1 year, 200 posts

Well, this is my 200th post on my 1st year anniversary. A lot has happened in that year. I graduated from University with a Bachelor of Commerce and accepted a job at the University of Saskatchewan with University Advancement.

History

This blog started after the death of an old blog, This Is Now. I was a bit down because I felt I was writing some very good articles, but was getting little to no feedback. I'm a controversial person and I want some debate. It's no fun to just write something and have nobody comment on it one way or another. So, after some rallying started by Pilot, I decided to start anew, this time on the Blogger site. My life was very hectic between school, volunteer, and work, so I began Hecticity.

I definitely was very stressed at the beginning of this blog. I was beginning what was arguably the hardest semester of my entire university career. My goal was to come out of that semester with a 75% average. Well, my average at the end was 75.00%. In addition to that, I was beginning what I would say was the most stressful 8 months of my time at Subway. By the end of those 8 months, I was working 40 hours a week and being totally unappreciated. I was very dissatisfied with my job. I had to give myself a pep talk every time I had to go to work, because I simply could not find the will to go back to that store day after day. I finally made the decision to quit at Subway and use my savings to support me over the summer until I found a job.

At the beginning, I definitely focused a lot on my personal life. Lots of articles where I just complained and whined. I have now focused most of those articles to another of my blogs that is not public. Other interests appeared, such as my obsession with Tai Shan, the new panda at the National Zoo, who is now 14 months old. And I introduced a new edition of Dirty Commies, the comic my friend Kurt draws.

I introduced a few recurring features, none of which are still around. One was Quotable Quotes and the other was Who's the Most Jedi? Not so much success on the former, but good interest and controversy on the second.

I hosted a very successful Election MSN Party in January during the Federal Election. We had up to 10 people at any one time with lots of different opinions. It seems that a lot of people who read my blog and participated are very liberal with a little l. I'm very conservative, with a little c. So, this made things very interesting.

In the latest few months, I've started to write a few more articles that actually raise issues and ask people for opinions. I have very controversial views and never back down from an issue if I have an opinion.

In January, I became part of the SaskBlogs aggregator, started by Lance. This has opened me up to a lot of other blogs. I went to a blog meet in Regina, but unfortunately something came up and I wasn't able to make the Saskatoon one. Through the aggregator, I've learned of great blogs like Catprints, Abandoned Stuff, John Murney, and others.

So, all in all, it's been a good year.

Future

I have a few plans for the blog in the coming year. I want to move more and more away from personal posts and direct those to my other blogs, of which I have a fair amount. I really enjoy the political posts and the discussion that comes from those. So, this blog will hopefully be a bit more directed towards that, although there will still be some fun posts.

Contest

I have a new contest for the blogging circle!! I bought an answering machine in January, and had a really serious greeting on it, as most of the people phoning and leaving messages were potential employers, as I was on a full-out job search this summer. So, now they don't phone me anymore, so I don't need a serious greeting. So, the contest is to write an answering machine greeting for me!!

I would prefer having no swears in the message, as my grandparents do occasionally phone me when I'm not home. And the message must incorporate my phone number and my name. Other than that, there are no other rules.

Entries are due on Friday, October 13, 2006 by midnight.

The winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to a store of their choice.

That's all. It's been a great year, and I'm starting off the new year with this new contest!! So, I hope to get a lot of entries.

Oh, and Nathan, you still owe me a prize!!!!!!!!!!!