Smoke and Mirrors

I’m wondering what went through your mind when you read the title of this post.
I know what went through mine, but I’m just curious.

Blogging has become something of an obsession of mine since I began in February of 2005. I shudder to think how much time I’ve spent posting, endlessly messing with my template and header, reading and commenting on other blogs (the list goes on, as you well know).

Several interesting things happened this year at Smoke and Mirrors:

1) My piece ‘14 Signs you may be suffering from a BCD’ (blogging compulsive disorder) was published in an online book and is now available in print through Amazon. Pretty cool. (thanks, Deb Woehr) I still can’t afford a house on the French Riviera but it’s still pretty cool.

2) The ‘Crap’ post fiasco where another blogger labeled me as a racist (thanks for sticking up for me Fuzz)

3) the total Fubar with the ever enigmatic Bloggy Awards, which I won’t go into here but suffice to say I learned a few valuable lessons.

The list goes on but those are a few of the standouts that come to mind.

The year also saw the introduction of a few new bloggers namely, Writer Chick (you can thank me for prodding her. Shit, she has more readers than me now), Spasmicallyperfect, Anonymum, MurderofRavens (visit him and say he’s still slacking) and the fiery riddle that is PureEvyl (God, let me count the ways I love this freakshow of a blogger).

I started an Alzheimer webring called Memory Lane, a collection of blogs that chronicle some aspect of the devastating disease.
Every blog residing there is worthy of a look.
I only wish I had the time to devote to visiting all the blogs there and promoting the webring.

As I always say, in a perfect world.

A few blogs caught my eye because they were so interesting.
Never Goodbye and Mercurial Scribe are wonderful weblogs that simply put many to shame because they’re so well written.
Speaking of eloquence, there’s my new friend Sarah Flanigan and In the Shadow of His Wings, both exceptional in terms of the quality of writing and creativity of thought to be found there.

There’s a downside as well with the blogosphere in terms of linking.
This year I linked to several blogs after commenting numerous times.
There’s no cardinal rule that states linking is reciprocal but I felt I had something in common with these folks and I foolishly expected a linkback.
Never expect a linkback.
Never.

I check Technorati every few days to see anyone new that’s linked to me.

I never found one of these blogs linking back, no comments on my blog as well.

So, I blew them away.

If they don’t like it, tough shit.

All I ever really wanted was to be, at the very least, acknowledged.

Sour apples?
I don’t think so.
They needed me more than I needed them.

Nothing cocky, we’re just talking common courtesy here. That’s all.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens next year.
Or not.

Tune in on January 1^st to see if I’m still alive and kicking… and posting.
I may very well be.

Happy New Year, everybody.
2007 is here. Good God, already?
Stay safe…

~m