Everybody Else is Doing It

…and with that title, I’ve ensured that I will be walking around singing The Cranberries for the REST OF THE YEAR.  So, um…thanks for that, self.  <.<

It’s the last day of 2012 and it is A MONDAY.  This seems appropriate in some way that I can’t quite completely grasp.  I’m still working on my first cup of coffee, so bear with me.

I’m including the Year End Fireworks Celebration that WordPress put together at the end, but that’s not even close to being all I want to talk about today.

[sips coffee]

See, Heather? I DO SO wear clothes. Jeez.

I have this strange personality quirk (or maybe everyone is like this, I don’t really know) where I find it incredibly easy to be optimistic for the people I consider to be my friends, but when it comes to myself, I’m the most pessimistic sturm und drang-er there ever was.  I have no problem talking everyone else into believing that no matter how terrible this year was, the next is sure to be better.  But for myself, I’m unable to see any possibility of a silver lining.  I’m going to work on that in 2013.

Because…when I really think about it, 2008-2009 were bags of shit, but each year since then has been progressively a tiny bit better.  This leads me to believe that the trend will continue.  I am (tentatively) hopeful that with this move and everything that’s coming up, 2013 will manage to be slightly better than 2012, which was just a bit better than 2011 and so on.

See?  Hope.  That’s kind of new.

Moving on.

In 2012, goodreads tells me that I read 167 books.  I’d originally set the challenge up for 75 (because I don’t like pressure), but Megiggles made me change it to 100 in February because I wasn’t “challenging [my]self enough.”  Then, in May I upped it again to 125 because I realized I was going to blow past 100 way before the end of the year.  I’d considered upping it again to 150, but I like that it says I’m at 134% of my goal.

There were also comics and stuff that I read that aren’t in the gr database, but still.  Even if I didn’t manage the 300+ books of some people I’ve seen on goodreads, I’m averaging a book every two days, which is pretty darn respectable.  This is the first time I’ve actively tracked how much I read in a year, so we’ll see what happens next.  Tune in tomorrow to see my reading plans for the year.

Moving on even further, looking at my stats for the year, I’ve realized that no one really reads book reviews.  Maybe this is different for people that ONLY post book reviews, but my straight review stats are down in the dumpster on the detention level, whereas bookish thought posts tend to do much better.

I’ll be posting fewer straight reviews, since I was never very good at them anyway.  I haven’t got the wherewithal or the patience to post book blurbs and publishing information.  Also, I don’t really care about that stuff, so…yeah.

2012 was the year I was Freshly Pressed for a post I almost didn’t even write because it’s not the sort of thing I generally talk about.  I guess that’ll learn me, huh?  Also, I am SO DISAPPOINT IN ALL OF YOU that not ONE PERSON got where the title of that post came from.  NOT ONE PERSON!  This is very distressing.

So, even though that was my most viewed post for the year, it’s not one of those that I was particularly proud of.  The posts I was proud of?

• My Philip K Dick flow chart
• My recaps of The Silmarillion
• My post about my grandfather
• My ranty post about “stealthy” members of fandom
• My open letter to the US
• All of my posts so far over at Insatiable Booksluts

Those may not have been my most viewed posts (really, not even close), but they’re the things I think are the most ME.  If you’re just starting here, you can get an idea of what I’m about by reading those.  I usually hate everything that comes out of my mouth, er…flows from my fingertips, but that is the stuff I’m really happy I wrote.

…and now I think I’m done.  I don’t want to talk about 2012 anymore, I just want it to be over.

Here, if you’re interested, you can have a look at what WordPress thinks are the highlights of my year, but just know that I DISAGREE.

Oh, and in typical me-fashion, my blog is procrastinating right up until the last minute.  If I can manage 80 more views today, December will be my best blogging month ever.

I’m not going to worry about all that right now, though – I’m going to go watch NumberLand for the eleventy billionth time with Baby Girl.  Have a safe and happy New Year, my friends.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 50,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 12 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.