Blog out loud Ottawa

So the other day, I attended Blog out loud Ottawa, at Irene's pub on Bank St. An event I was attending because one of the "readers" was presenting an article he and his wife wrote for their Blog. To my astonishment the article was written about local chefs who give back to their communities. I had more than a passing byline in this article (or blog post). I was not surprised by the reading as I had been told before that they were going to read this particular piece. Still to hear it was a new experience for me. Let's say it's something you can get used to in a hurry.
We arrived early, to an empty room. It was more than just a little hot, where's the air conditioning? At least we got to choose a great set of seats near the front of the stage. Within about 15min. some bloggers started to show up. And pretty soon we were awash in a sea of bloggers of all types. Funny I didn't really know of anyone who blogged about anything other than food. Is it possible that people use this medium for anything other than food commentary? Well apparently there are those out there with diverse interests and most were not food related. The room was soon overflowing and getting hotter by the minute.
The schedule for the evening was distributed and the bios of each of the readers was scoured thoroughly. Funny, not only do I blog under a few different names (all food related at this time), but I also have become an addict to TWITTER. And to this end I met so many people from this social media venue. It was great to put faces to the avatars or handles. And can you believe it we all still conveyed our messages to each other in 140 characters or less. Ok I just couldn't resist that one.
Some highlights for me this evening were;
Pauline of Brightest blue. Her recounting of art class hell was truly entertaining.
Brie of Capital mom. Her short entitled "close your eyes" touched a spot in my heart and I thank her for that.
Nat from Nat's brain. Her telling of "waspagedon" was very very funny, F-bombs were levied with an alarming frequency, and I truly loved this one.
Foodie Print (Don and Jenn). Well they are the reason I was here. Their post "food and generosity" was a proud moment for me. It is especially nice when someone(s) take notice of what you are trying to help with. They too foster an ideal of community in their blog and twitter personalities, and should be lauded along with the rest of us in the food industry.

Thank you to all for opening my eyes to something so authentic. Everyone's voice was unique and interesting. I will certainly be back next year, and hope to be able to read something of my own. Though I would like to read something non food related, I will have to write some. Hopefully soon.
Cheers,