The 500th Post!

If you would have told me in 2008 when I started this blog that I would be sitting here in October 2010 writing my 500th post, I would have laughed. And not just a modest little chuckle, or a token chortle...but a belly-shaking, earth-shattering, "you-are-out-of-your-mind" kind of laugh. When I started this blog, neither longevity nor a strong readership were goals that I had in mind, either from the standpoint of intention or achievability (is that even a word?).

Yet here I sit writing my 500th post, and looking on the sidebar at 47 followers and just over 54,000 hits. Are you kidding me? When I think back to averaging 5 or 6 hits a day, then billowing to the unbelievable numbers I saw during the final season of Lost, and now settling in at a healthy 1000 hits per week, it makes me pretty happy to think how far everything has come. As of today, there have been hits from 118 countries, over 400 cities in Canada, and all 50 U.S. States.

Sean's Random Thoughts certainly has changed since 2008. It started as a bullet-point 'Random Thoughts' theme, then expanded into topical posts in the Spring of 2009. Regular readers will remember the music selection of the week, regular mashup videos, stories from my regular Tim Hortons, and more poker stories than you probably care to remember.

Much of what I talked about was pop-culture related, and some of the major topics of discussion were my favourite TV shows. So instead of just constantly grouping my thoughts into the "Random Thoughts" format, I switched to full-on recaps of my favourite shows. And as regular readers will know, my version of a recap has never been (nor will it ever be) an in-depth analysis of what I watched. Instead, it's a running commentary, often filled with intended comedy and sarcasm, that fans of the show can read immediately following the episode.

I know that a lot of readers over the past year have found this site through my Lost Recaps, and more recently from my Reality TV recaps (Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother...and no, I am not paid by CBS!). I couldn't be happier that you are here, especially those of you that stuck around and became regular readers, but for this, my 500th post, I wanted to try and do something for all readers, old and new:

First, I want to hear from as many of you as possible in the Comments section. Introduce yourself, tell me how you found the blog, and any thoughts you have. Ideally, I'd like to set a record for Comments in a single post, and hopefully it will be good for all of you to hear from each other as well. So please, head to the Comments section and leave a note for the 500th post. It would mean a lot to me. (You don't have to sign in to leave a comment, just select the 'Name/URL' option.)

Second, and this one is partially for me, and partially for the newer readers who may not have read much of the non-TV related posts on here. I'm going to list my personal favourites of the 499 previous posts, and provide direct links to each. For those of you new readers, I hope you'll go and read them, and get a bit more insight into Sean's Random Thoughts, other than just the TV Recap portion of the site.

Here's the list (in no particular order):

The Trouble With Condiments - A look at the evils of condiments.
Spoiler Alert - The danger of spoiling something for someone else, and how to avoid it.
Crossing Paths With An Iron Chef - My encounter with Bobby Flay in Las Vegas, and a surprising turn of events.
A post about the perils of boiling meat, and a couple of horrifying personal stories on the subject.
A post detailing my life-long love of the band Queen.
The story of a fireworks show gone wrong in my neighbourhood.
The Roaming Wolverine of St. Agatha - a story of my encounter with a wolverine on a golf course. (Make sure to read the follow-up post as well.)
My whirlwind trip to NYC for one day to see David Letterman with my friend Norm: Part 1, Part 2
My struggles to cope with my one addiction: Coca-Cola.
An Ode To Lost - my love letter to the show on the final weekend before the Series Finale.
Duke Basketball and meeting Christian Laettner - a lifelong dream come true. (UNC fans should avoid this one.)
My Five-Part Report on playing in the 2009 World Series of Poker - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

I started writing when I was 9 years old...the first thing I ever wrote was parodies of the Star Wars films for my grade 5 class. That love of writing continued through high school and university, writing for student newspapers and branching out into writing plays and screenplays. But as life goes on, and work and parental responsibilities become the priority in your life, the time (and desire) to write sometimes wanes.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have found a reason to write again.

I'm not going to go through a laundry list of thank yous, but I'd like to specifically mention Andy Page (aka DarkUFO), who gave an aspiring writer a shot on his site, and the exposure turned into something amazing. I can't thank you enough, my friend.

Most importantly though, I want to thank you...the readers. Whether you were here from Day One, or just got here last week...whether you've read one post, or all 500...you guys are why I keep writing. So thank you a hundred times over for the motivation.

And let's see if we can make it through another 500...

Sean