It Was One Year Ago Today...

I didn't teach the band to play but I did start blogging on this date, April 09.

Do not be fooled by the archives on this site because this site was built, obviously, a month or so after I started blogging on a little site known as DeadJournal. No, not LiveJournal; I'm not making fun of the name, it is actually called DeadJournal. I picked it because it wasn't as saccharine laced as LiveJournal.

My very first blogging entry was about the fall of Saddam and the "jubilant Iraqis" who were riding statue heads and smacking it with their shoes....(what is it with Arabs and their shoes?)

However, the whole reason I got the DeadJournal site in the first place was to write. I wanted to write and if someone came to look at it, that would be cool but I certainly didn't care about traffic or links or ratings in a system list.

And I'm going to admit, after examining said system list, I've come to realize links don't always mean that much. I don't want links from people who never read this site. I don't want links from people just because I'm part of a group. If someone links me on their page, I want it because they LIKE coming here. And I also don't want to be pushed into linking someone else. I do not like it when people email me and ask me to link them. I don't like this unwritten rule that if you link me, I have to link you and if I link you, you have to link me and if you don't, I'm going to get upset. I also don't like it when I take someone off and they get upset.

So, I shouldn't have to fricken do this but I'm going to say it: The small blogroll you see over there on the right is going to remain small because to me, larger blog rolls are impersonal. I know and you know that person does not read all those blogs in one day. The people on the blogroll to the right are people I visit every day, sometimes twice a day because that is my mood at this present moment. I like what I'm reading at their sites and I find that I cannot wait for them to post something new. Hardly any of them talks about politics either.

This does not mean that I hate you or your blog if you don't see your name on there. It doesn't mean I don't read your site or enjoy what you have to say. Considering almost every single person on my old blogroll was a political blog, I have to state that I can no longer weigh myself down with that much negativity in one day. I take them now in small doses. It has absolutely nothing to do with you, it has absolutely everything to do with me. Do not take it personally because there is nothing personal about it.

What I plan to do is put all the blogs I read, (with the exception of those on the main page here), on to the "Extended Blogroll" and then I'm going to submit THAT page to the Eco-System and I'm probably going to take this page out of it. It is going to take some time because I have to write each individual blog in by hand and I'm not exactly motivated to get started. I'll do it as I go. Everyone is in my Favorite's List and I would have kept it that way but I know that some are really into the links and that's cool. It works for you, it makes you happy, it just doesn't work for me.

Links don't mean that much to me, READERS mean everything to me.

Finally, because I'm extremely intense about the way things look around here, I took off all that crap. Some of it will go onto another page called, "Rings/Special Interests" because some of them deserve recognition and I'm proud to be a part of them, "MilBlogs" for example, but I just don't want my front page cluttered anymore.

I want to concentrate on writing and I found all that stuff to be distracting.

I've tried to remove as much as possible to make it load a bit faster for those on dial up but I think my banner and one of my stat counters and the Adoptable Pet feature will make the page load a bit slower for dial up users. I apologize for this but my banner stays and the Adoptable Pet feature is important and will be staying as well.

Anyway, that's everything. If anyone gets upset or takes this personally after I've sat here and explained this, I have absolutely no idea what to tell you. That's something you're going to have to work out with yourself because if you are that upset over a link, I suggest you put down the keyboard, walk out the front door and experience real life for awhile.

By the way, feel free to de-link me. If you want to keep me up, cool. If you really didn't like it here and only had the link to my site out of pity or because I linked you, don't. Get rid ot it. If I get a link I want it because I earned it.

So there you have it. This year is about writing. I will probably have a political post here and there but it will be rare. I keep this promise until we get closer to the election. Then, all bets are off.

I hope that I have a lot more fun with this blogging thing this year and I hope, if anyone actually sticks around, that they will have more fun reading it.

And now I think I'll go find a candle to stick in my little Hostess cupcake and celebrate making it one, full year of blogging.

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