Today is my birthday. If you asked me a year ago where I would be on my birthday, I certainly would never guess that I would be sitting in Boca Raton with my mother AND Sophia, who flew in all the way from Los Angeles just for my birthday. I’m not in a talkative mood lately, so I’ll tell you more about Century Village later in the week. Sometimes I feel pressured to write something here, thinking that if I don’t blog at least three times a week, you will abandon me, which is probably true, but it is also important to remind myself that I exist outside of this blog.
Today, Sophia, my mother, and I took a drive into West Palm Beach, once the home to the rich and famous, now a city taken in by Ponzi Schemes, and checked out two museums, The Flagler and the Norton. We also found an ice cream parlor where the chocolate ice cream was deemed by People Magazine as the “best in the country.”
March 7th is also the birthday of my blog. I started Citizen of the Month on my birthday in 2005. My template is exactly the same today as it was on that day four years ago, having spent the day before my birthday in 2005 “designing” my header in Illustrator. It amuses me that so little has changed with my blog in those four years. There is still no advertising, and the blog remains consistently uneven, ranging from the stupid to the emotionally distraught.
I’m not particularly proud of my last year as a blogger. I spent too much time on Twitter and ignored my blogging friends. Twitter is so focused on “followers,” that I began to perceive some bloggers as more worthy of my attention than others, as if networking and cliquishness was the ‘real’ point of being online, not the writing, or the community spirit. I believe the online world has given me the opportunity to become a better person, not a worse one, and I failed considerably. I might seriously dump Twitter when I return to New York, because I don’t like myself when I am Twittering.
I am inspired by those of you who blog honestly, comment freely, and show a sense of community. I look up to you. As I enter my fifth year of blogging, I want to thank you for another year as my blogging friends.
I really enjoyed this...
…”but it is also important to remind myself that I exist outside of this blog.”
Yes, it is. And sometimes that gets lost along the way.
Happy Birthday, Neil.
Happiest of birthdays to you Neil. I hope you’ve had a great time w/Sophia and your mom. I’ve missed your on twitter … which is kind of weird. But you are always THERE when I check in and all of a sudden this week … not so much. That being said, what real value does Twitter add to the world? None.
Congrats also on your blogoversary. I have yet to hit my one year point. Do the first 6 or 7 months count when I didn’t realize I was supposed to try and write for READERS? Hmmm. Things to ponder. Happy birthday!
HAPPY FRICKEN BIRTHDAY NEIL!!!!!!!!!
If you were here, I would get you drunk and not stop you from doing some very stupid things with women who look pretty damn good to you because you were drunk but who are really very ugly.
Sending you all my platonic love.
TRO
Please imagine me doing my best Marilyn Monroe for you, Neil…
♪ Happy Birthday to you! ♫
♪ Happy Birthday to you! ♫
♪ Happy Birthday, dear Neil! ♫
♪ Happy Birthday to you! ♫
…and many more!!!
Oh, with only an hour to spare, I want to wish you the best of birthday wishes, and to sing you Yom Huladit Sameach, but fortunately for you, I’ve lost my voice and sound more like a canada goose than a human being. Honk!
As for your twittering/popularity thing, that’s exactly why I left twitter for several months. When I came back I rid myself of all the “popular” bloggers, and only followed those people I found interesting and relevant to me. And I stay off twitter almost the whole day, stopping in only once or twice for a few minutes.
I agree with you that twittering has interrupted blogging, and that is shown by the number of bloggers who don’t even post twice a week now, but are twittering every time they wipe their ass. BORING.
Plus, I learned to stay far away from those that use twitter for their own self-promotion. Anyone that has to warn you 35 times that they will be on some lame radio show in 5 more minutes deserves to be ignored. I’m not much into self-promotion, especially when it’s coupled with the idea that the person is the end all and be all on every freaking subject. BORING.
Everyone’s blog is uneven. Even Dooce. It’s OK. We keep coming back because we love you, Neil. It isn’t just your writing, it’s the emotions behind it. People want to share in your hardships and pain as well as your humor and absurdities.
I can’t imagine you in Deerfield Village for too long, so come back to NY soon.
Happy Birthday!
Hope you had a great birthday!
Happy Belated Birthday/Blogaversity! I hope you give up twitter – I never hear from you anymore. Will you be back in NYC by April 30th? Perhaps we can put a face to the words…..
Happy Birthday.
Happy birthday to you and congratulations on your long blogging history. Keep it up!
Congratulations! I actually opened my Google Reader and I don’t know if you remember but you were one of the first (and only) blogs I put on there, because I’m all slow to progress and stuff. There was your birthday post, and it caught my attention. I hope you come back to NY with a renewed sense of purpose. Happy birthday.
hey there…
happy birthday. Here’s to a year of sorting out and starting back on the path twoards happiness. You deserve it.
Cheers!
Happy birthdays!
Happy birthday, old man!
hdays are great AND neverending – much like we all wish your blog to be. I do hope however, that you are younger than I am since then you will most likely always be around to brighten my day.
So selfish, but there it is.
May you live in interesting times darling.
Happy Birthday, Neil! Have a marvy time in Florida. Forget about Twitter…it’s so flighty!
Hope the rest of your birthday was great, Neil. I’ll never forget that birthday of yours where Sophia orchestrated that outpouring of love, cards, and gifts, that was amazing (was that two years ago already?). You are always too hard on yourself. But that’s a way more attractive quality than being too high on your talents and skills (which are many).
P.S. to Ginger: Cool musical notes, how did you do that??
Happy birthday, Neil. I would follow you on Twitter, except I won’t. I have twiddled with Twitter, and my conclusion is: why? I’m interested in your stories, not your farts. Twitter is self-indulgent, voyeuristic useless nonsense. An amusing experiment, but let’s get over it now and move on.
Happy Birthday, Neil. Glad you got to spend your special day with those two very special ladies.
Happy (now belated) Birthday Neil! I hope it was great!
Thanks for the birthday greetings!
I’m so late. Way behind on my blog visiting. But, it’s still fun that we have the same birthday. Happy birthday to you! I’m glad you got to spend it with your family.
Happy Belated Birthday!
I have to say, the way people talk about twittering and how it affects their blogging and other online time makes me glad I never succumbed to the temptation. While I’m sure the real-time nature can be enthralling, I just prefer a more fleshed-out exercise like blogging provides.
I was so wrapped up in my own birthday I forgot to wish you a very very very happy birthday my friend.
happy belated Birthday, Neil! I hope it was a good one and that the ice cream lived up to its reputation. I suppose you could always blog your daily tweets if you wanted to keep both.
happy birthday and blogday
Happy birthday! I’ve much enjoyed your blog these last few years.
Congrats Neil! Here’s to many more adventures and brilliant posts.
I am so late on this. ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
Century Village? Are you 100?
Happy Birthday…
I hope your Day of Cake was awesome, good sir. It’s nice to remember we all exist outside of this crazy world we call Blogging. xo
Happy Birthday Neil. Sorry I’m late……..
Happy birthday Neil. Century City, huh? I had a run in with them once in the Publix. I had to redefine my notion of the word “mean.”
Happy birthday.
Happy anniversary.
I still don’t know what a twitter is.
Happy Birthday! I’m so jealous that you’re in Boca. I hope it’s a big blue day.
I have the same issues with Twitter, at least during the few weeks (was it months) that I was regularly Twittering. I’m trying to use it different ways now. When it comes to *blogging*, I think you have to pick – Will you blog? OR Will you microblog?
Neil, I haven’t been here in a while, but it’s good to be back. Happy Birthday. And please don’t leave Twitter because it will be fun to follow you.
well I have enjoyed my recent introduction to your blog and your writing (also human) foibles. You seem pretty *real* to me … albeit I don’t twitter or tweet so maybe your alter-ego there is different somehow.
Congrats on the milestones. nicely done!
Happy belated birthday!
Wow, well happy belated birthday and happy four years to your blog!
Hope you had a great time in Florida!
happy belated birthday and blogevarsary.
Your mother is living in Century Village in West Palm? She seems so not the type
Do they let PBS ladies in?
Happy birthday! To you and the blog! That’s one holiday Hallmark hasn’t jumped on yet…
Happy Birthday Neil.
Happy belated birthday, dude. Sorry I missed it. Looking forward to tonight’s show with you.
Happy Birthday Neil.
A belated Happy Birthday Neil! You’re a king among bloggers. Hope you had a great day!
Sorry I’m late! I’ve been saving this post in my reader to be sure to wish you a great next year. Happy late b-day, Neil!