Who do I still think I am??

This one's about the big sell and preservation.

30DBC PROMPT: "There are many new, fantastic changes happening around WDC. What thrills you about the community we call Writing.com? On a broader note, what does Writing.com mean to you? How would you 'sell' a community like ours to a writer friend of yours who is looking for a good writing site?"

What's up y'all? Did I miss something? I haven't seen any big changes around WDC lately (unless you're talking about the whole News Feed and the fanning/favoriting of authors...but even that feels like eons ago). Somebody fill me in. Maybe I only pay barely enough attention to the things I'm really interested in and haven't noticed anything else goin' on around here, and that wouldn't surprise me.

As for the community itself, the fact that it's just that- a community- means just as much as the many tools we're given here on WDC. It wouldn't exist (at least not as we know it) without the talented people who that support each other and have become like a second family to so many others of us. I don't have crazy amounts of experience with other websites that are specifically geared toward writing and writers, but I'm pretty positive they don't offer the same features and cozy feel a WDC member gets whenever they're engaged here. Other sites seem sterile and boring; the aesthetic is unappealing. The exposure seems limited. There is no sense of all its members and users being a part of something together. On WDC it doesn't take very long to feel any of those happening.

I really don't think I'd have to work all that hard trying to sell someone on the benefits of WDC over any other place; WDC practically sells itself between the activities, the people and overall range of content. Even the ease of use and the overall layout, which I think for quite awhile was the only drawback, has improved so much in the last 12 months alone...and I've seen a lot in my nearly-thirteen years here. What I think is most remarkable though is that WDC succeeds with very little (if any) outside advertising. I don't recall ever seeing an ad on a website or an article in any major publication (online or otherwise) that's meant to drive business or call attention to itself...and that tells me that through memberships and other merch sales, WDC is a pretty self-sustaining partnership between the folks that run it and the people using it. No commercials, and no banners on other websites...just a long line of satisfied customers. I don't know if you could find a better business model in a textbook.

BCF PROMPT: "It is National Scrapbooking Day. What is your favorite way to preserve your memories? Scrapbooks, Photo Albums, Online Travel Blogs, WDC Blogs, etc.?"

I think over the last few years my preferred method of preserving memories has been blogging. It's always been what comes easiest to me, and it's more enjoyable. I don't take as many pictures as I used to, and I don't view photography as being as engaging as writing (though I know some who would beg to differ). Plus, I'm really bad about organizing pictures and photo albums...I have the best intentions and I honestly mean well regarding them, but in the end they just sit in the processing envelopes from the one-hour photo lab. Currently I have a large box full of pictures that are sitting in that exact state under my bed, and I have no ambition whatsoever to do anything more with them.

Like I said, blogging just seems more like there's potential for it to be an open conversation than any other form of memory storage. It's out there, people know how to access it if they want to without having it thrust under their nose when they come to visit me, and they're free to tell me what they think about each entry on their terms. I'm not whipping out slides of vacation shots during dinner parties or aggressively insisting you pay attention to me. I guess what I'm saying is I like the give and take blogging presents over creating scrapbooks and photo albums, although I will admit Facebook and other forms of social networking have pretty much revolutionized how we interact with one another over pictures. They've made it much easier to share photos with others, much the same as how blogging changed writing and how we get our opinions and thoughts out to others.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I've never considered myself a huge fan of Filter, but their second album, "Title Of Record" ({link:http://www.amazon.com/Title-Record-Filter/dp/B001UR30HW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393984908&sr=8-2&keywords=filter+title+of+record}), is one of those really criminally underrated pieces of work that you can listen to from front to back and it doesn't feel old or boring.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

I feel kinda out of it today...for some reason I had a really hard time falling asleep last night and it's catching up with me. On the plus side, I got pretty much caught up on some of the episodes of The Tonight Show I'd missed...although I think I finally dozed off around 5am and I'm not sure how much of my binging I missed. I know that when I was rudely woken up a little after 6 my laptop was still open and Hulu was still goin'. The cops were bangin' on my door...I don't know how long they were out in the hall and I'm amazed I'd heard them. Of course they were pissed that it took me so long to answer the door, and they immediately started asking questions about people I'd never heard of and who my friends were. Turns out the "friends" they were referring to was just my laptop, and they were asking about some guy whose last known address happened to be mine. They were total good cop/bad cop too...the one who wasn't grillin' me was like "clearly you're not the person we're looking for, so sorry". But who can fall back asleep after that? I know it wasn't a very fitful rest, and it wasn't for very long.

Speaking of people I don't know, I got the strangest email this evening. I wouldn't have bothered opening it, but it had to be from someone I know. It was a picture from a Verizon cell phone with a Buffalo area code, and it looks like a neck-up selfie but I cannot tell who the girl is. I even pulled out my old phone and ran the number through my contacts, to no avail. And the odd thing is that only a handful of friends have my email address...it's not like someone tried texting me a picture that happened to go to my email, because my number isn't listed anywhere on this person's message. They would've had to know my email address, and it's not like they accidently sent it to me by mistake. Makes no sense, and I don't want to be rude and reply with "Who is this?" or anything. I'll just let it go...had to put it out there though.

Well, I'm callin' it a night. Like I said, I'm pretty beat and today was kinda shot between the cops and this atrocious weather continuing...I was gonna get my March bus pass this afternoon after my therapist session, but he cancelled due to an emergency and I didn't feel like going out in single-degree temps. That means I'll have to get up a little earlier than usual in order to make it to the orthopedic specialist, and try to get the bus pass later. Overall, I'm not thrilled. I'll catch us with you guys tomorrow. Peace, I won't remember, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!