Peanut had his first real haircut yesterday. My botched attempt a few months ago to trim the hair around his ears does not count. Hubby took him to a barber shop and now my little baby looks like a big boy. The shaggy hair almost in his eyes and the little curls on his neck are gone. Hubby made sure to save some locks (he knew he’d better not forget) and Peanut came home with a Certificate of 1st Haircut. The barber had the patience of a saint. The clippers freaked Peanut out (which was no surprise – he’s cries anytime we vacuum, although he will crack a smile if one of us hits it and calls it Bad Vacuum.) He’s also skilled – for all the wiggling and crying, Peanut has an even haircut. The lollipop at the end apparently made the ordeal worthwhile. Peanut finished it, coated with hair clippings and all.

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A couple weeks ago, the shit hit the fan at several blogs. One blogger decided to make a spoof of blog awards and create not-so-nice awards. She decided to password protect the entries to limit who had access to them. I seriously considered requesting the password – hey, I love a good bit of trash talk as much as the next person, but decided not to. Partly because I had a feeling they’d get nasty and mostly because I wasn’t sure she “knew” me enough to allow me access. Yeah, pretty lame reason for taking the high road…no I don’t even think I was taking the high road. I weaseled out.

Well, they got nasty. Apparently really nasty and personal. And they were leaked to the subjects of the nastiness. A huge hullabaloo followed, with lots of comments on various blogs, e-mails, etc. The blogger behind the awards started receiving e-mail threats and within a day or two took her blog down.

OK, so the mean awards were a bad idea. I think most people could figure out what happened was going to happen…maybe they wouldn’t have been leaked, but the personal attacks and nastiness were a given. I think it was a bad judgement call on the creator’s part. But she wasn’t the only one involved. I never saw the awards or commentary associated with them, but she didn’t do it all alone. Yet she has become the devil in the center of it all. Certainly, she has her part of the blame, but it’s not all on her.

Since I didn’t see the awards, or her comments with them, I have no idea how mean she got. And maybe if I did, I’d feel different, but I’m sad she took her blog down. I *liked* reading it. Yeah, she sounds like she has a temper and can rile up a good snark, but I love her wit and that she’s able to take the shit she’s dealing with in life and make it into a damn funny blog. I hope she’ll be back.

No one but her knows for sure the precise motives behind creating the awards. My opinion is that she felt on the outside of a group of well-known and much-liked bloggers. The awards were a chance to vent some frustrations and poke a little fun…unfortunately it all blew up. I can relate so well to feeling on the outside, as I think many others can. It seems to be a common blog topic. I can’t say how many times I’ve read popular blogs and gotten jealous of the writer’s talent and huge following of readers. Or jealous of their financial situation. Or looks. Or artistic ability.