What’s Gloat Bloat?

I’ve got to let you in on a dirty little secret I have.  I get a bigger kick out of About Pages than I should.  Sure, it’d be fine and good if I just happened to like peeking underneath other people’s lids - but that’s only half the story.  Here comes the part I’m not proud of:  I get an evil, unnatural amusement from watching people get the bloats.  You know, when they’ve allowed themselves to get so totally full of themselves that they must surely bloat.  Why are we bloggers so suspect to these gloat bloats?  I dunno.

Anyway, tonight I came across a blog titled “Barefeet Allowed” (If that’s not an invitation to a Kentuckian, nothing is.)  True to form, I headed for the About page. Not an ounce of bloat gloat, heck, this gal would probably need help spelling ego.  As I was reading along, several things occurred to me. 

1. For one thing, the absence of gloat bloats is even better - even though I’ll have to look for the evil, unnatural amusement elsewhere. (Fortunately The Bachelor picked back up last night.)  It’s refreshing to know that people actually exist who aren’t scared to show that they have a few less than perfect traits.  Come on, no one’s perfect….Okay, aside from Beyonce, no one’s perfect.
2. When I was reading this particular blogger’s about page, I found myself thinking things like, “Oh, I’ll bet you’re plenty good at sports……..No way, you don’t seem like you’d be sarcastic or stubborn…”   When smug bugs take themselves too seriously, we tend to think a little bit less of them, somehow.  Our impression with them never catches up to their own.  But if someone isn’t afraid to show that they aren’t a robot - that they’re actually a flesh and blood human, we tend to come away with a higher impression of them.

Humility’s a grand thing, you know.

Joi