Tag: Meta-blog

I’ve been remiss (!) in noting that MD Jackson of Skylarking has awarded me one of those blogging award things, this one called the “Versatility Award”. This is because I’m a versatile blogger. (I know, it’s just like the title of the award!)

So, as is usual with this type of thing, I’m supposed to provide seven facts about myself and then give the award to several other bloggers. I usually skip these steps, but what the hey…only problem is, after nine-plus years of blogging, I’m almost at a loss as to what facts I still can ‘reveal’ about myself that aren’t common knowledge to those who read this blog on any kind of basis, regular or not.

By way of a bit of navel-gazing, I’ve noticed a substantial drop in traffic round these parts lately. What I think has happened is that Google may have shuffled its image hit results, because those seem to be the hits that I’m not getting as much of anymore. I don’t expect traffic to ever jump here again, really — it may fluctuate upward a bit, but I suspect that my average number of viewers is pretty much calcified in place. That kind of bums me out, but as I’ve noted, it’s also a bit liberating in a way. I’ve wondered occasionally over the years if it’s my blogging versatility that’s kept this blog from ever becoming highly trafficked, but now…well, who cares.

Anyway, seven facts!

1. My first-ever job, as I’ve noted before, was as a technical-services assistant at the library at St Bonaventure University. I was one of several people who did things like put new card pockets in the backs of books, weeded cards from the card catalog, and stuff like that. I don’t imagine very many of those tasks are the same now…but that was my first real job. I went from never having worked to suddenly working eight-hour shifts during summer after my senior year. That was quite a shock to the system. I probably should have had a part-time job at some point before that, but in high school I was a social stick-in-the-mud and thus didn’t really need a whole lot of money over and above my allowance from my parents.

2. My current job at The Store, as I’ve noted before, involves the use of a lot of power tools, and I’ve grown quite proficient and knowledgeable about tools and their uses in seven years. I can do a lot of stuff, and it’s been a thrill learning it all and continuing to learn. I’m enormously lucky to have scored a job that provides literally years of learning opportunities and skills which will serve me well in other areas of life. And boy howdy, did I have a lot to learn. When I first got hired, in my first few days a manager asked me to put some paper towel dispensers up on several walls. He handed me a drill with a driver bit and some drywall screws and sent me off…but I had to go back to him for help, because the screws were Philips head and the bit in the drill was for slotted screws, and I didn’t know how to change a bit in a drill.

3. I have an odd fascination, as I’ve noted before, with pies in faces. I think a pie in the face is all kinds of awesome…but I hate seeing newly-married brides and grooms smearing wedding cake all over one another. This irritates me to no end. It strikes me as godawfully inappropriate and never makes me laugh. The Wife and I did not do this. Neither of us wanted to do it.

4. I’m not a fan, as I’ve noted before, of mashed potatoes. I don’t like the flavor or the texture, and gravy doesn’t save them, either. But mashed potatoes do fall into that odd category of “Foods I don’t like but yet always look really good to me when I see them”. Mashed potatoes on someone else’s plate look so yummy! So does pineapple on pizza, and so does sauerkraut. But I’m not a fan of any of these. (I do think that cooking meat in sauerkraut does wonderful things to the meat. The ‘kraut itself, I can take or leave. Like it on Reuben sandwiches, though. And just today I tried some on a hot dog, and that was OK.) And no, broccoli does not fall into one of those categories. Broccoli looks, to me, like it tastes: the Food of the Devil.

5. I realized a while back that in my current work-in-progress, the space opera novel, I’m envisioning one of my characters as Nichelle Nichols in the Star Trek III-IV-V era. I thought that the older Uhura really had this sexy, “Don’t make light of my opening and closing hailing frequencies because I can kick your ass without so much as reaching for my phaser” thing going on.

6. Vegetarianism isn’t for me, but I do like to explore vegetarian options now and again and am planning to do more of it. Veganism strikes me as an approach that makes some fairly odd assumptions regarding the suffering and ‘exploitation’ of animals. The ‘raw food’ movement? That’s the one that makes me want to eat a bacon cheeseburger out of spite. Judgmental? Sure. Hey, I’ve got limitations, same as everybody else.

7. To this very day I have never attended a single rock concert. The closest I’ve come was “Classical Mystery Tour”, a Beatles tribute band that performed with the BPO a year ago. (Which was, truly, a wonderful concert.) In all honesty, I don’t really think I’ve missed anything — except for Van Halen.

OK, there are seven facts about me. All of them are certified true, or your money back. Now to give the Versatile Blogger award to others! As always, this comes with absolutely no obligation to play along.

Jason Bennion of Simple Tricks and Nonsense blogs about his difficult relationship with his father, his sadness over the space shuttle program ending, his thoughts on movies, and occasionally his experiences as a fairly liberal guy with a beard living in deeply conservative, facial-hair-free Salt Lake City. I just wish he could post more, but judging by how often I see him post things on Facebook like “Yeah, it’s 7:00 and I’m still at the office”, I can totally understand why he is limited.

Lynn Sislo of Violins and Starships has been a daily read of mine for years, and I see no sign of that ending. She’ll put up a post about a sewing project and then blog about the science fiction book she’s just read, and other topics in between. Endlessly fascinating blogging from the wilds of Oklahoma!

SK Waller of Incurable Insomniac is also a fantastic blogger from the wilds of Oklahoma. She’s had a tough go of it through life, but she writes openly and honestly about it all. Hers is a musical soul, and she’s got a lot of songs to sing. I constantly wish for her to have a big success story.

Roger Owen Green of Rambling with Roger is the very picture of intellectual curiosity. He’s one of those folks who engages with the world in such a way as to always have something new and interesting to say. And he blogs every day. That’s amazing in itself, these days in Blogistan!

In truth, I could pass out two dozen of these and still have room for more; most of my favorite bloggers now are the “versatile” types. Single-subject blogs have to be very fascinating or well-written to keep my interest, and I’ve almost completely given up on political blogs entirely (I still have four favorites that I check in on, once or twice a week). I get the sense that blogging is settling into a niche hobby, like all others. But it’s still my hobby! Thanks for all the versatility out there, Blogistan!

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