Do you remember who was your first? I am not sure if any of you out remembered who was your first. But I do. I remembered the first few people who dropped by my blog and gave me comments when I just started blogging.

When I first started, I never did expect anyone to even read my ranting and raving about Malaysian politic back then in Pak Lah’s not so glorious and sleepy era. I never did intend anyone to read my writing even, but people did, and back then, I was really, really surprised that they actually stumbled upon my blog and were actually hooked on it.

My first commenter was Warrior…the second one was Malaysianjoe, the third was Calvin of Calvinsoo Photography, a blogger turned photographer. Most of them are not active bloggers anymore, and somehow, I missed the good old times with them where we could discuss and debate about the happenings in Malaysia. I enjoyed their presence in my blog so much, as they made my brain twist and turn, and despite of being obscene and disgusting and plain chauvinistic at times, I enjoyed the intellectual discussion that I shared with them back then.

More often than not, we were hardly in agreement with each other on certain issues, but at the end of the day, it was pretty satisfying, because they gave honest opinion and never did hold grudge against each other, and keeps coming back for more. It was pretty refreshing. And they were never the ‘touch and go kind’.

There  were loads of comments from them for just one article every day. Such thing hardly happen anymore. These days, some people just leave their comments just so that their existence is known in hope that they will get traffic from there. Such thing doesn’t happen only in my blog I believe. It happens to almost everyone out there.

And then Pete came along.. Yes… Pete, the foodie blogger who is the only one who is still active among the four, and he introduced to me to the world of food blogging, and there starts my nightmare.

I have come to learn not to blog hop with empty stomach ever again since he came into my life. He never failed to tempt me with his home-cook dishes and made me laugh at his ‘American Friend’ jokes. That was when I was introduced to the fun side of blogging. I never did actually hang out in blogs that revolves around family, food or even diary-like blogs until Pete came along. In truth, I never really did knew that they even exists in the first place. I used to think that blogging is about expressing opinion on current issues not diaries or something of that sort.

As time goes by, more and more people came to my blog and left their trace in my blog, and the conversation in my comment box were not as intense. They are much more lighter, not serious, and perhaps it’s because I’ve really tone down a lot; for I no longer write about politics and current issues on daily basis.

Sometimes, what I wrote was merely for the reading pleasures of my readers, and I came to wonder if toning down is really worth it? Cuz somehow…intellectual discussion became very rare, and some readers could not really stomach honest opinion and gets sensitive rather easily, and some only likes beautiful things instead of ugly truth.

Things really do change, I guess. I’ve come a long way in blogging that sometimes, I am forced to reflect, and sometimes, laugh over certain matters that makes me a wiser person in whole.

Cleffairy: It is interesting to note that my first few readers were all man, and they came here, completely armed with opinions and suggestions.