Mexico Medical Student |

I’m late on this, but only because I wasn’t paying attention to my feeds and my WP trackbacks. Earlier in the week, Fat Doctor tagged me as being one of her “Schmoozer” awardees. I was shocked, actually, because to me, I am anything but a schmoozer (at least not when I think of the word)–I certainly don’t have that “salesman” type social personality, nor can I initiate small talk with ease. However, this is the description given in the previous link:

As it goes, schmoozing is the natural ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.

Well, putting it that way, OK, I accept. The truth is, I am very shy socially in person until I become comfortable, and that can take some time. After that, well, as my friends can attest, I don’t exactly keep my mouth shut.

As bloggers (and I mean real bloggers, not the MySpace crowd), I think we all share some innate things in common: love (or some range from more-than-ambivalence to absolute passion) of the written word, interest in others’ stories/experiences, and some degree of disinhibition to outright megalomania in sharing one’s OWN experiences for the world (or at least some subset of a virtual audience) to read. (Have you noticed I keep using parentheticals to qualify (or quantify (there I go again)) things? I have to break this habit (someday soon)). LOL!

So in the spirit in which it was given, here are my “tags” for this award to those who have been more than an entry in my blog feed, those whom I feel I’ve gotten to know a bit more personally such that reading their blogs isn’t about cool posts, but about just checking in with the person:

• Fat Doctor, FD: Backatcha. FD has this unique ability to make her blog a home and make visitors feel like they’re welcome company. She’s even more gregarious to talk to than read. (In spite of her not telling my phone number, I’m a poor (notice I didn’t say “starving”) student and can be coerced if the price is right…J/K! hehe) She is inspiring in so many ways, as I’ve written here before.
• Surgeonsblog, Dr. Schwab: I knew the book before I knew the blog, then I knew the person. He reminds me of my physician/surgeon mentor in many ways (who actually did work in Seattle for a while), and I am grateful for all the advice, listening, and encouragement Dr. Schwab has given since I got to know him. His breed of surgeon is not easily found; compound that with his extraordinary writing gifts and you have a man among men indeed. I’d worry about over-inflating his ego, but as a surgeon, I know that is impossible.
• The Berry Patch, Punchberry: She’s totally cool. Even when she does go out on a limb and post about some of the less-than-positive things going on, you still can’t help but pick up on her unmistakably innate optimism. She got me on to Facebook, not even knowing that I had long given up on the horror that is Myspace. (I probably would have done neither, but all the youngins at my school communicate through these social networks, so I had to cave lest I appear a luddite) She has a busy social life, obviously has a good handle on school, and yet still finds time to always stop by or drop me a note. It’s the little things that make a difference. (Wish her well on her boards, BTW)

In “Honorable Mention,” I’ll mention the following two sites. I set these apart because unlike the above, I don’t know them on a personal level quite as well (hopefully, that will improve with time), but their whole site experience deserves one of these even more than I do.

• Musings of a Distractable Mind, Dr. Rob: I’ve only been reading his site for a little over a month, and I’m totally blown away at how uncanny a lot of our parallels are (some of which I haven’t really made public, but trust me on this one). Except he’s older, of course, but not by too much. And he has a thing with llamas, which I have yet to understand, but I am discreet enough not to ask questions. heh.
• Psychological Perspectives, Dr. Deb: I’m actually adding this after this post went live, and I’m embarassed to say I had a moment of cerebral flatulence. One of the first things that strikes you is that her world-view “Visitor Maps” graphic is so glutted full of red circles, there’s no discerning continents anymore. I even think a famous area in a certain mountainous region on the Afghani-Pakistan border is even represented, if the Armed Services wishes to mine that for info. A little digging into her bio shows she was a Hollywood consultant for the mega-hit series, Law and Order. Plus, she’s Scott Baio’s cousin. But what really makes me want to list her here is the fact that in spite of getting 30-60 comments a post, she takes the time to answer each and every single one of them!! Of course, they may be one-word, “Thanks!” or the like for the sake of time, but her motto is clearly, “If you took the time to say something personally, then you deserve a personal reply.” If that isn’t schmoozing in the best sense of the word, I don’t know what is! Deb, just remember us when you do get that call from Spielberg.

Unfortunately, I have also been a bit let down a few times by going out on a limb to write a blogger, perhaps one that commented on my site, perhaps one whose site I was visiting, and gotten no response (in some cases, repeatedly). I know people get busy, but it’s my opinion that if someone takes the time to actually look at your site to find your address and email you personally, that it’s higher on the “personal” scale than a comment on a blog. Perhaps some people are threatened by this (then don’t publish your address, ferchrissakes!). In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have included all those pictures of me… LOL!

Anyway, I don’t want to get too off-track here. The final point (were there any before?) is that friendships made online are just as real as ones in real life; they’re just different, and even then, not necessarily so much so. Nay-sayers will say that can’t be so because you only see online what people want, and there’s no way of knowing if it’s true. Rubbish. Of course I don’t know the whole Dr. Schwab, for example, and thank God I don’t have to worry about others’ seeing all of me and my faults. But that’s not the point–self-censoring information (particularly in the early phase of knowing someone) is a normal part of human interaction, not a limitation of being online. So without further ado, I give you:

The Enrico Commission: Go forth into all blogs, be they in the name of Wordpress, Blogger or Typepad, and leave comments; spread cheer and do your part in making wherever you visit better for your having been there. Pax vobiscum.