Before going to BlogHer, there was a lot of e-mailing, a lot of discussion and fretting over whether or not it’d be like high school. Seems in previous years a lot of people felt left out and were very unhappy about their experiences and frankly there were those of us that were worried about our own. So was it? Yes, absolutely. I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing, however. At least not the aspect of it I’m about to discuss.
The actual conference itself reminded me so much of freshman orientation. You have your map in hand with a schedule on it. You are pumping with adrenaline and nerves. There are people EVERYWHERE and you have no idea where you are going. You are scared that you are going to be sitting alone in the “lunch room”. Walking into a room of 1,000 people in it, is DAUNTING. You sit through some presentations and sometimes you hope that those people end up being your teachers because they are just so damn funny, personable, seemingly awesome, etc. You hopefully come out of it meeting new people, having a great time and being EXCITED about the next year.
I think that is why I didn’t pull out my camera near as much as I expected. I felt so much like I was back in orientation and I was just observing the goings on. I wanted to pay attention so that I didn’t miss anything. I don’t know that I actually allowed myself to actually feel overwhelmed but I sure as shit felt out of my element. Again, I don’t know that it is a bad thing. I just liken it to being a freshmen, the first year is always that. I know that if I go next year it will feel like old hat for me and I’ll probably be annoying the shit out of people with my camera.
Of course there are bad aspects of high school and of course they were there, but I don’t think that is a reason for anyone not to go. I think you really have to have a good understanding of what you expect to get out of being there before going to something like this and you’ll be fine. Maybe also think about who you were in high school, think about whether or not the core of who you were then has changed that much. Where you sensitive then? Are you still sensitive now? Where you clueless then? Are you clueless now? (those are two of mine btw) (clueless because I STILL DON’T KNOW THE BIG BLOGGERS-oooh shock and awe.) (I didn’t feel near as left out as some because it’s hard to feel left out when you don’t even KNOW it’s going on in the first damn place. Ha!) In high school, I had an apartment and a full time job; I didn’t have time to worry about parties and popularity. At BlogHer, I was enjoying real connections with some fabulous people.
I never was on the hunt for “big bloggers”: I still don’t know who most of them are, don’t read them and couldn’t recognize them if I tried but I was very pleased by the couple that I consider big, that I did meet. There are a lot of lovely inspiring women in this world and how fantastic to have a hobby that puts them all in one place for me.
I’m still in my freshman year of blogging and I think that this experience is going to change the course of how I blog a little bit. I hope to be a better writer. I hope to, at the very least, put a little more thought into what comes out in this little window. Maybe it will prevent the “I don’t have anything to write about” wailing, that I hate to do. Here’s hoping, at least.
I haven’t started my upload yet but here is one of my fave pics from the trip. This one is Kristie’s version. I also took one and so did Katie. These are my roommates on the beach @ the Pacific Ocean.
More updates thoughts and pictures this week.
