So there it was, the first blogging year. Today is my blog’s 1st anniversary, please take a piece of cake from the table in the corner there. In this time I have written a lot and read a lot and stayed up past my bedtime more times than I can care to remember. You can see all the stats for yourselves it is nearly 50,000 hits and almost 1000 comments and that has all been most unexpected. I remember when I first started and I saw well-established blogs like Leah’s and thought how amazing it must be to have written for a whole year, how much you would have in years to come to show you how and what you were feeling. And now I am a member of the 365+ club and I realise that the fact that others have enjoyed my writing occasionally has been unexpected but no less welcome but additionally for me it has been the catalyst to slowly start to reform who I am into who I always should have been.

I have become somewhat schizophrenic in my blogging nowadays and I have a couple of blogs out there performing different functions. On one of them I am currently uploading some of the old writing I’d done in the past. Some of it is in soft format but a lot is hand-written in the days when I knew how to do that. I will link to that blog in time in case anyone finds it interesting to contrast how I was 8 years ago. The whole blogging thing has taught me much about writing, by which I mean the whole routine of writing. It has given me a forum to post my ideas whilst also applying a little pressure for me to keep doing so and this is clearly an environment I work well under. By which I mean the quantity of work that it has enabled me to produce. As regards the quality please do not think it is a half-arsed attempt at false modesty when I say that I am very aware that the quality has been somewhat variable. What it has shown me is that there are certain days when I will struggle to produce any volume of work, but little ideas or snippets may come out. Qualitatively I have seen that I am very much a form writer, my moods and the subjects I write on have a bearing on how I will write. It has been a cause for concern to me that I was able to write what I felt was fairly fluent prose on politics but that it lacked the humour I would normally like to inject. I think this is partly to do with a blog being often a very proactive thing whilst as I have always maintained I tend to shine best as a reactive writer. The last entry served to illustrate this as I was pleased with the way it had come out, I felt satisfied that the message I wanted to convey was contained within and the jokes on the whole seemed to do ok. I really enjoyed writing that post and I’m sorry to be so self-absorbed but it did make me chuckle a bit on reading it back. It was though very much reactive, the exposure of the flaws in other people’s arguments in tandem with a slab of sarcasm and a slice of cynicism. A cruel but effective brand of political bantering.

Sorry I’m going to tangent bust now and just say I’ve had a life-changing time these last 366 days, I have acquired a twin, some very special friends, some thought-provoking and intelligent comments and conversations and a great deal more confidence in my writing which hopefully one day may filter through to the substantively less confident real me. I’ll still be here in another 365 days time, all being well, so will you. Oh and I got more hits than Haywood – just picture me as the Fonz now “Aaaaaayyyyyyyy”!

If you are the 50,000th hitter or the 1000th comment personage then please make yourself known for an underwhelming prize!

Song Of The Day – Billy Idol – White Wedding

Original Comments:


Pimme made this comment,
Happy Birthday, and thanks for the cake! ;^)\
You’ve had a busy year, indeed! Glad to have “met” you!

Visit me @ http://pimme.blog-city.com

comment added :: 18th January 2005, 22:55 GMT+01
Rachel made this comment,
Happy happy, mate! Geez, a whole year?! You’re one of us, now! Kick ASS song of the day. Loves it.
I notice that the premium jazz is all up and about. I must say I think I missed it. 🙂

Visit me @ http://palmysinfullbloom.blog-city.com

comment added :: 18th January 2005, 23:11 GMT+01
Diogenes made this comment,
What a milestone!
Visit me @ http://diogenes.blog-city.com

comment added :: 18th January 2005, 23:21 GMT+01
King made this comment,
congrats mate, welcome to the club. i don’t nearly have as many hits or comments as yourself (or haywood for that matter =D). that could be due in part by my lack of a “politcal mind” . yet i digress…
hopefully you will be around in another 365…i know i will.

enjoy!

Visit me @ http://pageofnothingness.blog-city.com

comment added :: 19th January 2005, 02:09 GMT+01
A visitor made this comment,
ooh, now i’m going to be on a mission to be the 50,000th hitter!!! that was pretty fast, by the way – i was the 10k twin quite recently, far as i can remember…the baron’s become very popular:)!!
anyway, happy anniversary, twin!

hugs and kisses.

sarah

[Redbaron responds – Since 999 here is the emergency no. I may have to give you a comedy emergency link for the 999th comment. Still about 1500 hits to go for the 50k.]

comment added :: 19th January 2005, 14:38 GMT+01
MD made this comment,
Congrats on your anniversary!
Visit me @ http://deardubya.blog-city.com/

[Redbaron responds – And thank you very much deardubya, Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner of the 1000th comment award. Don’t worry tho’ there is still all to play for in the race for the 50000th hit.]

comment added :: 19th January 2005, 15:07 GMT+01
A visitor made this comment,
Blimey ! It’s been a long year. Only kidding mate. Here’s to the next one !
John

comment added :: 19th January 2005, 17:47 GMT+01
Rina made this comment,
Lovely year, you happen to rock pretty hard, schizo or no!
Loves the song of the day, too, heh heh

comment added :: 20th January 2005, 00:49 GMT+01
haywood made this comment,
sorry I missed the party, Nice going on the one year, 48,000 hits for the year…very impressive.
You do know that they only come to see your wonderful header though?

cheers mate

Visit me @ http://cjh9999.blog-city.com

[Redbaron responds – they do indeed mate, I have been complimented on your handiwork on that score. I like to think thaat the politics makes them come back tho’!]

comment added :: 21st January 2005, 22:05 GMT+01
haywood made this comment,
yea you might be right, every one loves a pinko commie, except McCarthy, but he’s dead!
Visit me @ http://cjh9999.blog-city.com

comment added :: 22nd January 2005, 16:56 GMT+01