One hand clapping

Have you ever been at a party or a work function, in a little group 4 or 5 people you don't know and when you finally get up the nerve to say something, everyone falls silent? Or, you're stuck giving one of those get-up-in-front-of-the-class type speeches, the kind that make your heart race and your mouth go dry, and you start off with a joke - and nobody laughs?
That's kind of how it feels to have all these "Comment (0)" lines at the end of my blog entries. The sound of one hand clapping: mine, waving silently and searchingly in the air, trying to find that other hand that will let the sound ring out.