Monday, December 26, 2016

Adrian's Year In Review: The Best Blogs of 2016

That's right kids.  It's that time of year again.  It's time for my, "Best of Blogs" for the year 2016. 


This year I wrote 54 blogs including this one.  I have once again made my goal of averaging writing a blog once a week. 

For my "Best Of," I make two "Top 5" lists.  One is for the most viewed.  Although I realize this is unfair since the blogs written in January had more time to be viewed than the blogs in December.  That is the nature of the beast though.

My other "Top 5" list is for my personal favorites.  Despite how many views they actually had, I pick the blogs that I think are my best work for the year. 

First up, the Top 5 most viewed blogs.

5.  Bad Luck Windshield, And The Best Way To Ruin A Saturday.  33 views.

I'm not sure why a post complaining about how I destroyed my car's back windshield made the list, but it somehow did.  I think I only posted it once.  Since I tend to write at night I post a blog a few times on Facebook so that people have a chance to see it.  I guess my bad luck resonated with a lot of folks.

4.  The Whitest Girl Coffee You Know.  35 views.

I have to say, sometimes Adrian humor sometimes doesn't quite make the mark.  However, this time it did.  When great writing meets funny pictures, that's when hilarious blogs happen.

3.  What We Pass Down.  41 views.
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/12/what-we-pass-down.html

I really didn't expect this blog post to make the list.  I've only had it posted for four days.  However, a lot of my relatives viewed it due to what I had to say about my Grandmother in it.  I also think it had a lot of views due to the blog that preceded it.  That post happened to be next on this list.

2.  A "Little Talk," For My Grandmother.  48 views.
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-little-talk-for-my-grandmother.html

This blog post was passed around and seen by many of my relatives.  Many of them couldn't make my Grandmother's funeral service so I posted what occurred at the service, as well as the speech I gave.  I thought this would have a lot of views, but 48 is quite a lot for being posted just nine days.

1.  New Pedal Board Day:  Homestyle Edition:  Part 1.  55 views.
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/07/new-pedal-board-day-homestyle-edition.html

I understand why this blog post had so many views.  It's because there are a lot of musicians looking for a do-it-yourself/ make-it-yourself guitar pedal board.  Not only did I tell them where to go, but I also told them the part number.  Then I posted lots of pictures, and gave step by step details on not only how to make it, but how to make it right. 

I'd like to think that lots of musicians were able to take my advice.  I even had a friend who considered doing exactly what I did.  He found a deal on a regular metal pedal board, but he was glad that I posted this. 

Now we go onto my personal favorite blogs of 2016. 

5.  Hey Mama, Don't Rock Me.  Don't Rock Me One Bit.
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/07/hey-mama-dont-rock-me-dont-rock-me-one.html

Adrian finds out he's not the only one who thinks "Wagon Wheel" is overplayed.  There's a whole Wikipedia page about it. 

4.  Scareboarders:  This Year's Bad April Fools' Day Gag
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/04/scareboarders-this-years-bad-april-days.html

Every year Adrian pulls a pretty awesome April Fools' Day gag.  If people were fish, Adrian would have hooked a bunch. 

3.  Full Service Luthier
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/03/full-service-luthier.html

I was thinking of doing another guitar repair blog when I thought, "Eh, that's boring.  Let's do something fun."  So I showed just how much of a full service luthier I am.  This one had lots of funny pictures in it too.

2.  The Whitest Girl Coffee You Know, Part 2
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-whitest-girl-coffee-you-know-part-2.html

Part 1 was pretty awesome, however, Part 2 "went there."  I finally made Dad laugh after two days of him being depressed. 

1.  A "Little Talk," For My Grandmother
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-little-talk-for-my-grandmother.html

Not only do I think this is the best blog of 2016, it might be the most important blog I have ever written.  Admittedly, I had been thinking about my speech for a long time.  So when I wrote it I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to talk about.  So that made this blog pretty easy. 

I just posted what happened at the funeral service for my Grandmother, and I posted my speech.  However, it was what I said that made this post so important.  That, and the fact it was able to be shared with those who weren't able to hear it in it's original form.  Again, I think it's more important than it is good. 


So that wraps up another year.  It's hard to believe that I started writing in the spring of 2008.  My sister told me I should be blogging way before then.  She said that due to my natural storytelling ability and my love of writing, blogging might be something that I liked. 

Here is it almost eight years since I started, and this will be my 566th post.  I've posted stories, how to guides, instrument reviews, silly pictures, adventures, and so much more.  I hope I am lucky enough to keep writing.  I also hope I continue to become a better writer. 

I look at my early blogs, and see how they were just long posts like I would post on Myspace.  (Remember Myspace?)  That's where my blog got its start.  My posts were just quick thoughts and nothing more.  Once I had moved to Blogger I started to develop my thoughts a bit more. 

My early, erratic posts were funny in their own way, but a lot of the time they weren't that good.  Once I took writing a little more seriously I developed into a much better writer.  I hope to continue that trend. 

So here is a goodbye to 2016.  Overall, it's been an up year for me.  It hasn't been good for all the celebrities that it's killed off, but I have had a personal, profound change this year.  There was good, bad, and straight through indifferent, but overall I had more good than bad.  And despite the bad, I also grew as a person.  I think that may be the biggest, more important lesson that I will take from 2016. 

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