Blogging for a reason

Yesterday, Beachy Mimi tagged me on a blogging meme. Y'all know how much I like these sorts of things...

Here are the rules:
1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively
2. link back to the person who tagged you
3. link back to this parent post (UM. not sure about this rule..)
4. tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

Blogging has probably been one of the greatest things that I have ever taken up as a hobby. Here is my evidence; in no particular order.

Exhibit A: My writing and grammatical skills have strengthened greatly. I started four years ago, before it was even cool, and let me tell you...I was quite elementary. Now, I know that you could find mistakes in every one of my entries, and even though I shudder at that thought, I try to realize how far I have come. I feel more creative.

Exhibit B: I have met some of the greatest people. Ever. I am closer to my friends I met online that people I know "in real life." I use that term loosely as, well, this is real life in my opinion. With that being said, although I have met some great folks, there have been some people that made me question myself and my motives in blogging. A couple of years ago, there were some things that went down. In the aftermath, a large part of the community went private--myself included. I wasn't sure who I could or could not trust. I wondered what words would be used or even twisted out of context. I have recovered from that somewhat, but to be perfectly honest, I only blog a small percentage of what goes on around here. True, I work in a school, and I can't talk about anything (legally) anyway, but I am still very particular on what I share. I will say this--I am 100 percent honest. Some days I feel like giving it up because of the lack of ability of complete disclosure.

Exhibit C: I absolutely love reading about other people's lives. I love reading their ideas. I love to laugh with the good times, and I will cry with the not-so-good times. I feel like I have lived a pretty sheltered life. I lived on the west side of Indianapolis until 6th grade, then we moved to a small town that was for lack of better expression: middle-upper class and predominately white. Courtney can vouch for me; she lived next door during our high school years. We moved from there when I was 18 (and a brand new mother) to small town Tennessee. I have learned MORE in the last four years than in my previous 30. It has made me a better person, more tolerant, just plain aware.

Exhibit D: Blogging makes me think. Plain and simple. It's exercise for the cortex.

Exhibit E: (breaking the rules) Although I mentioned that blogging makes me think, I can't seem to be able to think of a fifth reason....

So, I am supposed to pick 5 other people. Let's try this again. And if I picked you, and you: a) don't wish to do this, or b) never want to be tagged again, please email me and let me know.

I hereby tag the following:

Sarah --Tales from Oakbriar Farm
Jenn-- Land of Lovings
Courtney-- Miss Anthropy
Darlene-- Have you seen my keys?

You! (just leave me a link, ok?)

Thanks again, Mimi!