It's because of my mental problems. Really.

I just realized that I rarely remember to go back to a blog I've commented on, to see if there is a response. Even if I've asked a question. Please forgive me, it has nothing to do with disinterest, I promise you.

Today, the BF and I were getting some quick lunch. I filled our drink cups, all diet for him, half diet and half regular for me. Cuz of course I only need to half diet! I carried them over to where I could get straws while he went to get condiments. Setting the cups down I made a mental note of which cup was mine and which was his while I reached for napkins.

The boyfriend came up along side me and said something to me, a question, a comment, I don't remember. (of course!) But it was just a short aside, whatever it was. Probably along the lines of "Got everything?" At that point I looked at the cups and I looked at him and said "You just interrupted my thought processes for a split second - and that was long enough for me to forget whose drink is whose. Sorry."

The mental note was completely gone from my head and I knew better than to bother trying to retrieve it. I'll save those kind of mental gymnastics for more important things than cups of pop.

Luckily most people don't know whether or not you come back to see their response, and I know if I never mentioned it - hardly anyone would ever know! But it makes me feel kind of crappy when I only realize someone responded to one of my comments months later when I am googling my own name and basking in my own famous-ness - and I run into something I don't recognize as something I said.

I mean, everybody googles their own name now and again, don't they? Or is it just me?

Hello?

Sometimes even my favorites don't get any love

According to Google reader, I have subscribed to 73 different blogs. And that number changes daily, whether I find a new one to add – or take one off I added just to see if I wanted to keep reading it. Trying to keep up with that many blogs is like a full time job, oh to get paid for reading!! But something has to suffer.

I am the first one to tell you that housework is not my first priority so that gets done last. Then of course there is my jewelry making which has been sadly neglected lately in favor of living vicariously through all these wonderful people out there who let me peek into their lives on a daily basis! Or not so wonderful people, sometimes those blogs are interesting too.

My kids are old enough now that my reading blogs doesn’t take anything away from them, but really, like I told someone the other day – if I had had access to all this connectivity when my children were little they would have been raising themselves. No Mommy awards at my house if that were the case. I’m just glad I didn’t have that temptation at the time and I admire any of those Moms out there who blog and parent with balance.

Since I never ever never ever (really really) read blogs at work, ahem, my day job never suffers one iota. Ever. Really.

A huge casualty has been how much I comment on all the blogs I read. As the number of blogs I have subscribed to has increased, the number of comments I make has decreased. I used to try to comment every time someone commented on my blog. Or at least hop over to their blog and leave a comment there. But I find in reading so many, I tend to be governed more by my mood, or to be honest - the amount of posts I have to read vs. the amount of time I have.

A rant? Oh, I don’t feel like a rant today, I’ll mark that as read and move on. Funny? Okay, funny is good but I’m not really relating to this. Move on. Emotional? Oh, I feel bad but I really don’t know what to say, off I go. A post that makes me laugh that I can relate directly to my own experience? But, oh look, they already have 45 comments, there is simply nothing left to say that someone else hasn’t already! A post so incredibly clever and witty that every comment left is better than the next? I wither under the intimidation factor, lets face it I’m just not that funny. Off to the next. And on it goes.

But I feel bad about it. I enjoy all the blogs I read, but I will admit the sheer volume makes commenting on all - or even most of them impossible. Does it make anyone else feel bad to read and hop from blog to blog without commenting a lot of the time? How do other people manage it? Do they cut down on the amount they are loyal to? Do they only comment when they really believe they are contributing or do they comment because they feel they should?

What do you do?