25 random things

about me. This was copied from the Facebook thing that's popular with my friends right now.

And we're off.

1. If I had never moved to Malta I'd probably be a professional ice hockey player today.

2. I had a mullet from around the ages 8-10.

3. I'm 100% straight but I fully support gay rights.

4. Contrary to popular belief, I did NOT cry to the movie Titanic. I merely said that the song softened me up.

5. My mom banned my brother and I from watching Power Rangers after we fought so much when we were young.

6. I haven't officially been sick in at least 3 years.

7. I still bite my nails and I don't know what the hell is wrong with that as long as I don't bite them too short.

8. I like racist jokes as long as they're all in good heart, I'm not a racist whatsoever and I'd only say racist jokes with people who I know would not be offended and who understand that it's for the sake of a laugh among friends.

9. Sometimes I wish I could take up stand-up comedy, after being influenced so much by a number of comedians.

10. I think body modification is a great way for someone to express himself as an individual, and I plan on getting a lot more tattoos than the three I already have.

11. The first reason I chose to study business subjects from form 3 onwards was that I enjoyed picturing myself as a successful businessman in a suit driving a Mercedes.

12. I like Limp Bizkit, they were one of the first bands I ever listened to, even if I don't listen to them as much anymore. Sue me.

13. As a little boy, my favourite sound was a marching drum beat.

14. I'm extremely afraid of large masses of water, e.g. the ocean, sea, lakes. The reason? I watched Jaws when I was 8. And I love shark attack movies.

15. I believed in Santa Clause up until the age of 10. I never forgave my parents letting me learn the hard way.

16. I never went to pre-school. My parents wanted me to go straight to kindergarden so that, when we'd move to Malta, I'd be the same age as the Maltese students (there's an age difference of one year between America and Europe). But then I went to another school and they didn't let me stay a year younger than everyone else so I had to repeat the 4th grade in America. Now I'm a year older than my fellow students here in Malta, and I just tell everyone that I had to repeat a year when I moved to Malta to avoid the hassle of telling them what I just said now.

17. I hate being a hypocrite but sometimes I am one without wanting to.

18. I believe in God but I don't go to church because it's redundant and meaningless to chant the same shit over and over again every Sunday like a bunch of zombies who don't even know what they're actually saying.

19. I remember being scared shitless the first time I drank a beer. I was afraid of being drunk because I didn't know what it was like. It was with a few staff members from the first restaurant I ever worked at, but they couldn't tell I was scared.

20. I'm a Tom DeLonge when it comes to playing guitar. I don't play anything technical but I believe that I play what I know to play pretty well, and I doubt I'll ever proceed from playing power chords and simple yet catchy riffs.

21. I grew up watching Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, the Simpsons, wrestling and hockey. I still believed wrestling was real until the age of 10. Watching the Maury show made me realise that cheating on your partner is probably the worst thing you could ever do. The second worst thing is presenting yourself on the Jerry Springer show.

22. I've been obsessed with growing a goatee since 2003, when I first got into Linkin Park. Bad luck struck twice, the first time when I cut my chin which left a scar, the second time when I realised that the goatee was never going to straighten out no matter how many times I shaved it.

23. I love blogging, and I hope that someday, somehow, the returns (i.e. rewards, earnings, whatever) of my blogging will be greater than they are today.

24. I'm an extremely heavy sleeper. I could sleep at 8pm and wake up at noon the following day.

25. I love cats... and dachsunds!

How to successfully maintain a blog.

At first I was going to call this "How to maintain a successful blog", but who am I to say that my blog is actually successful? Anyway, I noticed that there are people out there who like the idea of blogging, but refrain from doing so for certain reasons. Also, there are others who started a blog and, well, abandoned it in its wee beginning. So, based on my amateur experience of 3 months worth of blogging, I've compiled a list of useful tips which I think should all be necessary for being a good blogger.

• Be devoted. Before you start blogging, make sure you really want to keep doing this in the long run, because a lot of blogs tend to have "Epic Phail" written all over them after a couple of entries followed by abandonment. It really doesn't take much of your time, 15-30 minutes a day should be plenty of time. You don't even have to blog every single day, but avoid long intervals.
• Know your blog. A lot of people are afraid to start blogging or abandon their blog early because they don't know what to write about. This can go one of two ways, in my opinion - either dedicate your blog to something specific, like for example video games or football, or have very general blog, like mine. Having a specific blog is easy, especially if you're really into the subject. I'll give tips about general blogs in the following points.
• Be easily inspired and expand simple ideas. Knowing what to write about shouldn't be a daily nerve-racking experience as you stare in front of the computer screen. Let random thoughts that come to your mind during the day be your source of inspiration. It can be about virtually anything. Usually however, literally writing down a random thought wouldn't take up more than a sentence or two. So take that thought, analyse it, build up on it and form an expanded topic from it.
• Don't just write about your daily experiences everyday. Come on, your personal life isn't that interesting, we all know that. It isn't any different from any life of your peers, so no one wants to read predictable and redundant stuff. Especially when every single day is the same. If, however, you battled a T-Rex using a light sabre handcrafted by Chuck Norris while he was arm-wrestling Bigfoot, then yeah, you might want to choose that day to write about what you did in the past 24 hours.
• Don't use the same old formula for your posts. Let me use my own blog as an example. Entries I write include random discussable thoughts, reviews on music albums, movies and books, and personal experiences. This also applies for specific blogs. Don't just write about your favourite team's game results. Write about the team history one day, statistics about a player another day, find a random interview the next, and so on. In both types of blogs (specific and general), throw in a different entry format for every day.
• Exploit the use of multimedia. This is the Internet. Use that to your advantage and include video clips, pictures, and audio clips in blog entries. Spice it up a bit, no one wants to just see entry after entry of non-stop text.
• Acknowledge the reader. The reason you're blogging in the first place is so that others can read what you have to say. Without them, you're wasting your time. Sure you're getting your thoughts out but it's much more effective when you know others are actually paying attention to what you're saying. Write about topics which can be discussed, criticised, used for reference, etc. If the reader suggests subjects to talk about, take them into consideration for your next entry. Reply to comments with your own comments.
• Promote your blog. Do a bit of advertising, get the word out. Don't spam the hell out of everyone, just post a link on your Facebook/Myspace/Hi5 profile, inform your readers of updates, and ask your friends to tell others about it. With a bit of time, your fan base will grow. Also, get in touch with other bloggers, they'll surely help you out.

Well that's it from me, I think I just about covered everything you need to know when it comes to starting your own blog. For those about to blog, I salute you. Good luck, and adios.