Swan Queen

Right, so I should probably tell you who won the “Black Swan” Blu-ray. Contests are always fun until I have to do the actual work of contest administering. But enough with the suspense; I promised prizes. And the winner, thanks to my friend the random number generator thingie, is … drum roll … Amanda aka jazzytrumpet[at]gmail.com. Honest to blog, the random thingie doesn’t lie. Please email me to collect your winnings, Amanda.

For everyone else, thank you for entering and thank you even more for your ridiculously kind words about my blogiversary. I should make you guys tell me how long you’ve been hanging around here more often. Makes it feel like old-home week or something. Actually, that so many of you have been around for so long makes me feel almost bashful. Like, you know so much about me yet I know so little about you. What’s your favorite color? How do you take your coffee? Who was the first pershttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifon to call you beautiful who wasn’t a family member? I’ll start. Blue, but it used to be red. Black, with one sugar. Pam, but that’s another story for another day.

While we’re in a sharing mood, I’ve been wondering if there’s anything more you’d like from me. Yes, I know – a picture. But that’s just not going to happen until certain pre-determined conditions occur. (Your move, Jodie.) Plus, you’ve already seen plenty of my thumb. And that’s probably my fifth best feature anyway. But I mean more like topics, interactions, community atmosphere. I’ve long had an insanely strict policy about not replying in comments. This is partially due to my lack of time, but also because I believe it’s your space and not mine. I get the whole top of the post to pontificate. But if you feel that’s something you’d really, really like to see, I’ll consider it.

I’ve noticed that while traffic has about remained the same there’s been a slow down on comments the last couple of weeks, which happens. I’ve been doing this for long enough to see the ebbs and flows. Or perhaps you’ve all got finals right now or – you know – full and complete lives outside of the internet. But I’m always open to suggestion to make things more interactive. The not-so-secret secret about us online writer types is that comments are to bloggers as applause is to Tinkerbell. Fine, we don’t need them to live exactly. But they sure help us feel like we exist.

Oh, and speaking of existential crises, just in case you’re still feeling blue about not having won the “Black Swan” Blu-ray, you can still enjoy some of the mindfuckery here. I share because I care. There, now doesn’t everyone feel like a winner?