Blog Stats.

You know what’s really exciting to me? My blog stats.

I don’t know if every blogger is like this or if it’s just me, but when I see that little bar graph on the top of my page, click on it,  and there’s the map of the world coloured in wherever anyone has checked out the blog, it gives me quite a little thrill! The other day, for example, there were six little flags on my stats page, and six countries coloured in, and because two of them were the US and Canada, it looked like almost half the world was reading the blog! Woo Hoo! The other countries that appeared were Indonesia, Malaysia, Belgium, France, UK, and Ireland. This, I think, is very cool.

I love maps, and I can’t wait to track our travels on one (still looking for a good online tracker if anyone can recommend one). I used to cut maps out of National Geographic magazine when I was a kid, and paste them into a scrapbook. Just random maps. Because they look good – exciting and exotic. I also once learned the capital city of every country in Europe just for fun. Of course, now there are countries in Europe that I’ve never heard of, and several of the capitals have probably changed as well, but there you go – a new challenge. I think at least one of our girls will take up that challenge as we travel. Follow in their mother’s map-geek footsteps.

Anyway, back to the stats…I spend a few minutes, each time I see one of these little flags appear, wondering who it is who might be reading this blog, what their life is like, how they happened to come across the blog, and whether it is at all interesting to people who may not know us….I don’t get that kind of information from my blog stats. Well, I shouldn’t say that. Sometimes I can see that facebook referred someone to the blog, but otherwise, how did Joe from Idaho come across it? It’s a mystery. And I love it. It adds a whole new twist to the adventures of our impending travel.

You know what else I love? Comments. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, very few readers actually comment. There are a couple, but for the most part, I can check the stats, fifty people may have visited the blog on a given day, and not a single one has commented. Or even clicked “like”. Does that mean they don’t like? Or that they don’t know how to comment? Or that they can’t be bothered commenting? What? What does it mean?

I feel like I’m in junior high school. Do you think he likes me? Is she mad at me? Are you not speaking to me? It’s a little bit pathetic, really. But there it is. The culture of blogging. I’m sure if I search, there are plenty of sociological articles already written, but since I’m new to blogging, I have not yet come across them. Perhaps when I do, they will explain this blogging-neediness in a more scientific way, one that makes it seem slightly less pathetic.

In the meantime, I will continue to get my thrills from the appearance of the little flags, and the mystery of  who it actually is out there in Malaysia who is reading the blog…