All right, everyone. It’s time for a bit of a party – today marks the one-year anniversary of my first “real” post on this blog. I did a since-deleted “getting ready” post and a welcome post, but on this day last year I posted my first Album of the Week. A great album and also, to be expected, my least-viewed post. I guess someone has to be the loser.

It’s been a pretty wild ride getting set back up in the blogging sphere. I did blogs in some form semi-regularly from 1998 through to 2011. At that time I intended to “make the big leap” and get my own domain and do stuff on a level I hadn’t done before. It only took ten years for me to actually get to it.

I was a bit worried about doing it again, after all – who the hell reads blogs in 2021 and 2022? Blogging was already “on the way out” in 2011 thanks to YouTube and social media. Was I pissing in the wind trying to start something up in 2021?

As it turns out, no. It’s been a really cool thing this past year. I’ve been able to stick with it, people have been reading, and all in all it’s been a rewarding experience.

It has been kind of funny at times. Back in the “old days” when I was younger and had more cognitive function I could crap out a blog post in no time flat. These days it takes a bit more work, but also I imagine things are a little more “on the rails” than I used to be too. (And also this time around I told myself I was gonna edit and triple check everything – yeah, right. Not happening).

But enough of that – looking forward, I don’t plan or expect any huge changes. I’m working to post four days a week now and I think I have that down. I’d eventually love to get to five every week but that might be a bit off in the distance yet (save this week, which will have five). I have enough “occasional” series running now that it’s fairly easy to come up with ideas to crank out.

There are no huge three or more part projects on the horizon right now. I’ve done a few before but I haven’t been struck with the inspiration with anything big lately. I’m sure something will dawn on me someday, but for now it will be a rotating series of S-Tier Songs, Tales From The Stage, and the other “here and there” things I do (along with the weekly single series). A new thing here or there may pop up, but I’m going to ride it out like this for a bit before I spring anything new.

One thing I had intended to do that hasn’t surfaced yet is YouTube. I was going to do album rankings and other things like that in video form. I honestly just haven’t had the time or inclination to mess with it. I may give it a go and see if I can’t get that off the ground before year’s end, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to hold their breath for it.

I have also considered the idea of doing a second, non-music related blog. That is something that may very well happen but will also be a ways off. I want to make sure I have this one sailing smoothly before I commit to something else. But we’ll see.

One note before I go – thank you to everyone who has visited, commented and/or otherwise interacted here. I got a bigger response than I’d anticipated, it’s certainly not easy to get or keep anyone’s attention these days. It’s nice to know I’m not just typing into the void, I doubt I would’ve hung around a year that way.

That’s about all I got – it’s kind of funny to think that, after a year, I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the music I like and have listened to. This site and concept could easily outlive my ability to run it. That’s a good thing, I suppose. Thank you all and we’ll see what the next year brings.