No words. Only acknowledgement. My blog started nine years ago and still exists. Yes, I’m surprised. But happy.
I’ve been running this blog for this six years, and I haven’t even remembered every “blog-iversary”. It’s probably not worth thinking about every year, similar to how birthdays can lose their excitement after so many of them, despite being only once a year. Still, I never expected this blog to last as long as it has, despite that being the goal from the start. I expected to have deleted it by now due to inactivity or boredom. I guess a “slice of life” blog isn’t a subject that’s too difficult to maintain since, well, life doesn’t stop until you die.
My disappointment in those six years is that I’m not really any better off than I was when I started this blog. I’m still living in the same place, still yearning for freedom and independence, and still trying to figure out how this whole game of adulthood works. Yes, I’m working toward it with school and a job, but I still don’t have it and patience is not a virtue I possess.
Oh, well. Can’t have it all.
I keep coming back to this blog and finding I have so little I want to write about.
My life hasn’t really changed in any huge way. There are no news or articles I really want to discuss. There’s nothing nagging my mind or that I’ve been deep in thought about. Same old aggravations, same general routine, and all. I’m not unhappy about that. I simply don’t want to talk about it all the time.
So, I’ll do this. I’ll end my blog posts for 2016 with my favorite things of this year. If I come up with something else to talk about, I’ll post it, but for now, I’m considering this my last post of the year.
I’ve been considering trying to get my driver’s license if I keep my job after the seasonal period. I don’t have a car to drive, but I think it’ll be nice to have it my license is all. Then, if and when I do have a car for myself, I’ll have getting the license out of the way.
2015 brought me a wonderful partner and 2016 brought me a great job. I’m hoping 2017 will bring something good as well, although I imagine there’ll be some heartbreak before it comes.
One particular thing about this blog I enjoy is seeing how people reach it. More often than not, it’s through Google’s search engine. What I find interesting is what search terms lead people here.
Going through my monthly stats back up to July 2015 tells me searches for pokemon are the most common. That doesn’t surprise me since I know Pokemon Sun & Moon are being released later this year. What does surprise me is it’s my blog these viewers reach from searching. I’m not complaining, but with as many pokemon-themed blogs that exist, I’m shocked my themeless blog would be the one showing up high enough in search results for it to be seen so often. Some of them are specific, such as searches for top ten pokemon, but most are generic, such as a search for “cute pokemon” or pokemon of a particular region.
Some other popular searches are ones for the powerpuff girls, thoughts about sisters, how to close an Origin account, and why shyness and quietness bother people. I know no one is ever the only person who thinks and feels the way they do, but somehow, it still surprises me to see other people have similar thoughts and feelings to mine.
On occasion, some of my blog’s views also come from places I’d left a long time ago. It gives me a small shock when I see views suddenly coming in from a source I could swear I never linked my blog on. It makes me wonder if my blog serves the same purpose for some other bloggers.
Then, some of the search results are a little sad. Most recently, someone found my blog by searching “powerpuff girls 2016 death threats”. I’m certainly not ungrateful for blog traffic, but it’s disheartening to know more people are being bullied over such trivial things. I’m not trying to serve as a voice of reason of some sort, nor do I expect anything to stop because I say something about it. It’s simply knowing and understanding what’s happening that makes me sad. There’s a reason some people say ignorance is bliss.
When I try to put it into perspective, I suppose it makes sense searches for topics like pokemon and powerpuff girls would lead to my blog. Those topics are much less personal and easier to find. Most of my personal posts, if they attract attention, are found through the WordPress Reader. Considering I tend to go through periods of having little to nothing to write, I feel very grateful this blog has a steady stream of readers, new and old.