Greatest Hits, Vol. I

I took a quick look back at my "Archives" tonight, and I realized that this site has been in action for about six months. That means it's moved from "momentary interest" to "on-going obsession". It also means it's time to look back on what's happened so far; hence my "Greatest Hits, Vol 1"!

To kick it off, http://aftermidnightpage.blogspot.com/2006/12/whats-going-on.html . This was my first "real" posting, following the typical "Welcome" posting that most people start with. It's a tiny bit moody, but I do kinda like it. Up next, a two-part posting that came together for reasons I'm still uncertain about. The first part, http://aftermidnightpage.blogspot.com/2006/12/open-door-richard.html, was a standard riff on items in the news, opened up by what I thought was an innocent observation or two about different blog hosting sites. Bam [to quote Emeril]! I was censored. An observation or two in the latter half of the post was "blanked" as well [of course, you just need to mouse over the open segments of this one to find out what I was getting at. Call it the "uncensored" version]. All this led to the follow-up, http://aftermidnightpage.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-can-i-say.html. (Oddly enough, I've had very few hits on either column. The ones that draw the most comment seem to be those concerning American Idol. Go figure...

I've always liked http://aftermidnightpage.blogspot.com/2007/02/im-old-man-take-look-at-my-life.html, if that counts for anything. It's funny in a universal sort of way, not controversial, and it sort of runs out of gas in a wistful "pfffft". How could people not like it?

Finally, since most "Greatest Hits" collections nowadays include new material:

Blacksburg, VA

You didn't see this coming. Nobody does.
Yeah, there was evidence, warnings to be read,
Perhaps read, dealt with, but left unresolved.

No one deserved the pain,
Whether shot or just viewing
The carnage, feeling the fear.

You were all victims.
God grant you release
From the pain.

For those
who live,
please find serenity.

There are no safe places.

-Mike Riley