Today we move along to Haiku-a-Day month. It's certainly much less stressful than Blog-a-day month. That's what I intended when I first made it. The first B-a-D month wore me out, but I wanted to keep blogging in some way or another each month.
I originally intended to fill in the whole year, but clearly that didn't happen. You might have read last month that I have declared December to be Movie-a-Day month. Just to quickly recap, just pick a movie and write about it. If you've seen at least 31 movies, you can take part. If you haven't, then watch more movies.
My original third month was going to be Photo-a-Day month. I'll start that up sometime in the next year, I think. The basic idea isn't to take a photo everyday. I have a feeling that if I did that, a lot would be of a few things around my room, since I wouldn't remember until the end of the day, much like many B-a-D month entries.
So the concept is going to be to take some time before the month begins to get started. Go somewhere and take a bunch of photos. As any photographer would, edit out the bad and pick the best 30 (or 28 or 31, depending on the month). My camera has a dot somewhere inside of it. I discovered it in Europe, and you might see it in some of the vacation pics I've posted so far. It's really easy to see in the videos. It isn't on the lens, so it's something inside, which sucks. I'll wait for Photo-a-Day month until I get it fixed or a new camera.
Sometime in the Spring I will probably start my Annoying Things of the Week. Those are pretty fun to write. I enjoy keeping track of stuff during the week, then narrowing it down to four topics to write a bit about. It's usually much easier than Blog-a-Day since I write it on a non-workday.
So back to Blog-a-Day month. This year proved to be my most successful as far a readers and reactions. I found out that a lot more people were reading than I knew. As I've told a bunch of you, and forgot to tell a few others, it would be nice if you commented on the blog instead of talking to me or emailing, but I appreciate your time.
While there were definitely five or six real pieces of crap, this year was a lot more hit than miss. And I think that had to do with the pressure of more readers. The Scott C. Harris vs. Scott C. Harris blog received the most positive reaction, and it was probably the most fun to write. I'll probably write more of those in the future. Also, I want to get the rest of the photos from my Europe trip online. I'll do that over the next couple months. Perhaps I'll write a Scandinavian Haiku or two to go with them.
Also, while I don't really want to pre-write too many entries, I definitely want to have a list of topics started earlier for next year. One of the things that makes it difficult is that my blogs are all first drafts. I never proofread or even reread them because the "deadline" is too short. So by the time I stare at the screen long enough to pick a topic, it's getting later and later. And with a space bar that doesn't work one out of every seven clicks or so, it gets frustrating. It might be nice to actually write a blog or two with an actual prepared structure.
And here's a few more words on the other two things happening last month, the Stan Lee Challenge and Namaste It!
I was really worried about the Stan Lee Challenge at first because it's not a writing style that I was comfortable with. More importantly, I don't have any of my Essential Editions, which contain the Stan Lee stories. I was able to find a website that listed the titles of issues of Amazing Spider-Man, so all of mine were based on titles from the first 75 issues of that series. I think I was able to pull out a few good titles,and a couple decent puns to go along with it. I was trying hard not to repeat too many, but I have a feeling that I did. Today's last one is the exact title from an issue. The Stan Lee Challenge made for a different twist on this year's Blog-a-Day month. So thanks to Lance for creating that idea.
And thanks to Lance again for Namaste It! I made it through a month without meat. As I've mentioned before, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, at least as far as defeating cravings and shear willpower. There were only a few times where I really wanted meat, but never felt like I needed it.
Yesterday was actually the most difficult day. I started with a six hour drive down I-5, as I stated yesterday. And the only real food options are fast food. Then when I arrived at my grandma's birthday party, there was a Mexican Buffet, everything filled with meat. There were some quesadillas that looked like they were just cheese. I took two. I opened the first one, and it had no meat. So I assumed that neither did. My first bite into the second one revealed something with a little more substance. Chicken. So it sucked to have to spit out the chicken, but even worst that I was only left with the options of chips and salsa and spoonfuls from the fruit plate.
The second most difficult day was the day I spent in San Francisco. I was surrounded by really good restaurants, but I was more hesitant to find good vegetarian food. I was happy to find a crepe place, but the meat fillings looked good. Eating at home was rarely as difficult. And the fact that I won't eat every meal at home for the rest of my life means that I'll never be a vegetarian. but I now know that I can cut out meat more often and just cut portion sizes of meat much more easily. I don't have the "Must Eat Meat!" gene.
This morning, I even went with the vegetarian omelet, even though it was my first chance to eat meat. But it was more of a practical decision. To state it nicely, I knew that the first time in a month could wreak havoc on my insides, and I was going to sit in a car for six-plus hours with many miles between restrooms. But I had a tasty burger when I got home. In addition to less meat, I had stated that I wanted to eat fish a couple times. I actually didn't since it the vegetarian diet was easy enough, but I want to start eating more now. I'm right on target to lose the 20 pounds. I hit 189.9 a few days backs. I'm hoping that it starts to actually show sometime soon.
So there you go. Another successful Blog-a-Day month. Even if this long post doesn't show it, it's nice to be done. But October 2010 will bring the fourth installment. And you're invited to take part.
7. Spoilers! Use your best discretion when using spoilers. If it's a movie that has been out awhile, maybe just put a warning right before you spoil something. If it's an essential part of your movie blog, don't avoid it, but let the reader know at the beginning. If it's a newer movie, make that warning a little bigger and sooner. Feel free to use inviso-text (making the letters the same color as the background so that you have to highlight it to read it.) Yeah, your reader should expect that you're giving away a little bit of the movie. 
