i blog, therefore i am

on 10 july 2010, i was speaking to a bunch of very clever FU students. the day's topic was narrative identity, so besides technical issues like how does a blog work and what is it good for, we also touched upon topics like does blogging help or hinder my writing and whether i am aiming at constructing a certain online image of myself, and if so why. i had prepared a little introduction and a couple of questions i was going to ask (like how many of you blog yourselves?) but didn't, because i forgot. so i had absolutely no idea about their previous social media knowledge and was constantly worried someone would fall from her chair, bored to death and all sweaty, as it was really hot that day. but as far as i could tell, christoph ribbat, one of the other two invited speakers, was the only one who fell asleep. into some microsleep maybe, but still, he was silently snoring right into my face. okay, i thought, this is it, you're in asia and that's how it goes here, no face-loss, it will never matter. i really liked christoph and his talk on alison bechdel's graphic novel 'fun home' and i think he got along with me okay, too, so i thought, well, let the man rest and hoped no-one would notice. and the students seemed with it, my talk i mean, which was the main thing. after i had finished, they had a long list of questions which i found interesting to answer, and i got very nice e-mail feedback: kerri drew me, complete with tattoo and necklace, and fredi left an encouraging comment. thank you for having me, i'd come back any time!