Ramdom joy

All of this formatted in Word: 7,017 pages.

Of course, that's just cold stats that mean nothing without the context of the friendships I've made, the shots I've drank, the quality (or lack) in the writing, the arguments and conversations, the wonderful crew of regular readers and commenters, the Screaming Trees/Mark Lanegan obsession, and the groupies.

Okay, I made up the bit about the groupies. Still, the point stands: although I remain skeptical of the blogosphere as an emergent media voice, there is some reason I keep writing, commenting, and responding. There's a mix of pleasure that I derive from writing, from being read, and from being challenged that isn't answered anywhere else in my life. I thank everyone who has played a constructive role in that, with special thanks going to those people who I now consider friends and those writers who have contributed both here and at AfricaBlog.

The next year of the blog will hopefully see an increase in quality. I don't do resolutions, but if there were one for this situation it would be to see something that I've written published and paid for in a professional setting. A lesser goal, of course, is to finally get Instapundit and Steve Green to blogroll me.

Oh, and groupies. I plan to have more groupies, if possible.

Thanks for supporting me, reading me, propping me up on those occasions when spam comments had me near blog-retirement, and for all of the insightful commentary that you've all left on the site. It's been an honor to be read and to feel respected for my opinions and my thoughts.

Thank you.