I managed to get some people riled up yesterday when I posted my <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2011/01/25/video-sofia-the-history-of-europe/" target="_blank">less than shining review of a new youtube video</a> Sofia: the History of Europe. I had no idea I'd create such a stir among my readers. But I did. Thirty plus comments later and counting the comment section of my blog post is now at least three times as long as my original post. And that's saying something, given the fact a 1/3 of my original post was a video.

This morning my sister told me: I love when you have riots in your blog comments. It makes me nervous to read it though.

Me: why?

She: I like the spirited conversations, but I really don't like people saying mean things about/to you. I know you don't mind, but you are my big sister.

Aw, shucks. Thanks little sister!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile now you probably know that criticism and complaint is not my style. I try to look for the good in every situation and not to dwell on things. Rather, I like to try new things. I like to think about why things are the way they are. I like to joke around. I like to challenge myself.

Do I face criticism for the things that I say or do on this blog? Not often but it happens. And frankly, I appreciate it. More often than not, it helps me see the situation in a new light. It challenges me to rethink an assumption that I made.

The thing is, when I accidentally rile people up or when  someone misreads or misinterprets what I've written, I've been told more times than I count some version of: if you don’t like Sofia and don’t know anything about it, why would you live here? Or if you don't like it here move.