minor milestone

For those who have been counting, this is the 50th post I have made since the humble birth of this magical world of words (pwow!) back in 2004. October 2004 to be almost precise. Wow, so next month this will be 3 years old and I have only made 50 posts?

I wonder if I can coin the phrase "quality not quantity" here and get away with it. No, I don't think so. It's just slack. But at least I have managed to come back after lengthy periods of not posting and spark some life into it, rather than abandon all ye posts here and move on to MySpace or something. Man I hate all those profile sites.

Okay, so 50 posts! I want you to imagine me wearing a party hat and surrounded by balloons and streams of paper as I write this.

During the very first month here I managed to churn out 11 posts. I updated daily with little - and I do mean little - posts, all before dinner. I think I was much angrier then too. The last post I made in the founding month involved swearing about bank loans. That's interesting, because that particular loan is just about paid off now. Ironically, the post before this one had a bank in it, but less swearing.

I'm not sure I was a talented writer back then. I think I literally wrote what came to my head unedited, and without thinking about how odd it looks when you bounce ideas around and jump topics midsentence.

After the prolific month of October, I didn't update until the following year in January. To be exact it was 9:49pm on New Year's day. I was a week away from ending my reign as an 18 year old. Naturally the post is about the lack of posts since October.

That year I managed to post at least once a month, excluding only April, August and, funnily enough, October. It was my most productive year in posts.

2006 was a terrible year. I made less posts in the whole year than I did in the first October. So much for raising the bar. On the plus side, I am hoping to defeat the amazing record of 14 posts in a year this time around. Considering this is post number thirteen for 2007, I am confident I can do it.

Some other interesting facts before I continue:
2007 is the only year since I began that I have not posted anything in January.
October 2004, the beginning month, is the only time I ever posted in October.
I seem to always post something around the middle of the year in June or July.
March is the most active month, averaging 3 posts every year except this year where April produced four. Incredible!
I average 2 posts a month. Nice.

Since the beginning I like to think my writing and my posts have improved a hell of a lot. For starters, they are longer (the longest now being exactly 1000 words, I believe.) and more entertaining. I have only once had a good old rant and I have never discussed politics or celebrity gossip. Not to prove a point, but because they are very boring topics. One day I will merge them together and create an abomination of gossip. John Howard. Bush. Adopt Sharon Stone. Yeaaaahhh.

My goal whenever I sit down here - now between midnight and 5am - is not to describe what I did for the day or week in boring detail. What I try to do, more so now, is turn something as dull as changing a tyre into a small story you can read and not wonder why you have to endure the tedium of someone else's life. Unless you enjoy that, in which case I suggest you read something else. While I do post about stuff that happens, has happened and is happening, I don't like to write like a Dear Diary: Today I dug a hole. I like to throw off tangents, wild speculation, interesting thoughts and some good old randomness.

In a sense, I pour my brain out and clean the mess up with grammar, spelling and hopefully humour. If I fail to amuse you, the reader, at least know that I have probably amused myself somehow. Even if it's with something not related to what I typed.

Before I finish, I want to thank whoever is still reading (besides me), even though I really do update never. In particular I want to thank:

Jenna, for telling me I could write and kick-starting a passion and ambition that hasn't died since.

Rachel, for being an amazing girlfriend, despite living thousands of kilometres away and being busy working towards supporting me with a high-paying job (you know it's true). Also for reminding me when I haven't updated in a while!

Anyone who has ever complimented my writing. It's both ego-inflating and much appreciated. You have no idea how good it is to be told you are good at something you really want to do as a career. Well, maybe you do, but thanks anyway!

Lastly, my mind. For being alive and unfathomable. We make a good team.

Oh, and banks. I feel I need to thank them too.

- Pary; Greg ζ.

You don't know how good you are until
You think you are better than somebody else
You either prove yourself right
Or discover that you're not
As good
As you imagined