Five! Golden! Rings!

(I couldn't think of a 'five' song as a clever title, so that's what I came up with.  I need to up my clever game.)

I can't believe the momentous year 2011 is five years ago. It truly seems like yesterday. But five years ago: surgeries. Five years ago: fire (maybe I should do a blog post about the ongoing issues with my leaky ceiling in my apartment).  Five years ago: started blogging. Who knew so much could be tied into one silly little year?  

Random musing:  did I ever mention how my reviewing came about?  A long time ago, maybe ten years ago already, a group of pals and I took the test to be on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Everyone in my group received their 'maybe next year' postcards within a few days.  I didn't.  So, every day, I would send a group e-mail out about what WAS in my mail.  It was a silly little e-mail chain, but it was also fun to share what was going on with my friends. I never did get that postcard, but that e-mail chain sort of morphed into a theater review e-mail chain because I was seeing so many shows (a former co-worker was a theater award nominator and I was his fortunate frequent guest - in 2006, I saw 47 shows in six months.  That was a lot).  Random musing over.

The 'five years' designation seems significant somehow.  They say that people are declared cancer-free after five years of all-clear appointments.  OK, I'll take that.  Also, the world has changed a lot since 2011 - it somehow seems meaner, more small-minded.  I think this election year is sucking the life right out of me.  Though great strides have been made, I constantly feel as if we're on the abyss of taking two steps forward/ten steps back.  

OH!  It suddenly dawns on me, hey, there's the musical The Last Five Years. Maybe there are some lyrics in there.  Hmmmmm.  I'll get back to you on that.  "I'm Still Hurting" comes to mind, but that's a little maudlin, even for me.

Over the last five years, I've seen over 300 plays/musicals. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. That's a lot.  No wonder I don't have any money.  Or savings.  Or other hobbies.  I've written over 590 posts that have been viewed over 34,255 times. New countries on my view list include Mozambique and Pakistan (what?!).  This is all just crazy to me.  I joined Twitter and sometimes promote my blog on other social platforms, which is nuts in and of itself. These blog numbers are something I never could have imagined that day in 2011 when I thought to myself: "I bet my friends are sick of hearing me complain.  I'll complain on the internet where no one will hear me."  After all, in space, no one can hear you scream. Or so I've heard.

My all-time list of most-read posts stays about the same from year to year, though this year there's a new entry into my top five and it tickles me:

• ABT - Sleeping Beauty, 7/7/11, 354 views
• ABT Fall Season - GUEST BLOGGER ALERT, 11/13/13, 323 views
• Review - The Rascals, 5/1/13, 276 views
• Post-Italy-trip-report thoughts, 5/12/12, 180 views
• My 22 Minutes as a cable tv/game show star, 7/6/13, 163 views

I thought my list of most-read posts of 2015 was interesting; happy to see a little more than just ballet here:

• Happy Birthday, Mr. S!!, 3/22/15, 110 views
• Adventures With My Parents, 9/15/15, 99 views
• ABT 2015 - Swan Lake, 6/25/15, 90 views
• Review - King Liz, 7/31/15, 81 views
• Review - Guards at the Taj, 5/29/15, 80 views 

Blogging goals - I need to get the courage to really blog about important things.  Things that matter to a single gal of a certain age.  We'll see on that.  The other day, I was going to reply to a friend's Tweet, but I was paralyzed with fear that crazy people would begin harassing me, so I stopped myself.  That's dumb.  I also hope to do more traveling, which will probably cut down on other posts, but my travel blog posts do seem to be popular-ish. And I do so love to get out of town.

Happy Five Years, everyone!  Here's to the next!  To finish this post, I think I'll randomly link to a little-read blog post that I kinda like. Ummmmmmm, let's link THIS ONE.  That will bring this post full-circle.  And hopefully, now THAT post will make my most-read list for next year.  : )