Jackie Danicki

When he was in London this summer, I had the pleasure of throwing a party for Ben Casnocha, the teenage entrepreneur, author, and blogger. Ben’s now taking his gap year travels to Japan, China, and India, and writes from Shanghai:

Once in Shanghai I made my way to a blog reader’s house. It was one of those somewhat nerveracking but in the end super rewarding moments of meeting someone in person who’s been reading my blog. I gave serious concern to not staying with this reader, because I just felt like I didn’t know enough about him, a Google search didn’t reveal much, and I didn’t want to be in an uncomfortable (or dangerous) position.

My fears were not only unfounded but, like every other blog reader I’ve met on the road, completely trumped by amazing gratitude for having Eisen, my Shanghai friend, now in my life.

I knocked on his door, heard running feet, the door flew open, “Ben!!!”. The first thought that crossed my mind was the Japanese game show host in the movie “Lost in Translation” whose exuberance overwhelms the poor Bill Murray.

After salutations Eisen led me to my own apartment…Completey furnished and spacious.

Another day, another city, another blog reader, another penthouse for myself. Come on, I’m telling myself, as I open the door to my new home for the week, this is crazy, this is too much.

People puzzle over why I blog so much, why I share so much with people I’ve never met. (That reminds me of the first time I met Ben, when he got me to open up to him about certain subjects I just don’t really feel comfortable talking about, much less blogging about. We’d only set eyes on one another five minutes prior, but he got more information out of me than most people can manage - the only other person I can say that of is Cathy Seipp, a seasoned journalist I also met through our blogs.) The main reason is that I throw stuff out there and nine times out of ten, I am rewarded for it. It might not come in the form of my own penthouse apartment (I had to share the one that I got to stay in thanks to blogging - and no, I’m not joking), but the value of blogging to me has become tremendous. You get out of it what you put in, and it’s no surprise to me that Ben Casnocha is getting a hell of a lot out of it.

Filed under: Life