Let The Questions Begin

I took a bit of a chance on my blog yesterday and opened it up for questions from my readers. You can see that post here. I should have done this at the beginning of the month since I have been struggling for things to write about as I accepted the NaBloPoMo Challenge to post every single day this month. Nevertheless, I have enough blogging material to last me for several weeks. If you would like to submit a question, I am still accepting them. Ideally, it should be left in the comment section of the original post (click HERE), but if you leave it on this post, I will try to remember where they all are.

As I sifted through all the questions that came in today (including several from my brother intended to embarrass), I decided that I will tackle them in the order that they are listed.

The first question was a series of questions from Rachel at When a Lion Sleeps, Let It Sleep.

1) I don't know too much about how you and Red ended up together. I know it was a joke about an internet fiancé but I don't know how that started or anything. Would you give me one of those 'how we met' stories?

2) Did you ever expect to have over a hundred followers?

3) What is your favorite holiday tradition, for any holiday?

4) I think you said you want to be a teacher? How did you know that was what you wanted to do? (That first question mark is because I'm not sure if I remember correctly.)

5) You said that you've owned all sorts of animals (and eaten them). Are there any animals that you wouldn't own by choice or that you're scared of? Also on that note, what/who has been your favorite pet?

Question #1: Red & Brett - The Red and Brett story has developed over the course of several months starting last February when I proposed to her in the comment section of one of her blog posts. Yes, it was intended to be a joke, but it sparked a conversation that never stopped and eventually led to us meeting in real life and I have since fallen in love with this wonderful woman.

I have recapped this story several times over the course of the last year, so I will not do it again here. However, if you want to take the time to learn the story, Red has made a separate page on her blog that lays it all out and includes links to the various posts where keys parts of the story either happened or are explained. You can find the full story by clicking The Saga of Red and the Transformed Nonconformist.

Question #2: 100 followers - When I first started this blog, I never really thought about what it could become. I just started doing it. I thought it might be fun and I was right. At first, my only readers were the people that responded to my pathetic begging on Facebook for my friends to come read my posts. I actually used to send out a Facebook message to all my friends to come read. I think they are happy that I stopped that practice.

Stats since I started

My blog existed for over a year before it started getting any type of following. Last December, I only had 452 page views for the entire month. My blog was 15 months old at that time. After 15 months of stagnation, it suddenly took off. The numbers went up. More people found me. My followers started accumulating. I became part of a blogging circle of friends that I communicated with on a regular basis. Knowing other people were reading made it that much more fun.

I never thought about how many followers I could have until I actually started to get some. The first numbers goal I have set for followers just came recently. Red is still not a follower, but says she will be if she can have the #200 spot. Now I have a goal to shoot for.

Question #3: Favorite holiday traditions - This one is difficult to answer. While my family has had their traditions, I have no problem with letting them go. It doesn't bother me to not participate in something that I have always done. This is nothing against my family or memories of these traditions. I am just not a very sentimental person.

I love getting together with my family on the holidays. Just sitting, laughing, eating and telling stories is probably my favorite part of any holiday. However, even that has changed over time. I have gotten older and have a family of my own now. My parents have moved to Florida, so I don't go to their house any more.  My kids are almost grown and I am divorced, which means holiday time with the kids gets split up between parents. I'm not complaining. We have a system that works for us and we never really have scheduling issues or disagreements. It's just different now.

Question #5: Pets - There are many animals that I would choose not to own, but much of that is based upon my ability to take care of them. Who can say they have a pet rhino? No one I know, but if I had one where would I put it and could I afford to feed it. Would the neighbors complain if he got loose, trampled their dog and made a hole in their kitchen wall?

There are animals that I am scared of or would be if I ran into them in the wild. However, if given the opportunity to have a bear, lion or tiger cub, I would take it. I would raise it and love it and play with it until you saw my story on the news about a man being mauled to death by his pet bear (lion, hyena, hammerhead shark, Komodo dragon, naked mole rat, whatever). I do have a goal to own a monkey at some point in my life. That should give me plenty to write about when it finally happens.

My favorite childhood pet was a beagle mutt named Snoopy, but that is all I will share about him for now. I will be participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April and have started planning my posts. I intend to post 26 quality pieces and that dog will be the subject of my April 22 post "S" is for Snoopy.

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You may have noticed that I skipped question #4. That was intentional. I believe that question will require an answer of more depth. I intend to address it in tomorrow's post all by itself.

Once again, if you would like to submit another question for me to answer, leave it in the comment section here or in the original post (Let's Dig A Little Deeper) that started this.