shamash says...

A Year in the Life of Shamash

This week, "Shamash Says" turned one year old. There was no candle on a cake, but instead a birth: to twins! Shamash stayed up till the wee hours of the morning creating two sister professional blogs, and they have all their fingers and toes.

"Shamash Says" began as an experiment to see if a non-tech-geek English teacher could maintain a personal blog. A year ago, Shamash barely knew what the word “blog” meant, yet alone how to act on one. So she entered the blogosphere a bit naïve, and completely unprepared for how blogging would revolutionize her life.

To this day, Shamash knows the names and faces of but two friends who blog. The rest: she met in the blogosphere.

Here’s what happened this past year.

Tag, You're It!

You've just been memed. I found this over at Dana's place:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

Mine comes from a posting entitled

"Reverse Culture Shock: Surreal Moments in the U.S."- January 2005

"In December, at a stoplight, with the EiffelTower in the distance, I stand behind a shirtless Native-American (click to enlarge photo.)"

Ah, the memories.

I tag Darth Vader,  kristy, terry, Tish G., and Michiel.

Shamash Makes University News

Seems the University of Wisconson Whitewater found one of my blog entries worthy of posting at their site. Check out the September 20th entry: "Is an Academic Blog 'Scholarly'?". What a nice Saturday-morning-over-coffee-surprise to see a link to my blog, especially since I spent a lot of time researching my claim.

-This might be especially interesting to my COHORTS who had to listen to my rant! ;-)

10,000th Hit

Sometime last night, Shamash Says had it's 10,000th hit. My regular readers will remember what happened in May, which was somehow more significant than this number. I'm not sure why. The 10,000th hit came via this yahoo search. Thanks to all of you who take time to read Shamash Says, and especially those who take the time to comment. Blog on!

Is an Academic Blog "Scholarly"?

"Five years from now, professors won't need to be convinced that some academic blogs can be considered scholarly sources. And in ten years? Educators won't be relying solely on university libraries to find an article that has been peer reviewed. By then, the educational academia will have caught up with the professionals who work in law, politics, and journalism."

6,000th Hit

"...having readers makes writing a hell of a lot more fun."

Dry Spell

For those of you who’ve been following my blog since its birth in November, I’m a faithful blogger when not on holiday, averaging 3-5 posts a week.

But alas, I’ve hit a dry spell.

I can’t explain why, but I’ve lost the ambition to blog. I’m not sure why this is (because blogging is one of my favorite pastimes), but perhaps it has something to do with my other passions recently, namely:

1. Cooking new vegetarian meals and inviting good friends (as guinea pigs!) to dinner.
2. Reading good books like Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and Punished by Rewards: the Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn (I highly recommend both!)
3. Running the Hash, where I took this photo of a dried up riverbed in the countryside of this country somewhere in Asia.
4. Creating kick-ass units for my classes, namely, Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, poetry, and photo manipulation in Photoshop.

5. Organizing my life for my upcoming move from serviced apartment into a high-ceiling-ed home with garden and yard and lots of space to paint and collage. (Horray!!!)

6. Acquiring accessories/clothes for Birthday Boy’s upcoming Goth party.

Perhaps the blog spirit will soon visit me once again.

Until then, be patient, my faithful readers. I love reading your comments….

I’ll get back on track sometime soon, Legend of Y, Datta, Expat Nomad, Have Coffee, and Sara.

Gratitude to My Favorite Bloggers

This posting is dedicated to my favorite bloggers who have found a way to make me smile, even on the most dismal of days. Look below the fold.

Tagging: The Ultimate Cyberspace Game

"This is about exposing and creating communities. It's helping people find each other. I think that in the end is the fundamental power of tags," Dave Sifry of Technorati

What Is a Blog? (for those of you who don't know what the rest of us are talking about)

"Once Upon a Blog: A long time ago, in the hazy middle years of the decade nineteen-hundred-and-ninety, between the darkest reaches of dial-up and the Ethernet, a creature was born. It was not of this earth but, rather, the first-born child of the Internet. Its name was ... blog." - from PBS online