Who do I still think I am??

This one's about birthdays and contests.

30DBC PROMPT: "Write a persuasive blog post about a contest or activity going on during WDC birthday week. Check out 'Writing.Com Party Central 2013!' for a full listing of contests and activities. Make me compelled to compete in one, and earn yourself a 'Birthday' MB!"

Hey folks...what's goin' on? I heard there's a party, and I'd really like to check it out. I suppose now's as good a time as any.

I'll be honest...I haven't really checked out much of WDC's birthday festivities yet. I'm sure I will at some point this week, but I'm still marveling at some of the new changes that have been recently unveiled. I'm not normally a fan of change, but how can one not like the looks of things so far?

I also tend to not always make the most persuasive arguments when I could really use them. It's probably because I don't always have the facts I need, and see things for only as they are on the surface. So I'm sure you'll forgive me if I can't really convince anyone right now to do anything they may not want to.

That, and I feel like the only contest I've really talked about the last few days or so has been the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" . The reasoning is simple...it's the one competition I've got a lot of experience with, so I can speak highly of it. On sheer integrity alone it blows away just about every contest on this site. Rare is it that I'll throw my support behind something so strongly, but the 30DBC doesn't fail. It's been a rewarding experience for quite awhile, and I appreciate all the people I've have the pleasure of coming across since I've been a part of it. In fact, I hesitate to call it a competition, because I think we're all in it in part to make each other better. And even though the handles change every other month or so, there's a bond that forms between everyone. There's a sense that we're all in this together. For thirty days, we all talk about the same things and share our unique perspectives. It's a great experience that really speaks better for itself once you're involved in it.

Maybe it's just me. But that's how I see it.

One contest I used to love participating in when I first joined WDC two laptops ago was "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" . It's a daily thing; there's a prompt and you come up with a poem or short story. It's the perfect remedy when you're in a rut and you're trying to write your way out of it. It's one of WDC's most enduring competitions, which says a lot. I don't know why I ever stopped participating in it...I had a pretty nice run when it was part of my WDC routine. Maybe I fell away from it during an upgrade lapse; I'm not exactly sure. The advent of blogging might've contributed to that as well...there's only so many hours in a day that you can put words on a screen.

Writers are special people. What we do is often unheralded and overlooked, but we're key members of society. Someone's gotta do it! I'm gonna use a sports analogy: it's been noted that kickers in football and goalies in hockey are typically the most eccentric members of their respective teams, and that's what bloggers are to the writing community, I believe...we're the stand-outs in a society of its own where the purpose is to carve out a niche in order to be successful and have any kind of staying power. We're constantly inventing and reinventing words for currency in a world full of ourselves. Where the novelists are the main draws and the tv show writers have steady gigs based on ratings and viewership, bloggers toil in their craft apart and away from the mainstream. There's no measurable statistic other than page hits, which is a respectable method of calculating success outside of the gratification that comes just from being able to post your thoughts about anything for anyone to see. The weird part is that we're often judged on another person's interpretations of our work. There's no standard or physical tool that can gauge a blogger's heart other than his or her own personal satisfaction; everything is left in the hands and eyes of those who care to participate by reading them.

Before I get too off-track, that's where I'm gonna leave it. A hundred people might read this, and you'll get a hundred different opinions of it. That's the beauty and the curse when you blog...and the risk taken when entering something like the 30DBC, which is well worth it if the reward you seek is just being able to write whatever you want about whatever the topic might be for a month straight. For us, it's the best place to be.

BCF PROMPT: "Tell us about the best birthday present you've ever received!"

Man, I don't even know if I have an answer for this. I don't normally give a shit about personal birthdays, to be honest (and if you've followed me for any given amount of time you'd know this and know why). I've had some pretty balls-out birthday celebrations, where family, friends and co-workers have converged to celebrate my being born. The kinds of shindigs where you turn around and you're suddenly quadruple-fisting Heinekens and wondering how you're gonna manage that when there's two shots of Crown Royal in front of you.

But I think therein lies the answer. The best present isn't actually a physical gift you can unwrap. It's knowing that at once you were loved enough to attract so many people together from different backgrounds to have a great time in each others' company, singing boozy karaoke tunes and reveling in bar room chicanery. Togetherness like that is a gift that is often overlooked and taken for granted. Having a late July birthday (when there are no holidays to interfere) helps.

Why am I so wistful and smart-sounding tonight? Damn.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I know it's cliché, but let's give it up for a great song and a band that's the reason we appreciate music the way we do even after so long.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

Congrats (it's a good thing, right?) to my man Wordsmitty ✍️ on being named as the new Head Blogger In Charge of the Blogging Bliss (y'all can catch up with it here: "Invalid Item" ). I'm proud to be a member of the editorial staff among a group of highly talented individuals, and I can't think of a better person to lead the newsletter going forward. He's done an incredible job this summer putting out our monthly missives, and I feel incredibly confident that he'll continue to do so. I'd be remiss not to wish blainecindy a full recovery and return to WDC activities...she's created quite a legacy on WDC, and I hope we can honor her not only by creating exceptional Bliss newsletters, but eventually seeing that it gains enough traction to become recognized as an official WDC publication. A lot of bloggers owe a debt of gratitude to Cindy (myself included), and I can't think of a better way to repay it.

Speaking of Smitty, here's a group worth checking out that he passed along to us during his WDC travels..."Invalid Item" . I'm gonna need more hours in the day to catch up with everything going on here at WDC!!

30/31: I love the new look of WDC's Blogging Calendar...it looks like the balls pulled from lotto draws. But the nostalgic side of me misses the days when the calendar would highlight your days' entries in blue, hence the term "blue month", coined by one of my favorite bloggers (and ex-Buffalonian like myself), Kåre Enga in Montana .

Well, I think I've said enough tonight (if I haven't said too much). I hope this was as enjoyable for you as it was for me to bash away at a keyboard. Let's just enjoy it for what it is. Peace, it's your birthday, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!