how a blogger got her groove back?

i've been reading norma's blog (well, i'm "catching up," which means i'm working my way chronologically through the archives) lately, and while i usually prefer my knit blogs to be separate from day-to-day goings on in a knitter's life (um... otherwise, it's no longer a knit blog, but just a blog of a knitter), i love norma's. she's my mom's age, but she acts like me* (except for the working out. i have a hard time getting off my ass...), and talks like me, except that her grasp on the english language is better than mine. i like that. how else would i learn? it might just come down to the fact that i actually *like* norma. the other knitters who let life get in the way of their knit blogs... perhaps i just didn't like them.

anyway, so the point of this whole thing is that, after having been told that i needed to buy and constantly wear this shirt for a while, i started doing *other things* and neglected this blog.

now, i've always lived my life while simultaneously composing blog posts in my head. of course, i didn't know it at the time. i'd stick parts into my aim profile, or my away message. i'd spout bits at unsuspecting friends. i'd write things down (physically! with a pen and paper!) and not know what to do the resulting "note." blogging gave me that outlet i was looking for. and then it became too much trouble.

so, once again, my mentally composed blogs (or, really, my thoughts) got dumped on the heads of anybody who'd listen. away messages got too long. again.

that didn't bring me back to blogging.

i think it was, for some odd reason, norma that brought me back. here i am, mired in back entries to read, and i'm taking time out of reading them to write my own. new entries, i mean, not back entries. that norma. she's inspiring.

who knew i need a swearing, middle-aged stenographer in my life?

***

*of course, when i say "me," i mean "my archetype." i don't mean to suggest that the two of us would be interchangeable in any way.

***

when i first heard of the "irish potato famine," i only understood famine to mean "extreme hunger." i just couldn't understand why the irish would be hungry for, specifically, potatoes; or why that hunger would lead to them pouring into the states. seriously... i didn't know we produced that many potatoes, especially in those days.

well, i looked up the word "famine" just now, and not only is "hunger" not a main definition, it's nearly last. the only entry it outranks is labeled as archaic.

how do i come up with these things?