What Doing 1,000 Pop Culture Addict Blogs Has Taught Me About Myself

February 13, 2014

I never thought that I would see the day that I would automatically launch into a diary entry.  Usually what I would do is start things off with an introductory paragraph, describing what my thoughts and feelings are, and then launching into the actual bread and butter of the whole shebang.

But then again, today is far from being a typical day here on "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE".

You see...today is a sort of celebration of sorts.  And, it's a celebration that I absolutely have to thank all of you out there reading this for...because if it weren't for you, this moment would not be happening.

Today happens to mark the one thousandth post that I have made in this blog since I began this blogging venture.

Yes.  You're reading this correctly.  1,000 posts!

Mind you, these are 1000 posts over a period of 998 days.  When I first began this blog, I actually did two entries on two days within the first week of the blog.  One was an introductory post, and the other was a post explaining that I was having problems with my modem just three days into this blogging venture.

(I know...the blog nearly ended after three days because my modem was failing me.  Luckily, I managed to fix the problem rather quickly.)

The point is that over the course of nearly three years, I have typed out at least one post per day over 998 consecutive days.  You'd be hard pressed to find that in this day and age - especially in a world where instant gratification through 140 character Twitter postings seems to be the norm.  And, while most of these blog posts have had to do with how pop culture has evolved over the last sixty, seventy years or so, I have gotten extremely personal in this blog as well.  I've told stories that I have never shared with other people before until now, and I've talked about all sorts of emotions that I have felt over the last three years.

But one thing that I never really revealed to all of you was the reason why I felt compelled to begin "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" in the first place.  And, you know, I'm actually kind of surprised that I haven't gone into much detail about that because I could have sworn that I did at one point.

Must've been just my imagination.

Okay, so here's the real story behind the founding of "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE".  And, by real story, I mean absolutely positively 100% the TRUTH! 

(Not that I've ever lied on this blog before.  I haven't.  If anything, this blog is probably where I feel the most comfortable to express myself without feeling any sort of repercussions at all.)

Okay, tangent over.  The story begins.

The date was May 24, 2011.  I had just turned thirty years old six days prior to that date, and I was kind of in a slump.  I had just gotten back to work after spending eight weeks off on sick leave after my gall bladder tried to kill me back in February 2011.  And, I'm not going to lie to you.  Turning thirty was a really, really hard age for me.  I know that most people will tell you that age is nothing but a number, but when I was comparing myself to other 30-year-olds that I knew, there really was no comparison.  Most of them already had their lives well on track (or at the very least they APPEARED to).  They all had found careers that they were proud of, they had married their one true love or were currently in a serious relationship, and many of them had children of their own.

Now, myself at thirty?  I had none of those things.  Granted, I did have a full-time job (one I currently work today), which some people would consider very hard to come by these days...but I didn't really have a whole lot of other prospects.  I guess in some ways, turning 30 was one of those moments in which all the insecurities that I carried along with me throughout my formative years reared their ugly faces.  At 30 years old, I didn't really have anything that I felt that I could be proud of. 

I can admit to it now.  I couldn't back then.  And, I think that's one of the main reasons why I made the impulsive decision to start up "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" in May 2011.  I wanted to have something that I could truly call my own.  I wanted to have control of at least one thing in my life, even when everything else was anything but.  I wanted to have something that people could remember me for.

And, believe me, my expectations were really low when I first started this blog off.

I mean, just have a look at the very first logo for this blog, which debuted the same day the blog did, on May 24, 2011.

LOGO #1 - MAY 2011 - MAY 2012

Isn't that the most professional logo that you've ever seen?  Beautiful, isn't it?  You want to know what I used for the logo?  I used a couple of glitter gel pens that I just happened to grab from a nearby pen case.  As it so happened, the two colours I chose were pink and turquoise.  As for the triangle in behind...well, I like triangles.  What can I say?

But again, I sort of just came up with the idea to do a blog within the time frame of a half an hour.  I wasn't really thinking of spending a lot of time on a desktop program to design the perfect logo...I just wanted to start up a blog.

SIDE NOTE:  Do you remember the original look of the blog?  Well, it was almost similar to the look that I have now, only the main colours of the blog were blue and pink.  I chose the colours of the blog after I drew the logo...again, planning the design was the least of my worries as I really didn't expect anybody other than myself to read it.  The colour scheme only lasted a year anyway before it changed to this.

LOGO #2 - MAY 2012 - DECEMBER 2013

In fact, I have another confession for you.  Do you know what the very first blog entry that I did after my welcoming post?  It was a post entitled "WHAT RALPH WIGGUM TAUGHT ME ABOUT MYSELF", and you can click HERE to read that first blog entry if you want.  Well, that confession is that I actually wrote that piece as a note on my own personal Facebook page approximately two years prior.  I just updated a couple of date references to make it appropriate for 2011 standards.

But I'll tell you...there was a reason why I wanted to start off with Ralph Wiggum as the very first blog topic.  In many ways, I was a lot like Ralph.  Ralph certainly can be a rather interesting sort of character.  Certainly he used to eat paste, red crayons, and everything else that wasn't food.  His teachers all disliked him.  And, whenever he tried to find friends or whenever he fell in love with someone, he would always get his feelings hurt.

In all actuality, Ralph may be a lot of things, but I like the kid.  Because inside his obviously scatterbrained personality lies a heart that is pure as gold.  And, there's really nothing wrong with Ralph Wiggum for being who he is.

And, I guess re-reading that first entry, there's really nothing wrong with me being who I am either.  I'm really glad that I did start my blog off with an entry on Ralph.  I figure that if Ralph Wiggum wasn't afraid to show off his genuine, yet misunderstood self, then there's no reason why I should be afraid to show off my genuine, yet misunderstood self too.

Now, I'll be honest with you.  That first week that I started the blog, I only managed to get 307 page views total.  That's a little more than 43 page views per day.  Some might think that is pocket change, but I was proud of every single one of those 43 pages views per day - even if 27 of them were mine.

Flash forward to February 2014 and I now average 500 page views a day, and have amassed a quarter of a million page views total.  That's insane! 

(Here's a couple signs that your blog is doing well.  One, when you enter the title on Google, it's in the Top 5 search results.  Two, you start getting people spamming your comments section with promises to hock their wares.  Believe me, that was exciting to see spammers on the site because it made me realize that people were finding the blog - and I got just as much excitement deleting said spammers from the blog!)

LOGO #3 - DECEMBER 2013-PRESENT

Anyway, the point is that I've done a lot of growing in the last two and three-quarters years.  I'm not the same person now that I was at post #1, or post #100, or post #518.  And, who would want anyone to be exactly the same as they were?  I've done a lot of soul-searching over the past three years, and I am excited to share this 1,000th post with all of you.  After all, this blog wouldn't be at 1,000 posts if not for you checking this space out.  The colour scheme may have changed to purple and yellow, and the logo looks a lot more professional than it used to...but it's still got a lot of heart, and I will continue to do this project for however long I feel is necessary.

I still have lots to talk about, after all.  These 1,000 posts have only scratched the surface.  I plan to talk more about that in the next few weeks.

So, I'm going to close this blog entry off with a personal video greeting (short but sweet...)

...as well as a song that was recently released last month.  Listen very closely to the lyrics.  They could be considered my motto for the upcoming year.

ARTIST:  Kylie Minogue
SONG:  Into The Blue
ALBUM:  Kiss Me Once
DATE RELEASED:  January 27, 2014
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  TBD