100

A very merry un-birthday to me! This is my 100th blog post at Ryan the Girl. You hear that, Internet? I should be getting a letter from the president any day now.

I decided that the best way to commemorate this noteworthy occasion was to read through my old posts and revisit the past year (almost... I started this blog on July 9, 2010) of my life. When I started doing this, I realized that I left a few loose ends untied. There are promises that I never kept, pictures I never posted, themes I never continued, and books I never finished. So, here it all is:

I started this blog with a small commentary on gender and labels (through my own life and experience), and I feel I haven't come back around to that theme as often as I'd like. I mentioned the complex I have regarding competition with males and Ryan the Girl Moments and how my name has been such a big part of my life, but I have not visited that topic in some time. Lately, at my job (which requires a lot of doings via email since there are several locations on the East Coast), people in other locations have just started realizing that I'm a girl. And I think that may have changed the way they think of me and treat me. Not necessariliy for the worse, but I think I'm regarded differently than I was. Also, I had one guy speechless on the phone the other day after I said "This is she." That's always fun!

Another thing. When I got my Netbook, I promised pictures of it. Alas, I never got around to it. Also, I had done a post where I drew pictures with Microsoft Paint, and, I meant to start posting silly Paint pictures regularly. But, that never happened. So, I decided to combine the two:

That's me very happy to have a new computer!

I also participated in NaNoWriMo this year, and I blogged about it a bit and posted some excerpts. However, I never finished my book. I said I was hoping to finish it this year, but I am going to recind that statement. I'm simply not feeling connected to it anymore. So, I'm putting my half-book (I wrote about 26,000 words) to bed. However, it was great experience and I'm excited to try to write another book sometime soon.

So, those are the big ones. Going through all the posts, I also noticed that my tone shifted a bit. I started out less-than-serious and a bit hyperactive, and I've since mellowed out and gotten a bit more serious. I'd say that's because I'm happier than I was when I started.

Also, an interesting thing: The most popular post I wrote was about Kubb, a Viking lawn game. I believe this is because there aren't very many articles available on it, and my blog must come up when people google "Kubb." The second-most popular post is Today, I Peed in the Woods, which, well, is slightly disturbing...

And, well, thanks to everyone who has been reading, whether it's regularly or once-in-awhile or just once. It means a lot to me.