The Sleeper Hits Of My Blog

“How is Magic Eye doing?” is a question my boyfriend regularly asks me, because he is bamboozled at how well my old blog post about making a magic eye still does even years later. And I am too.

I wrote the post in 2017. I don’t even remember what prompted me to do it. I was probably just procrastinating writing a paper and decided to blog about the little tools I found and played with online to make a magic eye, those little 3D images you have to cross your eyes a little to see.

The post went out in February, and it got 38 views that month. Over the rest of the year it got a total of 207 views. I think this is pretty average for me. Especially for a random post like that. Even in 2018, the post only got another 623 views. But since then, things have jumped up a lot. For the past two years, that post alone has hit over four thousand views. And here in 2024, with the year only being half over, we’re already at 4.7K. Every day, this post is at the top of the list, racking in dozens and dozens of views. And I have no idea why.

As far as I can see, I’m not getting traffic in from anywhere. I’m not getting new comments or likes on the post, either. I do, however, see clicks out to the magic eye actual tools I listed, so I guess people just find me on Google because they’re looking to make their own magic eye, just as I was years ago.

My magic eye post is not the only one that’s surprised me in terms of notable stats. It is, by far, the highest, but there are a handful of other posts that keep showing up.

Me checking my post stats every day.

1. What’s Something No One Would Guess About You? – written in 2022 and inspired by an old coworker who always had a wild story to share about her life and career before working in sales.
2. Keeping Your Brain Active – written in 2021, it was just a simple thought piece about mental productivity.
3. Forgotten Canadian Kids TV – written in 2020, I think this one hit Reddit a bit, but I don’t know why else it did decent, as I didn’t really name many shows in the post itself for search engines to find.
4. What’s The Difference Between Marathon And Binge-Watch? – written in 2016, this was actually made for a University writing course and then I posted it once the course finished.
5. The Unfortunate Downfall Of Pemberly Digital – written in 2015, I was expressing my disappointment with what I thought was a creative channel with potential. I’m not saying I contributed to their ending, but they didn’t really do too much after I wrote this. I don’t regret writing it because I stand by my thoughts, but I kind of wish it was a positive post that was doing well for me.
6. A Dragon Rant Because I Hate Sisu’s Look – written in 2021, this was a simple rant that actually struck some chords with others. I stand by this too.

Sometimes I wonder how much money these posts would earn me if I monetized my blog and ran ads…

These are six very random posts in the grand scheme of the 500+ I’ve written, and I’m fascinated by their ‘success’ year over year. Especially because like with the magic eye post, they didn’t start strong. They just slowly grew over time.

Fellow bloggers, which posts are sleeper hits for you?

 

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Random Ramblings #2

Last fall I wrote a post of random thoughts and ramblings because I had nothing else to say that week. And I enjoyed writing it too, so I figured I’d make it an option for when the regular content well has run a little dry. The previous blog post was written and edited fully the night before it went live, which is a sign of desperation as usually I just edit and schedule previously written drafts the night before. So clearly I’m in need of some more ideas and drafts, but this week we’re taking it easy and just rambling.

This week has flown by. In fact, most of May has flown by. That’s part of the reason I’m doing a post like this because what do you mean it’s already time for another blog post? It feels like I just posted yesterday! Next week I have to set aside some time to focus and get some drafts in the works. It makes me feel better and it makes the posting process better, even last minute.

I’ve just been wasting a lot of time lately, I guess. I already have less time per week as I do spend a few hours commuting into work now, though I do work from home a few days, and curling is over for the summer, so I do have those hours back now. But there are silly YouTube videos to watch and mindless social media to scroll. One thing I’ve been watching a lot of lately on YouTube is Financial Audit. It’s this guy who invites people–usually in debt–onto the show and goes through their monthly expenses and highlights how they could be living a better life. I’ll admit, for me it’s kind of “poverty porn” as they call it, as I do not have bad spending habits and I was luckily raised with financial literacy so it’s not like I’m relating to any of it, but I just find it interesting to see how people justify ruining their lives so casually and how the host reacts so passionately.

Me nightly

I’ve also been watching a lot of YouTube Shorts. I was good and stayed away from TikTok, but Shorts are interesting because they’re so not targeted. It’s just mindless nonsense, and sometimes I like just zoning out and watching it for twenty minutes. I also consider it research for work because we do have a TikTok account for work, and I need to keep up with the trends to some extent.

And speaking of keeping up…one thing I thought I had kept up with more than I have is WordPress. I’ve been on this platform for over a decade, but recently I had to use WordPress at work, and I realized how behind I am. I made my site years ago, so I haven’t explored themes or styles in a while, and I sneakily choose to use a very old version to write (the Classic Editor, as it’s called), so I haven’t adapted to new editors.

This is genuinely what I open up when I start writing a new post.

I knew WordPress had made advances in their editors and I knew new themes were coming out yearly, but I didn’t feel a desire to change. And every time I tried out the new editor just to see, I didn’t like it or it slowed me down.

So when I took on the task of updating a website at work that was made a year earlier, I had no choice but to get very, very familiar with block editing and patterns and a whole new style of WordPress. But I got it done and it was interesting, even if I found some of the advancements to be more frustrating and complicated than they need to be.

I really thrive on tasks like updating/fixing that website. I don’t know what it is, but I was dialed in for two days, just focused on it fully. I didn’t even feel a need to listen to music. I think back to other projects like that such as fixing iTunes problems or working with sneeze count data, and it’s the same. I’ll sit for hours focused and content until I get to a place where I’m satisfied.

Anyway, I’m gonna go pack because I’m going to my boyfriend’s for the weekend, and we’re going kayaking, so on top of the regular weekend needs, I need to make sure I have a hat and bathing suit and flip-flops. Of course, by the time you read this, the weekend will be over. I hope I had everything I needed and had fun. (Edit as of Monday night: LOL no but that’s a story for the next blog post).

That’s all for now! Thanks for letting me spout some blabber once again!

 

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Game Shows And Trivia

Game shows fascinate me. I don’t watch that many, but whenever I do, I’m so intrigued by how they work behind the scenes.

Take Family Feud, for example. They always say “we asked a hundred people…” and I always wonder how? Was it via an online survey? Did someone stand in a mall asking passerbys? Or is it just a lie and instead the internal show staff made up the questions and answers? No matter the truth, I’m interested. The concept of someone’s job being to create trivia questions and gather answers seems fun to me.

Or take the show Hollywood Game Night, the NBC celebrity game show hosted by Jane Lynch that ran from 2013-2020. My mom and I loved that show because it was fun to watch, and the celebrities seemed happy to be there. The games they all played weren’t just thinking games, there was sometimes an element of physical or skill-testing challenges. From guessing children’s drawings of celebrities to playing word games, there was always a wide array of wacky games that I would’ve loved to play. But I also can’t stop wondering how they’re made.

I imagine a team of six dynamic, creative adults just left to their own devices in a room full of toys and sketch pads just coming up with silly games. They have to test it amongst themselves and iterate on it until it’s perfect, and then they set up a meeting with the bosses and shareholders to demonstrate the games.

It’s probably not like that. What is it like, though? What’s the job description like when they hire?

There are so many behind the scenes or ‘making’ of content for movies or TV shows, but not for game shows. I’d love an inside look at what goes on and what goes into making them.

On a related trivia note, my boyfriend and I have now gone to two different trivia nights at restaurants, and we’ve had a lot of fun. Some person just leads it for the players, and that just seems like such a fun, chill gig. And I wonder, do these people come up with their own trivia questions? Is there a Facebook group for bar trivia hosts where they all share questions?

Because there is an art to good trivia. It has to be challenging to some extent. Not everyone should know it. But it has to be reasonably answer-able. Is there a litmus test for measuring trivia questions?

These are my game show and trivia ramblings. What are your favourite game shows to watch, and also what game show would you like to be on?

I’d like to be on Family Feud, Beat Shazam, or Don’t Forget The Lyrics. When a Canadian version of Family Feud was announced several years ago, my brother and I seriously looked into auditioning, but the show highly encouraged goofy auditions of people overenthusiastically showcasing themselves, and our family is not those kinds of people. But I went to watch the show’s filming once, though, so that was fun.

You can actually see me in the audience here!

 

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Learn About Gargoyles With Me

I learned some interesting things recently. About gargoyles. And I just want to share this newfound information here because I don’t really have many opportunities to talk about gargoyles in other parts of my life. So while you could go look up this stuff yourself, you’re already here, so might as well learn it from me!

The backstory to this is that my parents are getting landscaping done in the backyard, and they were discussing what to do with the one lone fence post they now have. I told them that before they cut it down and do nothing with it, look into some funky post caps, because how cool would it be to have a sick gargoyle up there? Father loved the idea. Mother did not. As my dad explored Amazon and Etsy, he asked if I knew the history of gargoyles, and I confessed that I did not. So I looked it up and was amused with what I found.

For one, even if we got a gargoyle post cap, it would not actually be a gargoyle. Because for a gargoyle to be a gargoyle, it has to serve the function of directing water. That’s why they were originally made, in the 13th century: to act as a spout and get rainwater off a roof. In fact, the word gargoyle comes from the French word gargouille, meaning throat. Other languages like Latin or Spanish have similar words, and also represent the gurgling sound of water.

So basically, instead of having just a standard pipe or spout hanging off the top of a building innocuously, someone decided to turn them into creepy little creatures just for fun. And then everyone around was like “oh, hell yeah, this is good stuff!” Wild.

There’s also a French legend about a gargouille. Bishop and chancellor St. Romanus subdued a monster outside his town of Rouen that looked a little dragon-like and even breathed fire. The beast is then taken to the city and burned, but its head wouldn’t burn due to its fire power, so the head was mounted on a church wall to ward off evil spirits.

The concept of warding off spirits is common, and that’s why even figures that don’t act as a water spout exist. These, as I mentioned, aren’t gargoyles, and go by a variety of other names including grotesques, chimeras (since often they combine many animal parts), and my favourite, hunky punks!

Look at this hunky punk!!!

Even churches have them, though they aren’t directly tied to most religions, and they are sometimes criticized for it. It’s thought that some grotesques on Catholic churches reflect pagan beliefs. A lot of times they just reflect the style of architecture at the time.

I think it’s really neat how even some modern buildings include these little creatures, still for no reason other than a fun aesthetic! It really is such a unique design element, and now knowing a bit of their history makes them even cooler! New buildings, apartments especially, are being built every day, and I think more of them should include hunky punks!

I happen to own a little grotesque, actually. Got him at a garage sale years ago. Sometimes I go to garage sales and point to the ugliest or most useless thing and tell my father “we need this” as a joke. That day, I did not expect him to look at the little clay sculpture I was pointing at and say “Okay, how much?” My mother is not a fan of him, but I’ve named him Harold, and he sits in the kitchen, and we put a little Santa hat on him at Christmas.

Everyone is familiar with gargoyles, mainly as a part of European architecture, though I’d doubt most people know their function or that they’re not all truly gargoyles. I was fascinated reading up on all this, and I hope you are just as interested.

That’s all for now!

 

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Soap Opera Actors: Why Are You The Way That You Are?

My mom watches Young And The Restless. I remember doing homework at the kitchen table and listening to Victor and Nikki break up for the 500th time or something like that. It’s wild that now, all these years later, I’ll go downstairs to get a snack during work and there’s Mom watching the show still. Victor and Nikki are on their 800th breakup now, I think.

Soap operas fascinate me. They’re on the air for decades, with new episodes almost every single day, and the stories are so ridiculous, but people love them. Quality drama shows get axed after a season or two on primetime TV, but some evil twin coming back to life to marry the stepbrother you found out you had two weeks ago does numbers on daytime. Insane.

They’ve got a cult following of sorts, but it’s an age group that overall isn’t exactly young anymore, so I can’t imagine that in twenty years, there will be many soaps on the air still. Also, the majority of the main actors are on the older side too…

Which brings me to the point of this post. What kind of fascinates me the most about soaps is that there are actors who essentially spend their whole career on that one show, just filming decades of episodes. The grind seems constant, but they stay. It seems so different from other non-soap actors who are constantly joining new projects and telling new stories. I imagine that all actors get into the biz because they love storytelling and playing a variety of characters, but some of these soap actors just seem to, like, stop wanting more after that early role. It goes against everything we seem to know about actors.

I think about all the primetime TV shows that have lost a beloved character late in the show because the actor/actress decided they wanted to do something different and couldn’t wait for the show to end. I feel like a bad person for thinking about it, but if some of these soap actors can play a role for 25 straight years, surely this other actor can stick around for this last and final season, right?

On the other hand, maybe acting is just a job like any other, and as long as you like your coworkers and make enough money and have a work/life balance, you’ll stay forever, so maybe soaps are just specially designed to be such good environments that people are willing to dedicate their entire career to it. If they’re happy, then good for them, I guess. Plus, it’s not like they don’t do any other acting. All of the main Young And The Restless cast do have many other credits, but usually for only one episode or in a movie no one’s heard of. Again, if they’re satisfied, then go for it, I guess.

In the grand scheme of things, the mindsets of soap actors mean very little to me, but I do spend a lot of time pondering this every time I see my mom watching good ol’ Y&R, so now hopefully you get to think about it a bit too.

That’s all for now!

 

 

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