__ Don Waka, We Still Dey Carry Go

     So, as you might have surmised, October is a big month for me. My birthday was on the 4^th as well as Mama Mia’s on the 16^th (yup! 9jaGreat, we Librans are jest too special!….:D) and a year ago from today, this blog was birthed. You know, I thought I was going to have something really bright and ingenious to write/do to commemorate this 1^st year anniversary ……turns out that I don’t. In the stead of that, permit me to regale you with the run-down of how and why I started blogging.

     If you live in a little college village upstate New York and you are as fickle as HoneyDame, chances are that you will get bored very easily.  I love to read. I pride myself on at least giving everything I stumble on equal chances to be read (although somewhere along the line, I drop some for not being interesting/engaging enough). My friend had started blogging a few months before me, maybe even more than a few months. And she had sent me the link to her blog to check it out. I did, and from time to time, went there to see what was new. I had no idea that I could just click on some of those links to read other blogs.

     At that time, blogging seemed to me as the new facebook, as everyone and their dogs had blogs.  I almost even swore that I wouldn’t join the band wagon. I spent a few hours on Bella Naija from time to time but wasn’t satisfied because the update time on interesting stuff was too far between for me. Naijapals was just…..”urrrgghh” for me. Those forums were bland, and for the most part, full of obnoxious and totally clueless people (by my estimation). It just wasn’t my type of thing.

    I had always wanted to keep a diary of some sort, or more appropriately, a journal. But the one time I attempted doing that, the writing space wasn’t enough and I had to code the entries so bad for the fear of it being discovered. It wasn’t like I had classified information in there, but I just wasn’t comfortable with the idea.  I later tried to re-introduce it into my facebook page but soon realized that I couldn’t just update my status everytime an idea/topic for discussion ran through my head. Plus, if you haven’t already noticed, I am quite a lady of many words (especially when I am being social). So again facebok couldn’t cut it for me neither would twitter (not that I even attempted that one).

   I can’t remember how, but I stumbled on Baba Alaye’s blog. I had just read his latest post at that time and decided that he was captivating enough to make me want to read his posts from the beginning. I did. And from there, I moved to T-Minx’s blog. Apparently, the two had some blog love going on. Either that was real or just a joke, I still don’t know because now, I have realized that on Blogger, the possibilities are endless.

By the time I was done perusing the blogs, I had found the answer to my “troubles”. I could just have a blog! I could write about those things I found interesting around me. I don’t take myself too seriously so for the most part, it was for the entertainment value. That way, I could amuse myself sometimes. Also, I don’t know about anyone else, but I get kicks from reading something I had written at a prior time. I am intrigued by reading generally because I can create the scene in my mind and make conjectures about the thought process of the author at that time…etc. So, without much ado, I took maybe 2seconds to decide on a name and signed up for a blog.

    On why I decided to be anonymous, I don’t really know why. Perhaps it is just in my nature to attempt doing something from the background first and then take it up a notch if after a while I feel convinced it is the best thing to do. There really isn’t much logical explanation to that.

    Remember I said starting the blog was majorly for my entertainment. I mean, I had no idea that people read other people’s blogs like that. So I carried on with that notion and you can imagine my surprise when about 2months after I out up my first post I saw that I had a comment! I mean, I was still (and still am) learning the ropes at that time! P.E.T Projects, I could I ever forget that?! How did you even discover me? I was ecstatic! The ecstasy escalated when I got my first Myne Whitman comment. It was/still is such a big deal to me. I had heard her name somehow somewhere before then. I had seen her blog and made a conclusion that she was in the very least a blog celebrity. So in my mind, I would have to be bordering on grey-haired before I would ever be recognized by her person on blogsville.

   And before long, I started getting those “regulars” of that time; you know the ones who would still drop a line or two on your crappiest post ever just to encourage you. The feeling was indescribable. Shout out to Ble Ble and @ilola. And to think, a year down the road, they still haven’t deserted me.

    Uhm, my original purpose for starting a blog has been fulfilled so far. There is never a dull moment with blogsville.  I totally love my life here. I am grateful for your giving this blog a chance, for the occasional educative and all time entertainment pieces on your blogs, your comments here (I can’t over emphasize)…..just everything.  You may not know it but perhaps if I got no encouragement, I might have dabbled into some life threatening activity to pass time, perhaps I  would have been auditioning for the next Big Loser from eating so much junk to pass time…..In some ways, you saved me.

And to my followers: You guys are the next best thing since shortbread. You are amazing. About 2-3 posts ago, I mentioned how I would love to have 100 followers to commemorate today. Maybe or not they were humoring me but between then and now, I see that about 11 people obliged me. You rock!!!

To those Silent Readers Who Don’t Leave Comments But Still Read Anyway:  You are awesome. And even though I’d rather you drop a line to let me know that you were here, I still appreciate your virtual presence.  

40 something posts, 700 and something comments, 97 followers , a few awards and an incredible and ever growing community after,

Here

To an even greater year ahead.

So this is me saying “Hopefully, next year (if you don’t all desert me) I will have something more profound and concise (and maybe shorter too) to say. *Pause* Again, thank You.”

****wipe tears-filled eyes****

The Parry continues at 9jaFOODie's and LohiO's for some lemzing.

***Disclaimer: Image gotten from google.com***