Boys allowed.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away - ok, Florida - I attended several sealed-deck Magic tournaments.  Yes.  Yes, I did.

And while there are many cool things about playing in a sealed-deck Magic tournament, I always got a particular kick out of the echo of my voice in the deliciously empty women's room.

This was better:

For Blogher, one of the men's bathrooms was simply commandeered to allow for the increase in feminine need.  Too funny.

My thoughts about Blogher 2005 are currently somewhat overwhelming and swirly.  So many potential blog topics in my head from one weekend of time.  But for now I will say this:  To me, the power of blogs exists in their sheer individuality.  Though we may, as humans, still group ourselves and others by similarities - a natural way to navigate and manage an insanely full world (or plan a conference, for that matter) - blogs of any category will always remain individual, naturally defying generalization and stereotype.  We can be "mommy bloggers" or seek out rules for blogging, but in the end the only titles and the only rules are the ones you choose for yourself out here in the blogosphere.

Blogher was a wonderful and educational day spent with many individual voices.

Supercool bloggers I met:

Not Calm (dot com)
Mommy Needs Coffee

Three Kid Circus
Bake Town, CA

Real Kato
Zoe Tales

Surfette
The Social Customer

Simply Becca
Wolog

Arse Poetica
New West

There were so many others... for some I have faces, but not the blog.  The number one thing I needed was a system for tracking people I met, their names and their blog addresses.  Something high tech, like a notebook and a pen.  Which I had, but did not implement properly.  Alas!

One thing I didn't need was money for parking.  A strange site for an L.A. girl:

Two other cool peeps:

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez participated in the "Flame, Blame & Shame" lunch discussion.  I was amazed by her story of a resignation letter circulated and ultimately published without her consent.  I appreciated what she had to say about being an individualist.  She just pulled a Shatner on the heels of Blogher.

Ambra Nykol spoke up in the first session of the day, "Play by today's rules or change the game?"  I liked what she said about doing your thing and letting your readership grow naturally.  Basically, that if you blog well, they will come.  I agree.

That said, here's my first Technorati tag:  blogher
And after I've posted this, I'm going to ping them.
Go me!  Learnin' at Blogher!  Next up - in some indeterminate future - del.icio.us and flickr.
But not tonight.  Overload!

Two cool panelists:

KewlChops (Advanced Tools)
Ellen Spertus (Flame, Blame & Shame)

Finally, during the closing session someone pointed out that our blogrolls are often a reflection of who we are.  The challenge was made:  Find and read blogs written by people who are not so much like you.  Different voices.  I think I do a fairly good job of that, but considering the mass of content out there, there's lots of room to grow, and new places to visit.  May I suggest Multidimensional.Me as an interesting place to continue the exploration.

And now, I must to bed.  For tomorrow morning, I will be dreaming of this:

Comments

[Neil]

Glad you had a fun time. Just read that 20% of those there were men! I should've went! Although I'm not sure I would have appreciated waiting for the bathroom.

Like the new look of the blog!

[Jenny]

I LOVED meeting you. Wow, what a weekend.

[jb]

I really wanted to go to the Blogher conference, so I really appreciate the inside track on what happened and what was discussed.

Thanks!

[Christopher Carfi]

Liz, was great to meet you too!

[Koan Bremner]

Hey - double whammy! I've been hunting for an image of that sign on the bathroom door (having been too brain-fried to actually remember to *take* one myself!)... and then you recommend my blog as "an interesting place to continue the exploration". I'm really touched by that - thank you.

I had a blast this weekend; if there's a downside to meeting so many cool women (and some cool men) then it's the simple fact that I didn't meet *all* of the cool women and men who were there. Still, there's always the *next* BlogHer to look forward to...!

[Elspeth]

I am so jealous! I really wanted to go to that conference, so thanks for the update! No fair that they have drive-thru Starbuck's so close to me (about 1/2 hour) but not closer!

[Bake Town]

I so totally peed in that bathroom. But then again, I always pee in men's rooms. Screw waiting in line.

[rversde23]

i totally feel you re: Blogher and having too many thoughts. my friends want to know what occurred and i feel like i can't explain. all i know is that it revved up my convictions and spirit to blog. =)

you have a great blog.

[Wag]

Liz - you so rock girl. I really enjoyed meeting you and our BOF chat with Ken. And, thanks for the picture - I actually never saw it during the conference.

[ae]

Liz, I'm sending you some virtual peanut butter cookies. Great to meet you at BlogHer! In the deathless words of your Gropenator, "I'll be back!" ;-)

[Jenn]

I LOVED meeting you at BlogHer! You became an instant favorite of mine--both in person and your blog. You totally ROCK, girl! I know what you mean about the faces blurring together or just getting face with blog and forgetting the human name behind it.

To remind you, I was one of the foul-mouthed Mommy Bloggers that co-moderated the Mommy Blogging panel. You know, the lazy one in the middle that never stood up but was still able to mike-hog at will! HA!

[Liz]

Hey, thanks everybody!!! It was SO awesome (and head spinning) to meet so many cool bloggers! :)