School, Blog, and Chart Endgame….Sort of

Monday, 10 December 2012

 Alright, well I hope you all ( =both of you) have enjoyed this obsessively-blog-everyday thing I’ve had going steady since January of 2010, but I’m ending it when the year ends.

Of course, I’ll still blog…but just not everyday.

When I started writing about something everyday, I was under the impression that more frequent blogging would, somehow, attract more readers and more comments. Conclusion: not true.

Add to that, the fact that I sometimes have to conjure up something to write about when I just honestly can’t think of anything interesting to say. And sometimes, I do have something groundbreaking or monumental that I want to share, but I fear it will get lost in the deluge of daily blogs. My policy in those cases is often to “frontload” the blog. What I mean is, I’ll make sure I’m all caught up on the blog up through the current day, and then I’ll schedule tomorrow’s blog to publish as soon as tomorrow becomes today. Then, I just don’t publish anything for three or four days, giving my prized blog some time to languish front and center. This is a time-consuming juggling of a hobby I really should devote that much time to.

As it turns out, too, I have other things I want to write that are non-blog. Right now, for example, I need to clean up an essay I’m writing to submit to The St. PAul Alamanac(I’m hoping to get it published in next fall’s edition), I should be working on the final paper for my class, and I have a small side project known as Deliverance at Hand! that needs more attention. So…there’s all that.

Anyway, 20 days left in the month. Then I’m done with daily blogging. Enjoy, and thanks for coming.

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Happy half-birthday to me!

 Today, in class, I had to give a presentation. We had to choose between either the play we just read (The Piano Lesson) or the book of poetry we read (Diving into the Wreck). I chose the play, primarily because it’s not poetry. Everyone who chose to write and speak about the poems was complaining today that the poems are too dense and layered and they feel like they’re drowning in ideas and information.

We had to have panel presentations, which meant we were in groups. I chose the two other people I wanted in my group. I really despise group work at school, so I was glad to have some say in who I was working with. Of course, my choices were somewhat narrowed because I could only choose from the other people who were writing about the play. Of the five other people, one hasn’t been to class in two weeks (so I wasn’t going to choose her), and two of the other people were taking their essays in directions I couldn’t tie in with mine.

Anyway, I think it went smoothly. I introduced our panel, and I extracted some arbitrary way in which our three essays tied together.

Only one more day of class remains.

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Fun-filled fact: Bland pop singer Bruno Mars scores his fourth #1 hit as announced today at Billboard.com. It took him only two years and ten months to rack up four #1 hits, which is almost the fastest of any male soloist.

The record, still holding strong after nearly half a century, is held by Bobby Vinton, who racked up four #1 hits in just two years and six months (between 1962 and 1964). This, of course, excludes Elvis, who took just under 6 months to achieve this feat. But…that was before the chart was officially known as the Hot 100, so it doesn’t count.

Neither Mars nor Vinton comes anywhere close to the female record, currently held by Mariah Carey. She accumulated her first four #1 hits between August 1990 and March 1991; a mere seven months and one week. And, unlike Vinton, she went on to have more #1 hits after that. In fact, she has more #1 hits than any other woman, ever.

Of course, the fastest that any act has ever garnered a quartet of hit is…are you ready for this…it’s really gonna come as a shock…here it comes…ready?…

The Beatles.

Yeah, I know, it’s an amazing surprise. They achieved their fourth #1 hit (“Love Me Do”) less than four months after their first #1 hit. In fact, they could have had five #1 hits during that time, except that their song “Twist and Shout” stalled at #2, being blocked from the top by…you guessed it…The Beatles.

With such a short time remaining in 2012, there’s a tiny chance we could have another #1 hit this year, but if not, then this is it: Twelve #1 hits in 2012. That’s the first time, ever, that the number of #1 songs has matched the number of the year. Well, we’ll see. There might be a 13th hit this year, and that would wreck everything. 

Thursday, 13 December 2012

I’m relieved to report today was my last day of class for the semester.

The work for class isn’t done yet; I still have a final paper that I need to turn in by 5:00 on Wednesday, the 19th, but I can stop by anytime and just slide it under the professor’s door…so no worries.

I’ve been nervous all semester about getting to class from work. Especially this week, with the roads in rough shape from all the snow, I’ve feared the traffic would cause me to be late. And I’ve worried about my car, which, for all appearances, seems like it shouldn’t keep running, but somehow is. The car has now logged over 181,000 miles, and rust is eating it en masse, but it just keeps on trucking. Or car-ing, as the case may be.

Anyway, that’s one less stress. Thanks to my car for getting me there faithfully everyday this semester. Next semester I’ll be taking an evening class, so Iwon’t have to worry, since I’ll be leaving from home and that gives me plenty more options if there is car trouble or inclement weather.