchio.)
So today, I want us to celebrate reaching out. Getting to know each other!
And I’m gonna do that with a free blog makeover- courtesy of April Showers Blog Design- who is FREAKING AWESOME AT WHAT SHE DOES. She did my blog. (And it's way better than how it looked when I did it. She made me look cool.)
Here's how you can win:
Write a post on your blog that tells us all about you. Who you are, why you blog, what your blog’s main message is, and why your blog needs a makeover. Leave me a link on here and I will come visit you! Then we will pick the top 3 that need a makeover and WE WILL VOTE! Blogs have to be linked up by Sunday night (Jan 9th) at 11:59 pm CST so we can look around this week and pick our top 3. And we all will vote on Friday, Jan 14th.
(linky program will be up shortly at the bottom of this post)
Because Blogging is about community. It’s about branching out. Reaching. Friending. Sharing.
Just like Mrs. FatAss did with me today.
And I want to share that gift.
So get to blogging and let us know who you are!
19 comments:
You are too precious. Seriously! I have really missed reading your blog posts. Missed me some, Charlie.
I'm on my phone right now, so I'll be back tomorrow sometime with a link and all the boring stuff about me.
I don't need a blog make-over, but I wanted to say how thankful I am that we are buddies. God put us in the waiting area at She Speaks pub app'ts for a reason, I do believe! I talk to whoever is handy, so it was no miracle that I talked to you, but now that I know you have a hard time getting to know new people, I am convinced God did a work to make us friends! Thank you, Lord!
I totally didn't jump on the whole twitter bandwagon until recently. I am not sure I use it properly yet, but their are always people there waiting to correct you :)
Awwww. Shucks. You know, you forgot to add the part where YOU made ME feel less crazy. Because I am totally crazy, and you really put me at ease. Thank you, friend.
And so cool encouraging others to reach out! (just not to me. Unless it's in writing. Dear Lord, do not call me. Lol)
I know the rules. Make no eye contact. ;) You have no idea how much I adore you Sue! lol
Whether or not I win or lose, I just wanted to say how much I really enjoy reading your blog and that I'm very thankful for having stumbled on to it!
Sisters In (Flabby) Arms,
Colleen
Char-leeeeeee!!! 169.6 ROCKS!!!!
Love you love you love you to pieces, and I still wish we could be neighbors. Seriously.
I did it!
Thank you girls for this opportunity!
I linked in :)
Also, are you calling it "the" Twitter to be funny?!? Because it's cracking me up. I have a fb friend who always puts "the" before things and it drives me crazy...but yours is making me laugh :)
Isn't Twitter fantastic? When I joined in 2008 I just wanted to find cool people in my city who were into the same things as me, so we could maybe, you know, hang out. But now that I've started blogging and opened my second twitter account (the one you know me as) I'm looking at it differently. And on the topic of Twitter vs. real-life (or phone), I think a lot of us on the Twitter like it because we write better than we speak. I communicate so much better when I have a chance to think about what I want to say and type it out, but get me in person and I'm a big, awkward mess of nerves!
OK I entered the contest and here's the link to my entry on my blog:
http://fat-angry-blog.blogspot.com/2011/01/entering-contest.html
i still suck at Twitter. My blog is brand new so I could sure use some help with it.
(http://memoirsofacheeseburger.wordpress.com/)
You are such a sweetie sista! Thanks for the opportunity to enter such a fun contest! You are a blessing! I've linked up!
thanks for the interesting information
Hi Charlie!
I am the wife of the Fotographing Fat Kid (I notice you on his blog sometimes:)) I was curious if you have any advice for plateaus... Nathan rarely has an issue with them but I have been stuck on one for a month! I'm starting to get very frustrated! Thanks!
I actually just started a blog(other than my livejournal.com account)
:)
I'm on a journey, like yours..and hit 61lbs lost this morning! :)
What happened to the links?
Reaching out to people is often very hard for me to do b/c of the fear of rejection. I'm glad you wrote this b/c it puts me more at ease about meeting my roomates at fitbloggin'. ;-)
Great...I didn't know I needed "twitter skills". That's depressing. Does the "i need to learn' list ever end. I might as well go ahead and start saving for the therapy I'm going to need as a "twitter #failure". :-D
I'm only just learning all things twitter and facebook that I can use for blogging. I thought I was pretty tech-savvy...turns out I have sooo much more to learn!
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