Friday, July 30, 2010

500!

so today . . . i am posting my 500th blog! FIVE HUNDRED!! just stop for a minute and think about that . . . i am pretty impressed with myself!

i think i spend waaaay more time writing my blog than anyone else does. i say this because i am never happy with my first attempt. i write, rewrite, and edit every blog to within an inch of it's life. and this takes time! but i do it, because i want it to be good--really good. i want to feel proud of the end result, and so i write for as long as it takes . . .

but how long does it take? since i rarely sit down, start a new blog, write it, edit it, and post it all in one sitting without any breaks, it is kind of hard to estimate the time spent. (especially since facebook is usually occupying another tab on my computer, and maybe home shopping network and hotmail too--all clamoring for a little of my attention . . . ) i usually start my blog between 7:00 and 8:00 at night, and don't post it until after 11:00. of course, i am not blogging all of that time--i am also shopping, playing fb games, reading other blogs, and checking my email! but i think a conservative estimate would be an hour of work for each blog post. that is a lot of time--especially if you add it all up!

so here is a top ten list of THINGS I COULD HAVE DONE WITH 500 HOURS--IF I HADN'T BLOGGED.

10. i could have worked four more months. why i would do this, i have no idea. but since i work about 32 hours a week teaching small children, 500 hours translates into 15.5 weeks of work. i think it is safe to say i would choose blogging over more work!
9. i could have watched 333 more movies, if the movies averaged an hour and a half long. this does not include travel time. or standing in line to pay $4.75 for a soda. or walking half a mile to find the car in the long beach town center parking lot--if i drove. (if rollie drove, we got a parking space right by the door, because he has this uncanny ability to get the best parking spaces!)
8. i could have scanned in 6000 strips of old negatives, because it takes me about five minutes per strip. of course, that is just the beginning . . . once i get them scanned in, then i have to delete the bad ones, name and date the rest, sort them, and put them into folders. and then, put them into photoshop and fix them up so they look like new! really, in 500 hours, i'll probably actually only complete the process with two strips. two.
7. i could have taken 1500 power naps, which i will need after dealing with all those negatives. i don't know who decided 20 minutes constituted a nap, but i find that it takes me almost that much time to find the alarm app on my phone, set an alarm, and close my eyes. then i lay there and worry that the alarm won't go off, because sometimes i forget to turn the alarm on once it is set, and the rest of the time i forget to unmute the volume. and then before i know it, my 20 minutes is up.
6. i could have said, "are you making a good choice?" 72,000 times. it only takes me five seconds to say that, but i say it over and over and over again, day after day after day. of course, i work with five year olds . . .
5. i could have attended 143 angels games, if i was in charge of the schedule. this is because i don't feel the need to get to a baseball game two hours before the first pitch is thrown (unlike some people in my family!) rollie would only get to go to 111 games . . .
4. i could have made 29 non-stop drives to portland. we are road warriors! if necessary, we can drive that trip in 17 hours. of course, to do that, we have to employ the three-in-one stop. for those of you who only fly, the three-in-one stop means gas, restrooms, and food (to go) all in one stop, and then we hit the freeway for four more hours. this means that sometimes lunch consists of corn nuts, cherry nibs, and soda, but we make good time :)
3. i could have watched 625 episodes of mythbusters on netflix. however, there are currently only 166 episodes recorded, so i would have to watch each one three times. that's ok though, because does one ever get tired of ballistics gel? or watching things blow up?!?
2. i could have ridden california screamin' 7500 times! this is the. best. rollercoaster. EVER!! there are some pretty good roller coasters at magic mountain, but if i could only ride one roller coaster for the rest of my life, i think this would be the one. it is that good!

and the number one thing i could have done with an extra 500 hours?

1. i could have written a book. although a book would have required a beginning and an end. and while my blog had a beginning, i don't know when it will end. and as for character development? i seem to have plenty of characters in my life . . .

in hindsight, i am glad i have blogged. i started out with the intent just to give you a giggle every day, but i have ended up sharing my life. it has turned out to be totally worth the time i have invested in it.

here's to 500 more!

*as i go to post this blog, i realize that it is blog #501! i do not know how this has happened!! now my ocd is kicking into overdrive, and i am trying to figure out how i can rearrange the last couple of blogs so that this one will actually BE my 500th blog. i guess i could change the date on the kindle blog that i wrote a few days ago. really, it isn't particularly specific to the day i wrote it. and since i haven't actually read a book on my kindle yet, i could sort of pretend i wrote it after this one . . . don't you think? but if i do that, then this whole paragraph won't make any sense when future blog readers come across it.

sheesh!

1 comment:

mom said...

Wow!! What an accomplishment!! I'm sure it takes you longer than one hour to write, edit and etc and then to finally post. This was a good way to spend your time, making an impact with words!! Keep writing!!!!!