Ten Thousand

I just realized that this month I hit ten thousand hits on my blog. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of those were people looking for images and accidentally ended up on my page.Suckers!

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog on purpose! I hope you leave here somewhat amused or, at the very least, informed on useless information.

Thought you might find it interesting to see the breakdown of what countries read/accidentally stumble onto my blog.

1.  3886 Canada
2.  3544 USA
3. 413 Russia
4. 360 UK
5. 142 India
6. 137 Germany
7. 118 Philippines
8. 114 Australia
9. 114 Netherlands
10. 64 Ukraine

Just to be clear, I do not know ANYONE in Russia, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands or Ukraine. I know 5 people (combined) in the Philippines, Australia and India.

If I had a dollar for every site visit, I'd have TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. Unfortunately for me, nobody would ever consider paying to read the drivel I display here, so all I have is a JPG of a Ten Thousand Dollar American bill.

Again, thanks for reading - I appreciate your literacy.

Misconceptions

Throughout my life, I've had lots of misconceptions about things that were largely inaccurate. In plainer, less fluffy words, I've been wrong about a lot of stuff, lots of times. I thought things were one way when they really weren't. Hmm, for some reason I can't think of the proper words to explain this phenomena, so I will just share a couple of things off the list. Here goes nothin'...
 
Seafood. I thought it was grossly disgusting because it looks and smells weird, and then one day, under extreme provocation, I tried a garlic buttered prawn and decided that it was chewily delicious. Next came deep fried calamari, dipped in tzitiki, and my reaction was the same. It made me realize that I pretty much like anything when it's sauteed in garlic butter and that tzitiki is a food for the gods. I still haven't tapped the Fish World yet, maybe by the time I'm 30 I will be brave enough to eat the slimy, scary swimmy creatures.
 
Drilling down that point a bit further, I'll tell you a little story. Growing up, my family spent a lot of quality time at White Spot - we still do, as a matter of fact. For years, I ate White Spot's Red Clam Chowder thinking the clams were chicken. The "chicken" bits were especially chewy but I guess my mom said they it was chicken and I never thought to question it... Until one day (it was a dark day) someone spilled the beans and told me it was clams. CLAMS! For months, maybe even years, I refused to eat said beloved soup. After the feelings of betrayal wore off, I jumped back on the clam chowder wagon, skipping the clams and eating everything else.

Moving along... Growing up, I had a Philippino nanny who pretty much raised me and my sisters while my parents were working. She is a great lady and I love her dearly. Please note, however, that I still do not forgive her for punishing me, by putting hot sauce in my mouth when I was bad. My memories grow fond when I recall the delicious dinners full (and consisting entirely) of white rice, bacon and soy sauce. Delicious! Anyways, back to the point- growing up, I'd never seen any pictures of this Phillipines place, so of course, I conjured up images in my head. I pictured the Philippines as a high tech, fortress style place. At one point, I watched the movie Total Recall (my dad ingrained in me a love of terrible movies) and for some reason I linked the Phillipines with Total Recall and from then on that is what I pictured. To be honest, I still do.
 



I think I'll leave it at that picture of Arnold. Not much can top that!