One Year Anniversary

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of this blog. Ideally, I'd like that counter at the left to show a total of 365 entries, as the main function of the Recovering Hopper is to get me to sit down every single day and write. But due to some bad patches of health, both (figuratively) mental and (quite literally) physical, I reached a grand total of 309. Still, not bad. Not bad at all.

Has my hopping been cured? Definitely not. I have something like seventeen or eighteen items out from about half a dozen local libraries. Books, CDs, DVDs. I'll never get to them all. Just don't have the time. Not to mention the hundred or so tomes - from philosophy to biography to paperback SF from the 50s, 60s, and 70s - I have on the bookcase right behind me as I write this. And I'm still juggling four writing projects, making glacial progress on perhaps one a week.
But ... I think I'm a little bit better. Heck, I even triage those books every Saturday before errands with the Little One with only a fraction of the guilt I used to have.

A lot has happened in the past twelve months. Wow. Off the top of my head, in no particular order:

* Two stays in the hospital, totalling 22 days and 7 surgical procedures

* One new baby, the Littlest One

* Recently laid off from my job of nearly twenty years (more, much much more, about that later)

* As mentioned, 309 blog posts

* We refinished our basement, enabling me to write in style, though it flooded last month and we're still cleaning up

* Read 16 books cover-to-cover (I'm nerdy enough to log this)

* Borrowed 79 books from the library; skimmed two-thirds of these before returning

* Bought 5 CDs of music I listened to in the 80s and 90s - is this some kinda midlife crisis?

* Refinanced my house just-in-time to take advantage of all them there deals them banks is offerin', giving us desperately-needed financial breathing room

* Finally, most importantly, a shifting or evolving or "cementing" of my faith (and more about that, later)


Now I'm at a crossroads of sorts. I think I want to branch out and do two specialty "niche" blogs. Haven't got all the details down, yet, but I'm working on it, slowly whenever I get some free time. I'd like the blogs to pay for themselves, if you know what I mean, and maybe pay for an upgrade in my connection or my equipment. I have a target launch date by May 1st. We'll see.

I have a core group of about a dozen or so people who check in every day, mostly family and friends from what I can tell. But I'm amazed that every now and then someone from, say, Australia or the Netherlands, or wherever, will pop in, spend a few minutes reading a post or two, and return every once and a while. I don't consciously attempt to make this blog a high-traffic site, but I think I may give it a whirl with the two new blogs.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!