3,280 ...and the Hits Keep Coming

No I am not talking about Phil Spector, I am talking about the hits to my blog in the last 3 days.  As of now at 7:10 am BA time, that is how many people have come to my blog.  On Saturday morning when I went to check my blog specs I already had almost 300.  That is not normal for a Saturday morning before 10 am.  Most of the time I only average that on a daily basis.

I went to look at where all these hits were coming from.  The link was to the New York Times Sunday Travel Section.  Imagine my surprise to find that Denny Wells the author had mentioned my blog as a resource.  Not only that, I was the only blog he mentioned.  I have never met the author but wow! thanks Denny for the positive press.

Of course every time I end up in the media I get tons of email.  So far I have received over 150 emails.  Yes, I look at each one.  No I don't answer all of them.  Some of the emails I receive are amazing.  I cannot believe that people actually take the time to write some of the stuff they do.

This time I got a lot of email from Gay men.  All of them sent really nice messages.  Most wanted to know if they could stay with me when they come to B.A.  Some of their comments were hilarious.  The ones that had been here before loved my two blog posts about the men.  It is interesting, their experiences were similar.  One fellow told me he thought all the men in Buenos Aires were narcissistic sociopaths, another emailed that he found sex very boring with them.

I received emails from a ton of people who seem to think that I am the cyber version of the tourist information booth.  People sent requests for apartments, tickets for concerts, requests for restaurants, where to buy leather, dance tango, and who to take lessons from. 

There were a small group of people who emailed saying they too were leaving their country to either come here or somewhere else.  Their own stories were interesting.  Others were planing to leave and wanted advice.

Then the crazies - they come with every bunch of emails.  This time they have not been so bad.  I had a few men want to do bizarre things to my body.  No marriage proposals this time.  Women who email me weird life stories.   There are a lot of lonely people out there.

I never thought moving to Buenos Aires would make me somewhat of a media darling.  When  I was 17 I had these dreams of being famous.  The closest I got in my old life was being quoted in VarBusiness and Computer Reseller News among other trade magazines in my high tech days.  Then there was the time I was the Today Sponge sound byte.

Since moving here I have been in countless interviews  including our local newspaper the Clarin twice and on Mañana Vemos on channel 7.  The interviews outside Argentina are countless and I continue to be contacted.  It is amazing.  All this because I decided to write a blog.

While there is a positive side to this, there is also the other side.  On a very very small scale I can really feel what famous people must go through.  Argentines stare at me.  (More than normal) People still come up to me in the subte, on the street, and say they saw me on TV or in the newspaper. Some even tell me they read my blog.  Others just start talking to me as if I know them.  They know my name, my dog's name.  Most people are really nice, and proud that I love my life here.  Then there are the others. The ones that tell me to go back home.  (I am  home, you idiot) The ones that grab me and try to touch me.  The ones that have some sort of weird agenda.

On the tango side, there are the normal people who read my blog.  People come up to me in milongas and just start talking to me or taking pictures and videos.  At first it was sort of freaky.  Now I am used to it.  One woman told me "You belong to us.  We feel as though we know you."  Sometimes those people can be a little overzealous, but they are mostly super nice.

Then there are the jealous hostile ones.  Oh yesssss there are.  The ones that call me "middle age".  Is that supposed to hurt me?  The ones that have to make their comments about every facet of my life.     I find the whole thing rather funny myself. Sticks and stones....

Writing a blog is an incredible experience.  It is amazing the power blogs now have.  My friends beg me to write about them.  Some of my guests as well ask to be written about.  Once when ending a relationship, the man wanted me to promise I would not write about him in my blog!!  My blog has brought me great joy.  I love to write.  I always have.  I keep hoping that one day I can turn this blog into a book.  Thanks to all of you for reading me.  Beso!

Comments

[Lupita (Ortiz) Shemansky]

Maybe I am your hit #5000 but your number one fan in KY and your are one of my more beloved friends. I enjoy very much to read all your adventures. Keep the good work girl and the most important enjoying life

Besos
Lupita

[Quickroute]

Make that hit # 3,281 - I found your blog thru that article too. Seems the same article has been a hot topic on many of the B.A. forums too. A lot of expats and locals didn't like the generalizations and assumptions. curious to know what you thought?