It suddenly occurred to me that my blog’s anniversary was coming up. As I do every year, I sat down to write up my usual post on the topic. And this is when I realized that this is a mighty big occasion indeed. Ten years ago, on this very day, I started this blog here on WordPress! Yes, the one you’re reading right now! And today, on this most special of days, I’d like you to join me as we reminisce on what has taken place in all that time. Continue reading A Decade of Blogging Well Spent
For the first time in nine years, the Duck has missed my blog’s birthday. On July 13 of this year, it turned nine years old. In the hopes that my blog won’t be holding a grudge for my thoughtlessness, I thought I’d write a quick, if late, post about my ninth year of blogging goodness. Continue reading Nine Years of Blogging!
In just a few short years, the Duck’s blog will be a decade old. But until then…this Monday (July 16) is my blog’s eighth birthday. If my blog was a human child, it would be in…third grade? It’s been yet another crazy year of madness, and this post was put on this Earth to talk about it. Here we go! Continue reading Eight Years of Blogging Has Happened!
My blog is now seven years old, folks! How cool is that? I had hoped that such a lucky number would mean good luck, and it pretty much did, as a lot of nifty neato things happened this year! Before we get to the good stuff, let’s review my current stats. Hmm, let’s see here…subscribers went up from 295 to 349, and total views has increased from 24,723 to 29,061. Mm-kay. My best day continues to be December 9, 2012 with 208 views.
I’m super happy my subscribers and views have increased this past year. (And it’s all thanks to you guys!) But the fact that my blog’s best day was 4.5 years ago makes me cry on the inside a little. Continue reading The Blog’s a Lucky Seven Years Old
Has it already been six years already? Actually, it feels longer… Okay, well, today is the Duck’s sixth anniversary of blogging, and it’s been a pretty busy year. First off, let’s start with some stats. I currently have 295 followers, a grand total of 24723 views, with my best day being 208 views on…December 9, 2012? Huh, good to know my best day ever came about three and a half years ago. You’re really moving up in the world, Duck….
Now, for the major events, and there’s been some big ones. Well, one anyway. This past year, United We Game, the other blog I write for, finally started a Youtube channel! As a result, I finally got to begin a long-time dream of mine, learning how to record gameplay. In that time, I have learned how to record gameplay with video game consoles and the PC, how to edit videos, and how to live stream using XSplit Broadcaster, with my first live stream thus far being my Five Nights at Freddy’s Halloween live stream. Exciting stuff! And educational, too. If you like gaming and haven’t already visited our channel, please do. We have lots of great gaming-related videos on there. You’ll love it. Continue reading Six Years of Being a Quack
I nearly forgot to type this post, and I guess when you’ve been blogging for as long as I have, it is easy to take it for granted that I’ve been doing this for, what’s it been? Oh, yes, five years. That’s right, say what! I don’t know, just ignore that. Ahem, so yeah, I can’t believe it, either. I mean, seriously, half a decade? That’s like, more than 1000 days! I’m awesome! Continue reading Five Years of Duckyness
I was recently nominated by the most kind Dinodimare for the Blogger Recognition Award! Thanks so much! As is the case with all delightful blogging awards, there are a few little things I need to do: give two pieces of advice, tell how my blog got started, and nominate a few more deserving individuals. Here I go. Continue reading The Duck’s Been Recognized…for the Blogger Recognition Award!
Wow, it’s already that time again (I’m actually not that surprised, really, as this was a rather long year, but I’m still enthused, nonetheless). It is, once again, the anniversary of my blog (is it just me, or does this seem to happen every year?). What’s it been now? Four years? Well, a lot’s happened over this past year, not all necessarily blog-related, but it’s still worth mentioning. This has actually been a rather stressful year for me, with lots of unhappy things that I won’t be mentioning. Fortunately, this was also a year filled with a good deal of excitement, which is far more suited to sharing.
To start, I have now been blogging over at “United We Game” with Cary of “Recollections of Play” and Jacob/Hatm0nster for about a year now (UWG’s anniversary was actually not that long ago, so I guess blogs are typically born in summer). In just a short time, UWG has been growing like crazy thanks to the hard work of my fellow administrators and our lovely contributors, and I look forward to many more years of blogging with all of them. (In fact, we’ve already been interviewed over on “Wrong Button Blog”, if you want to check it out.) And if you haven’t already checked UWG out, then come on by for a visit. And while it was a terrible year for pets, as this was the first year in my entire life that my house was completely lacking in cats, I did get a new pet, an adorable pop-eyed goldfish named Peepers you may or may not have read about already, so that somewhat helped to soothe the anguish. Continue reading Two Years Squared Equals What?!
It seems this particular waterfowl has been nominated for the Blog of the Year Award by the most kind Totalovrdose, also known as Naughty Nefarious of “Station Deva”. Thanks much! With this award comes a few things I must do, which are:
Okay, so it appears it is time for me to nominate people for this award. And so the nominating shall…commence!
Duck of the Year
(Just a note: You may have seen this post a week or two ago. That’s because I meant to save it, but instead, I published it. Then deleted it, so it would no longer be published. So yeah. This is the official one.)
Today’s topic for the 100 Theme Challenge is #9, Drive. This makes me think of several things. One is driving a car, which I hate. I hate driving. I hate green lights. No, really, I hate green lights, not red. There is no certainty in a green light. It means go, unless it turns yellow all of a sudden, and then you must decide to stop and possibly stop so fast someone rams into your backside, or do you speed through and potentially run a red light. I am not good at measuring distances at high speeds (not that I go that fast, but it’s faster than I can walk, and I’m a pretty quick walker, too, seriously, you don’t know how many people have commented on how fast I can walk), so knowing if my car has enough distance to stop safely or not is difficult. A red light, on the other hand, is certain. It means stop. You see a red light, and you have no hard decisions to make. You stop that vehicular transport of yours. Unless it turns to green, and then you have the whole conundrum I just described to worry about again.
The other meaning of drive is what drives you. What motivates you. And that I shall focus on for the rest of this post. So what drives the duck? Well, it depends. Certain things I do for fun. I play video games for fun. It is relaxing. The stories and characters are interesting. And it’s a break from a world filled with frowns. I also play the piano for my own enjoyment, kind of an extension of my video games, as I mainly play video game music on it. (Currently more or less mastered Organization XIII’s theme from “Kingdom Hearts” and can do a slow, crappy version of “The Last Travel” from “FFXIII-2”, which doesn’t sound right in parts without the violin. Who wants to come over and play the violin parts? I’ll even make eggless cookies, which means even the dough is safe for human and avian consumption.)
Ahem. But, while I DO things for fun, I CREATE things for several reasons. First and foremost, I create things because I enjoy it, or else I wouldn’t do it. And I must admit, when I think into it, it seems I also create things for acknowledgement from others. I don’t want to sound like someone who needs the attention of other people. Because I don’t. At least, I don’t think I do. (I like to dress plain so people will not notice me at the grocery store. Don’t look at me! Otherwise, I might possibly get compliments, and with compliments, comes stress.) Despite my usual desire to avoid the spotlight, there are certain things I don’t want to do if I can’t share it with other people. I wouldn’t do something I don’t enjoy just to share it with others, but I am less driven (ha, there’s a form of that word again!) to do certain things I enjoy if no one will ever see it.
For example, if no one ever read my blog, I don’t know if I’d keep doing it. I should do it for my own enjoyment. But, for whatever reason, I want people to look at what I wrote. Even if it’s people I don’t even know. I mean, we all want that. Much of the people reading this right now are bloggers, and so you know how that is. It’s not that we need attention, but we receive a certain satisfaction when someone reads, comments on, and likes what we wrote. And it’s the same for other things, too. I used to like to draw more (I’ve gotten rather bored with it as of late, though, as my efforts always seem to be, well, sucky), and I wanted people to see my pictures. If no one was going to ever see it, I kind of didn’t want to do it. I also didn’t want to bother with my comic, whether it was fun or not, if no one would see it. Which is silly, but I couldn’t help feeling that way. And I love writing fan fiction, but it just would not be the same if people didn’t read my stories. I have such a great time writing them, but if I couldn’t post them online, would I even bother? There’s a good chance I wouldn’t.
So is that what drives me? People’s acknowledgement of what I do? Do I need people’s approval for my work? Is it that simple? Or is it something else? Perhaps it’s not that I do these things because I want their approval. Maybe I do it because I like doing what I’m doing, and it seems more worthwhile if I can share it with others. What use is a fantastic novel filled with suspense and mystery and cake if no one ever reads it or a masterpiece (of a painting of cake) no one has ever laid eyes on? That is not to say my work is that grand, but certain things need others to see it by virtue of being what they are.
And some things just feel a lot more worthwhile if it can be shared. It feels like I’m not simply wasting my time, but I’m actually receiving some kind of payment in the form of others enjoying my work. We wouldn’t go to our jobs everyday if we didn’t get paid for it. I would have less of a desire to continue creating things if I didn’t get the joy of comments and favorites and such from it. It would feel like wasted effort that could be better spent gaming more or learning to not be so crappy on the piano.
So in short, I guess what drives me to do certain things starts with my enjoyment of that thing, and my drive to share it is just that, my, well, drive to share it. Because sharing is good and all that nonsense. Remember that little bit of wisdom (even though it doesn’t apply to germs or gossip, so maybe it’s not so true, after all…)? I am motivated to do lots of things because they are fun, including maintaining this blog, but you, my dear reader, are what gives it meaning. Now, does that not DRIVE you to review?
What drives you to do the things you do?
I’m Driven to Be a Duck, Because “Be a Duck” is a Store Someone Drove Me To, What?!
The Duck of Indeed 