Happy Anniversary To Me!

Hello blog friends! Thanks to life and work and all the rest (and OK, maybe just a little laziness), I’ve been a tad absent from my blog lately. I ushered in the New  Year by being shot out of a cannon, and so far January has been a madcap roller coaster ride, and it’s been almost a month since I posted my last post!

But like the proverbial phoenix, Arsenio Hall and certain foot funguses, I just keep coming back! And this time I emerge from wilderness not only tanned, rested and ready (for what, I couldn’t tell you) but at a very auspicious time. It was on this date two years ago that I launched my very first WordPress post, a pic of the Sydney Harbour that I took on my second trip to Australia back in 2008, which in a way was something of foreshadowing, since I’ve gone to great lengths in the annals of this blog to profess my undying love for Australia in general and Sydney in particular.

Funny, thinking back to that first post, prior to that I had no idea what to do with this WordPress blog thingee — what the heck do I post? I can’t even remember my motivations for starting my blog, and I had no clear agenda when I first got started; I just thought it would be a great place to showcase some of my creative stuff, and to have some fun.

But since then it’s really blossomed into something pretty cool … a lot cooler than I expected and a LOT more people checked it out than I had anticipated. It seemed like I was on to something; again, I’m not sure exactly what, but a lot of you guys brought your eyeballs on over to my pad for a little look-see.

In fact, according to the overview that WordPress sends at the end of the year, 54,000 people visited my blog in 2013!!! According to WordPress, “The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed 54,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.”

Isn’t it ironic that they were able to link me (once again) to Sydney?!?

And, in case you’re interested, my most visited post of 2013 came on December 23 when 840 people checked out Merry Christmas: The Art Of Santa Claus! In second place was this essay (“My Life As A Superhero”) that I wrote back in February of 2012 that people really seem to enjoy. It would have come in first if it weren’t for that pesky Santa Claus! Anyway, it’s all pretty darn cool!

But let’s get back to that 54,000 viewers thing … that just astounds me!!! I’m not big on stats and stuff, and I don’t really track how many people are visiting my blog, so that number really blew me away. But it also got me to thinking of the biggest benefit of having a blog: the fun and interesting interactions I’d had with so many fellow bloggers from around the globe. They say the world is small and getting smaller, and for me the chance to interact with people and learn about where they’re from and the little details of their lives is the best thing about all this blogging stuff.

So I’d like to use this opportunity to thank every single one of you guys who visited my blog, from long-time blog friends to one-time viewers. Without you my blog would be nothing, and I’m really grateful for your support and all the fun we’ve had over the past two years. Why, if I could, I’d give every one of you a new car, but who do I look like — Oprah?

Now, let’s get busy … here’s to more photography, more writing, more art, more goofy Internet stuff, more travel, more fun — more everything!!! As seems to be my MO, I might disappear for a bit, but I always come back. It’s just too much of a hoot!

Oh, and I think I forgot to say … Happy New Year, everybody! I have a feeling 2014’s going to be a good year. Frankly, though, any year that doesn’t end in the number 13 is just fine by me!