yes, i do.

all right.

it's tuesday night and still too hot to sleep and maybe tonight's numbers are already posted but there's no use checking my time; i know i was slower than molasses on a january morning, but i didn't care because i didn't expect to do any better than just finish, which by the way makes my awesome streak just about unbeatable.

nobody will ever break my record: i now have twenty -TWENTY- consecutive last place finishes to my credit in this race series, which is pretty close to a season and a half of showing up to every one, running my little heart out, and coming in last.

it is a badge of honor.

but what i wanted to say is that i know some of you have looked at my profile. at least i don't remember looking at it that many times and maybe i have, but i think i'd remember that.

anyway, for some reason or another i looked at my profile a couple of days ago and i realized: that's quite a list of blogs i follow.

so to answer your question, or the question i imagine you might ask, yes, i do read them all. i read them, and i read others that don't show up on the list. every honkin' entry. if you have nice formatting or good pictures, i even click through to your site instead of reading it in reader.

and if one takes the time to sort through the endless sea of randomly scattered stuff, one discovers real live interesting people. regular people with interesting lives, or regular lives that are interesting because the story is written well, or there are nice pictures, or -who am i kidding?

we all like to look.

i used to work as a storyteller. what people liked was that point where i opened up my chest and showed them that little place where i keep my heart and i think we're all a little like that.

if i'm reading your blog, chances are that i stumbled onto it by accident, just reading random blogs. i do that. i don't think any of my real life friends keep blogs, and i don't twitter or facebook, so i maybe wouldn't know.

but when i look at your pictures of your flowers, or your vacation, or i read about your dog's latest trick or your bike ride in the rain or the cookies you made or the class you're taking, you are showing me that little place where you keep your heart.

i'm an outsider and i don't have the privilege if i meet you on a bus or in line at the grocery store, but sometimes i think because i'm reading your blogs, i am looking at the people on the street as if they may have lives just as beautiful and interesting as yours.