Seven Years Ago Today...

My oh my.  Don’t they say that in seven years, your whole body has regenerated?  I don’t know where I’ve heard that before, probably on The Golden Girls, which isn’t exactly a scientific powerhouse.  But still.  I’d like to think that my body has regenerated, though I'm pretty sure it hasn't.  I've made two new doctor consultation appointments today alone.  If only my body could also lose weight on its own, then life would be a dream.  Speaking of life as a dream:  last year, I mentioned that I had a blogging day of 400+ hits; little did I know that recently I would have a 600+ day!  I mean, I just figure that someone has me set for auto-clicking or something.  My mind can’t wrap around 600 people wondering about what I have to say on any particular day…

the magnificent seven.  just because.

But seven years ago today, this blog began - woo hoo!  Over the past year, I have sometimes found it difficult to write.  To write anything, let alone report on outings I've enjoyed.  Strangely, I still found myself self-editing on the blog all the time.  Though, interestingly, some of my more personal rantings are also some of my more popular posts, when I actually have the nerve to jot the rantings down.  I really do need to start exploring that part of myself a little more, I think.  I need to trust the anonymity of the internet and just shout from the rooftops, because god knows I'm often mad as hell and don't want to take it any more.  Some of my favorite people on social media just let it all hang out – I need to do that, too.

One of my very favorite people on social media is Roxane Gay.  I'm shamefully late in noticing her genius - she was at a conference I attended last year and she was incredible there.  After I heard her speak, I bought one of her books of essays, Bad Feminist, and found it to be so moving and smart and also terrifically funny.  I have recently started reading her memoir, Hunger, and I find so much in her writing to mirror my thoughts.  She talks a lot about feeling 'seen,' which is something I yearn for as well, and it's strange to feel seen by someone I've never met and probably never will meet.  Her life experience and my life experience are so radically different, yet I feel a kinship.  She writes with such truth and power; I would love to be able to do that, too.  I guess I'm just a big fan.  You probably should be, too.  

It's interesting - I feel as if I have three times of year when I look inward: at the end of the calendar year, at the end of the 'school year', and in February, because my life changed so much in February 2011.  So I find myself making resolutions, or plans, or promises to myself throughout the year, though without much consequence if I don't follow through.  That can't be good.  I have followed through on at least one of my goals from January, so that's a good thing.  I haven't tackled the other goal and I've just set a new one for myself, after my trip to Louisville.  Some days, it's hard to keep track...

Speaking of Louisville, I so wish I could get more travelling into my life, for my personal pleasure AND for my blogging pleasure!  Besides enjoying seeing new places, I also love sharing my experiences far from home.  I really need to work harder on that.  I have a mini-trip to Chicago planned for the fall and I'm looking forward to it, but a big trip to a new location would be wonderful.

Oh, and when speaking of blog posts, I should also point out that I don’t blog about every show/ballet/concert that I see.  If I didn’t really enjoy myself, I will generally just skip talking about it, because I don’t like putting that negative energy out into the world, at least about theater.  The real critics do enough of that.  I guess I save my negative energy for when I'm speaking about my frustration with the world at large. 

So, blah blah blah, the numbers.  You would think I would like or even be good at math, with all my obsession with numbers.  Not so much.  I just think I’m obsessed with people liking me.  I always have been.  One of my recurring nightmares is that I go someplace with a group of people and then they leave me behind for some reason.  Oh, paranoid self-doubt, you are a pip.  Anyway.  Numbers.  In the past seven years, I've written 766 posts that have been looked at 81,350 times, which is crazy, because it means even though I blogged much less than last year (69 posts vs 107 last year), I almost doubled my total hits (they were at 44,457 this time last year)!  There’s something seriously crazy about that, right?  I mean, how can that even be possible?!  My all-time list of most-read posts has finally shifted around a little, which really makes me happy, especially with my new most-popular-ever post.  Woo hoo on that!  Though I am a little bummed my game show post fell off the list, if we're being really honest, ha ha... 

All-Time Most Popular Posts:

Review – Street Theater, 10/23/15, 411 views
ABT - Sleeping Beauty, 7/7/11, 372 views
ABT Fall Season - GUEST BLOGGER ALERT, 11/13/13, 359 views
Burrowing…but not, 10/10/17, 328 views
Review - The Healing, 6/17/16, 298 views

My list of most-read posts since last year's anniversary is also interesting to me; again, I think being linked by other sites has helped me out here.  I guess I need to figure out how to make that happen more often to really boost my stats:

Top Posts since April 2017:

Burrowing…but not, 10/10/17, 328 views
Revival-ing, 6/19/17, 236 views
Terror and Rage, 8/16/17, 227 views
A Night at the US Open – an exercise in frustration, 9/7/17, 224 views
Thoughts on KPOP, 9/13/17, 222 views

whee!  a big day!

Interestingly, nearly all of my posts from the last year or so have cracked 200 hits, whereas most of my early posts have barely cracked 30.  Maybe I should promote them more often.  Or not.  I do rather think my writing has improved over the last seven years.  At least that's what I'm telling myself, lol.  Judge for yourself - here's one of my least-viewed old posts:  READ ME.  Like I say every year, I could probably share my blog posts more often on social media.  Maybe I'll start with this one and see what happens.  Maybe.  That's my word of the day.  But here's to another year of tons of blah blah blah.  Thanks for continuing to join me on this tour!