Tag: Blog Stuff

  • Tax Day and Some Other Stuff

    This seems appropriate…

    Really, I’m using this as an excuse to play a Beatles song.

    But taxes are due today, as I am sure everyone is aware. Funny how with everything going on in the world today, and also in a Manhattan courtroom, no one is talking about “Tax Day.”

    Also, and this has nothing to do with anything, as I know only four of you are seeing this, but I think that I want to start branching out with the blog into using different media for expression. I have been putting up more and more videos of late. Though I haven’t done this in a while, I was putting my sketches up on my IG, and now I’m thinking I might move them over to this. I haven’t found the knack of creating memes, but if I could, I think I would put them up here as well.

    I guess what I am saying is that this blog will always be that; a blog – written posts covering my personal observations and reviews of whatever media I take in that garners a reaction from me. But occasionally, I will be adding other things, to add some variety and keep me on my toes.

    Yeah, that sounds good.

  • Pretty Much My Last Blog Post of 2023

    I think that will be true. We are getting down to crunch time for the Holidays; the kid will be off from school, and soon the wife will be taking her Christmas vacation from work. Then we do have some traditions around the City we like to take part in, so the time to blog is growing short. And as such, this might be the last one I write for the year.

    Not that anyone is asking for this, and I am talking to the couple of you who stop by this blog, but I’ll post a Best of 2023, as well as some Holiday videos for Christmas and New Year’s. Once the kid and wife are back in school, I will resume the normal blogging schedule.

    As for 2023, it wasn’t a bad year…

    On the writing front, I submitted to 50+ magazines, and got accepted in one. I had planned on sending out to 100, and only then did I hope that maybe I’d get a bite. So, I’ll chalk that up as a win. I have three stories out there that I am waiting to hear on, so I guess there is still hope. The blog readership grew this year, which was unexpected to say the least. Most days, I feel like I am talking to myself in the dark, and lets be honest, that’s a rather true description. Yet, I averaged 5 readers a day in 2022, and in 2023 that grew to 20. I’m sure there are some Russian bots in those numbers, but some of you are real. Also, looking at the numbers, if you stop by this blog, you’re reading the Short Story Reviews, and not many of the other things I write about. (I don’t get any likes for my Tottenham posts, but I’m still going to write about my club.) I will say this about the reviews, which is that I have read more short stories this year than any other year of my life. I have discovered many new online lit journals which are great, and most importantly, I have read so many great new writers. I could do a better job about promoting these journals and writers, and perhaps that should be a goal for myself in 2024. I was hesitant in 2023 as I was writing and submitting myself, and I had this idea that it could be considered a conflict of interest. Then I reminded myself that no one knows who I am, no one cares, so I should just relax.

    On the other personal fronts; my wife is good, the kid is healthy and doing well in school, and life in the City isn’t too bad. There will always be things that I need to work on so I can be a better husband and father, and friend, and son, and brother. I’ll still be pulling for the Dallas Cowboys to win the Super Bowl this year, and I would be happy with Tottenham just qualifying for the Champions League. Cubs are the Cubs, so I’ll be happy with a winning season. It would be good if I got back to sketching more, and maybe I should complete a book or some art project in 2024. Who knows…

    But, in the end, I would like to say thank you to the 20 of you, if you are real, who look at this thing each day. You do validate my existence, and that’s a pretty nice thing to do for someone. Especially when it’s a middle-aged guy still trying to figure things out and expressing… opinions about stuff. Anyway, I appreciate it.

    Have a good Holidays and I’ll talk to you soon.

  • Post #1001

    Yesterday, I wrote my 1,000th blog post.

    When I started posting way back in 2017, I was a new father who was working a very stressful job, and I needed a creative outlet of some sort to keep me sane, and also to make me feel like I wasn’t giving up on me. The goal way back then was to write 250 words about a subject; any subject would do, just as long as I wrote 250 words.

    In that first year, I did a grand total of 11 posts.

    Followed by 105 posts in 2018.

    Then I backslid in 2019 with 67.

    But I came back in 2020 with 143 post. Sure, COVID and being unemployed played a big part in my increase in output.

    All in all, I have written 339,000+ words for this blog, and I have kept my sanity by being able to accomplish something each day. I like to think I am being creative still, and clearly a good number of you come by to read the short story reviews, which I appreciate.

    I also appreciate the solid core of early followers; all five of you – two of whom I do know personally – who took the time to read and like what I was doing.

    I didn’t know what I was doing when I started; I still don’t know what I’m doing, and I probably won’t know what I am doing when all is said and done.

    I am also aware that virtually no one will read this, and most likely I’m just talking to myself here. For that matter, I should rewrite my bio, and do a site redesign… I need new pictures, too.

    I don’t say this enough, but you should “like” my blog, and follow it. Also, you should leave comments, and click on the ads.

    While we’re at it, someone should offer me a job – writing reviews or editing at journal. To be honest, someone should publish my stories and offer me a book deal.

    But for the time being, I’m going back to reading some flash fiction (I’m really enjoying SmokeLong Quarterly currently) and crank out some new pieces.

  • This Week: Best of 2022 (Final Countdown Edition)

    This week, the days between Christmas and New Year’s, is one of my favorite periods of the year to relax and reflect. My little family will be all together, playing with our new toys, watching movies, and reading books. This week feels like the reward for surviving the insanity that is Halloween to Christmas. And as such, I won’t post any blogs until the start of January, 2023.

    For this week, I will be posting the top five blogs that have received the highest view counts. A “Best of 2022 (Final Countdown Edition)” so to speak. The fifth most viewed post will be today, Monday, and I’ll work our way up to the most seen post on Friday.

    I would also like to take a moment and say thank you, to all of you, who have stopped by and read my blog over the past year. I’m not delusional here, I know this is a little blog, that garners little traffic, which makes me very appreciative to those of you who do stop by. Again, thanks for helping make this fun.

    And (you know it’s coming) if you like what you have read, don’t be stranger, go ahead and like, comment, and share. Thank you for your support.

  • Masks and Coverings are Optional Now

    You know how, sometimes, your day will start, and you feel quite assured that you know the direction you will be heading. And then something unexpected happens, and you get sent in a whole new direction? I am sure that has happened to you, and today it happened very much to me.

    See, I was heading out to do the grocery shopping, which takes me down to the Trader Joe’s at Columbus and 93rd. It’s the closest one to our apartment in Harlem, and to get there I have to take a downtown local to 96th. I have been doing this for two and a half years now, so I have this route down. I know the best times to hit the stations to catch a train, and the best place to be on the platform to get in a relatively empty car.

    Now, the governor last week lifted the mask mandate on public transportation, so there are no more COVID restrictions in the City. So, when I decided to go run my errand down to the 93rd Trader Joe’s, I thought that this would be a good opportunity to ride the subway mask-less and write about what my experience was like. You know, blog stuff.

    I headed out for my local station. It was a cool morning that was also stupidly humid. I’m talking Miami or Houston at the height of Summer. Like you clothes just stick to you the second you walk out the door. I’m feeling a little gross, but hey, it’s the end of Summer around here. Fall will show up any day now.

    I walk down the staircase from the street to get to the subway station, and there was a guy taking a leak on the stairs. He had no shame. He made eye contact with me and nodded. I don’t think he was drunk or high, just a rough around the edges gentleman who needed to relieve himself. But, being that he had no shame, his penis was on full display.

    Sadly, a guy taking a wiz in NYC is a rather common observed action. It is truly frowned upon by society, but I have a feeling that public urination was a problem for the Dutch, and it will remain a problem for this town going forward. It’s annoying, and people like that guy do make NYC not the best place to live, but I wasn’t about to stop what I was doing to yell at the guy. I had places to be.

    Anyway, I catch the train down to 96th, and get off. And as I am walking down the platform headed toward the stairs, unfortunately, there was a homeless person sleeping on the bench down there, with a granny cart filled with items and clothing. The Mayor is claiming they are cleaning up and helping the homeless that call the subway home, but they really aren’t. I just went along my way up the stairs.

    And at 96th, if you don’t know, it’s a stacked station, meaning that the downtown tracks are on the lowest level. Above them are the uptown tracks with the turnstile entrance and MTA booth. From there you take the stairs up to the street.

    I’m coming up the stairs to the uptown level, and I see lots of clothes spread on the uptown platform. My first thought is that these clothes must belong to the homeless guy sleeping on the bench. But when I get to the top of the stairs, and head for the turnstiles which lead to the MTA booth, and the street level stairs, there’s a naked guy on the other side of the turnstile in front of the MTA booth. And he’s a big naked guy. Taller than me. With his penis hanging out.

    Oh, the guy in the MTA booth was doing a heroic job of saying, “Sir. Sir. Sir!” It was like a Meisner acting exercise, with the “sir” taking on a new inflection every time the MTA guy yelled.

    And for a very fast second I thought, I could make it past this guys. I could squeeze through the turnstile, and avoid this guy touching me. I mean, he was naked, so I knew he wasn’t hiding anything.

    Then New Yorker Matt reappeared. “Yeah, fuck this.” I started to turn to go back down the stairs for the other exit that was further down the platform.

    But before I could get on my way, the naked guy yelled at me, “Could you thrown me my clothes?”

    “No, man.” I said. Honestly, he could easily just jump the turnstile and get his clothes himself. I mean, he was already in trouble, skipping a fare was the least of his concerns.

    So, yeah. I saw a whole lot of penis today. Wasn’t expecting that. And I would like to add, still not the weirdest situation I have been in on the subway.

    (And, you should like this blog post. Also, feel free to share it, and if you have a story about the MTA, please share it in the comments.)