On August 4, 2004, I made my first blog post protesting that I wasn't a rabid Elvis fan despite the fact I called myself Tim-Elvis. Now, a decade and more than a thousand posts later, I am still here. Not that "here" has any significance on the Web. Here could be anywhere and everywhere on the Web.
But I digress (something that hasn't changed in ten years).
I no longer call myself Tim-Elvis. I am simply Time now. And Time goes on, slipping, slipping into the future.
A lot has happened in ten years. But since I try to keep my personal life out of my blog life, not much of it was chronicled in Dizgraceland. Just so you know, though, in ten years I got married, had two children, moved three times and have lived in three different houses. And in ten years I lost my mother and my cat that I had seven years before I started blogging.
In ten years, I'm still in the same job. But I have had three different offices and three different bosses.
In ten years, I've lost 50 pounds which I've more or less kept off give or take a few pounds here and there. I've also ran, walked and hobbled in five 5K runs. In ten years I have yet learned to like exercising even though I do it every day.
In ten years, I've kept all of my hair except for the stuff the barber cuts off. My hair has gone from brown to pretty much gray. I've sported a beard pretty much all of the ten years as well, largely because the few times I've gone clean shaven I've frightened my children.
In ten years I have watched technology expand beyond my comprehension. I went from a desktap to a laptop to a tablet to a smartphone (with a few years wasted playing brickbreaker on evolving Blackberries). I now watch my smart television controlled by my tablet while working on my laptop and periodically checking my smartphone.
I don't own a pair of Google glasses.
In the ten years that I've stuck with Blogger, I've also dabbled with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterist, Instagram, Tumblr, Get Glue, Linkedin, Vine, Youtube, Flickr and Google +. And I don't feel any more social than I did ten years ago.
In ten years, of the more than a thousand posts I've made, the most popular have been one about a lame book I read about how to be successful on social media by using a few key words; and a post about whether clams are really happy. The ironic part about the social media post was that I was making fun of the guys stupid book and observations and if you judged success by the number of hits I got on the post, he was right. I haven't a clue why people are so interested in why clams are happy.
In ten years, I've encountered many virtual friends through my blog (and a few virtual enemies). In the hayday of my blog (I think I peaked in 2006) I had a whole list of people who commented on a regular basis. Now the comments are few and far between. I attribute this not to my blog's lack of interesting topics (I still blindly believe I'm coughing up pearls), but to the cycle of life in general for most people. It takes a certain amount of energy to follow a blog, and it takes even more energy to comment. So I don't take it personally.
Blog communities mirror real communities. People come and go into your life brought by various whims and circumstances. And for those of you who have stopped by over the last decade, I thank you and wish you well as you navigate real life and the virtual one created in the cloud of the vastly expanding Internet.
And though my ten year blogiversary would have been a great opportunity to announce my retirement from Dizgraceland, I don't have any inclination to stop.
After all, it doesn't cost me (or you) anything but time.
8 comments:
I shall toast your anniversary at the pub tonight!
And I shall toast you as well for following along with me for several years now! I just won't be in a pub. I'll be more likely sitting in my easy chair in front of my smart television with my laptop trying to buy lego minifigures for my kids on eBay.
I blame Facebook for the decline of blog readers. Laziness! It's just easier to "like" a random photo or status update. You have always been my favorite blogger and I am comforted to know I can come here anytime I like.
True NB! Facebook is like that onion we talked about years ago. But you never peel back any layers. Now a blog is where you really get to see what's under the surface. Thanks for hanging in here for so many years!
We share a Blogaversary! I started mine 4th August 2013 :) there must be something about the summer sun that draws us to write :)
Alex, If England summers are anything like Seattle summers, I don't think it is the sun that compels us to write. :)
I've always loved you, Tim(e). You are one of the best in the blog universe.
Micky, my old friend! I am not worthy, but thank you!
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