Friday, October 03, 2008

100

Finally, I've arrived at the long-anticipated 100th article. It's a watershed moment, and I don't mind saying, I had every intention of it being self-celebratory. It's a time to take stock of what I've written, what I've said, where I've been and where I'm headed. It's been a long time coming. I'm proud of the body of work I've laid out here, and what you'll see is basically a "best of Mikey" highlight reel, replete with links to my past works. That said, bear with me throughout the celebration.

History

In the summer of 2004, many people approached me with the idea that I should have an outlet for my writing, and that my thickly worded emails often went to waste. As such, I sought out a means for writing my thoughts, and ultimately decided that I could serve myself well with an outlet, so to speak. At that point, I had been working on a musical project, and was sufficiently frustrated by all things external. In the end, I decided upon using blogspot as a host for any of my writings, figuring that since it's endorsed by the almighty Google, it wouldn't dissolve and thus take my works with such dissolution. Without much deliberation, I decided it would be called "The Vapid Voice". Being inherently self-deprecating, I wanted to intimate that my words are vapid, or without any more value than anyone else's opinions, comments, or observations. My writings would not be declarations; they'd merely be a mixture of my thoughts about the world around us all, and without any intention of implying self-importance. The word "Vapid" implied a sense of emptiness, and as such, my thoughts carried no weight other than the theoretical ink on which it was printed. With a name selected, I was off to the races; and after posting a rant about Howard Stern, which was subsequently removed, on August 3, 2004, I posted my first article. Innocuous enough, it was an observation about the burgeoning poker boom, and at the time, likely abortive. Knowing that the title of my site wasn't necessarily restrictive, I posted serious posts as well as comical ones. Most of the time, the humorous ones drew the most reaction from the early adopters. I'll cover the best of those below. The second post began a ten article series called "Relationship Injustice", and was a suitable outlet for all things wrong with relationships around me, including those of my own. While serious in nature, it drew quite a response and, dare I say, helped some people out in a therapeutic way. From there, the ball was rolling. I'd write humorous observations, cathartic, serious essays, and throw them out there for anyone to digest. Fortunately, many took to them right away, and I grew to love the positive feedback. I'll be forever grateful to all of you who regularly checked in to see if I posted anything new, and without your collective feedback, I would not have bothered continuing this literary voyage! That about sums up my historical perspective; I've been through a lot during the four years of Vapid Voice's existence, and I hope it's been entertaining, if not insightful.

The Vapid Voice FAQ

Questions that have come up during the last few years...

Q: Why do you put the starting word of a paragraph in a bold font?
A: Style, just thought it would be a unique thing. It was also a nod toward 19th century works and publications, which often printed the first word or letter of an article or paragraph in a large font.

Q: What do you prefer writing, the funny stuff or the serious?
A: Overall, the serious stuff. The humor angle gets the most response, and readers always loved it. But the serious things were most cathartic for me.

Q: Is the "Relationship Injustice" series done?
A: Yes. I am a fan of the number 10, and preferred to call it upon the 10th post.

Q: Have you considered seeking a publishing deal?
A: Yes, I've submitted content, but to date, no takers.


Highlights

I'll provide the links to some of my best stuff, hope you enjoy the articles as much as I did writing them...

The Relationship Injustice Series

I was surprised this series drew so much acclaim, as I figured I was speaking into the ether. Most of the time, the articles were a result of personal frustration, but often they were observations of another injustice happening around me. For the first time in world history, all the links shall be presented to you, dear reader, in one convenient place!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 -Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10


Religion/Philosophy Posts

Without question, my most contraversial article came from an angry moment in which I, shall we say, lashed out at Jesus, God, and all things religious. It drew the most ire, and I debated about removing it, and ultimately decided in favor of keeping it up there, for sake of offering a snap shot of my mindset at the time, and the frustration therein. It's the only article I never wanted to show my mom. Some people in my life just didn't need to see this:

An Open Letter To Christ

Eventually, there were a couple more notable philosophical essays that came to pass...

Religion
Ghosts
Reduction and Realization

After posting this one, there were a lot of odd ghosts floating around me for a few days. No I'm not crazy, just sensitive to all that paranormal stuff.

Rants

People loved my little rants, and here are several of the best...

I Hate Driving
I Hate The Store
I Hate Restaurants
Where's That Equator?
Generic Rant Time!
Parking Lot Rant

Lists

A couple of my more amusing lists...

My Two Personalities
What A Difference - Far and away my funniest one...
Stupid Stupid Commercials


The Spam Review Series

I did a series of 10 (there's that number again...) postings in which I'd review spam emails and comment appropriately... here they are all in one place (I'm so sweet...)

Spam 1 - Spam 2 - Spam 3 - Spam 4 - Spam 5 - Spam 6 - Spam 7 - Spam 8 - Spam 9 - Spam 10

That about sums it up. This is Vapid Voice, and I hope you all continue to read the best and worst of my future articles, and perhaps delve into the archives as well. I'm glad I made it to the 100th post, and look forward to #200. Who knows where I, or you, will be when that landmark moment comes around. Thanks for reading!