Cheeks flapping in the wind

I just got back from BlogHer Business in New York.

My only word is "wow".

The conference itself was good. Great presenters, interesting subject matter, neat giveaways (I got TWO typepad loves me shirts, people! TWO! Typepad loves me more than it loves you). But what blew me away, what scraped my hair back from my forehead like I stuck my head out the sunroof at 120 km/h, was the people. Oh my god, the people. It was like I had walked in and found home.

My friends don't blog. My friends barely surf. The people I work with, while we work with online communities, don't blog. Or maybe they do, and I've just never noticed it. And I've always felt like the internet was this huge indulgence, this dirty little secret that I have to hide or be embarrased about, because geez, the only other people who spend this much time online are freaks who live in Mom's basement with furniture built from milk crates.

Then I got to BlogHer and I was amazed. First off, I was so relieved to find everyone was friendly. I have a mortal fear of walking in to a room at a conference and ending up standing alone, forlornly, by myself. This fear is well founded: It's happened, which of course reinforces the fear. But the first thing that happened when I walked in to the New York BlogHer get together? A beautiful, bubbly woman introduces herself and asks me all about me. This beautiful bubbly woman, it turns out, was Jory Des Jardins, the founder of BlogHer. Now, I of course was a blithering idiot, yapping about what I don't know but cringe to think of, but still, it blew my mind that people were just so welcoming, so interested in others - everyone was there for the sole purpose TO meet people and find out about each other and make connections. A lot of conferences I've been to previously, people are interested only in furthering their own particular connections or networks, and I've noticed they almost actively exclude others from joining their group, to gain an advantage, I suppose. I've walked in to conferences before, walked up to groups of people to try to introduce myself, and have them completely, utterly blank me - not even give me an entry to introduce myself. Fuckers. If there is a time in your life when you just wish the floor would open up and swallow you, it's right there. And I'm sure that's not something that is unique to my experience.

So to walk in here was refreshing and stimulating. I met a few amazing people that night, including the utterly lovely Suzanne, as well as Megan (who totally looks more like a Megan than any other Megan I've ever met. In the baby name dictionary, under Megan, it should have a photo of her.), the luscious Laura and her Sk-rt partner in crime Gabrielle. There were tons of others, but I have a rotten memory and if I didn't get their card, then I am afraid I will forever fondly think of them as "the girl with the cool red necklace" or "the gorgeous model blonde from Calgary".

But the second thing that blew me away was when I sat down, I looked around the room and realized, all these women are just like me. They love the internet. They talk on it, they surf it, they find out information, they tag and bookmark and comment and read and get a silly thrill when someone new reads what they had to say.

My head is spinning. What really is making me think and wonder and actually be inspired, is that this room full of women (and a few very brave men) all blog, all work in this dirty little secret of the internet, and they do it for a living. They aren't in mom's basement on milk crates. They aren't blogging hopelessly about what they had for breakfast before they go on to their mundane lives. They do this cool, awesome, fun, trendy, interesting, world-changing stuff, and they do it for a living. Some make a lot of money, some probably make none, but they love what they do. I've been looking for That Thing, That Thing I Would Do That I Would Love, and since I went to this conference I have been boiling over with ideas of what I Could Do with this.

BlogHer, I could kiss you.