The 10,000th Comment

The goal of this blog, noted right at the top of the About page, is to generate conversation. 

Thus my excitement recently when I noticed that I was rapidly approaching the milestone of 10,000 comments on my blog over the last 4 years. It’s just a number, but aren’t all milestones?

I was in a meeting at work when the 10,000th comment was posted on yesterday’s entry (technically it was posted on the photo on yesterday’s entry, but I’ll link to the entry). It comes from a Twitter follower named Shannon:

You mean Iron Chef fashion, right? Now onto my comment;

I love this idea! Thanks for the pointers on what to do while on this type of date! Now… To find someone to go with.

To fully celebrate this milestone comment, let’s break it down line by line.

You mean Iron Chef fashion, right?

Shannon is referring to the Top Chef date idea I mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry–you invite a date to a dinner that you’ll cook while they’re there, and they’ll bring a secret ingredient to keep you on your toes. Shannon, technically you’re right–that’s how Iron Chef works. But I watch Top Chef, and pretty much every challenge has a twist or ingredient they have to use, so that’s what I was going for.

Now onto my comment;

Here Shannon is quoting from the classic “Song of Achilles” by Plato. In comparing the fleeting nature of the current moment–the “now”–to a future onto which she can make her mark through words. She cleverly uses the semicolon instead of a colon to indicate that she ended the stanza one syllable short of the typical 7 syllables used in the “Song of Achilles.”

I love this idea!

This is where things get ugly. Shannon is trying to start a “flame war,” as they say on the internet. By saying she “loves” this idea, she’s trying to provoke people into saying why they don’t like–or “hate”–this idea. Shannon is playing the part of provocateur, like a sexy Arianna Huffington.

Thanks for the pointers on what to do while on this type of date!

Here Shannon is blatantly promoting the local St. Louis restaurant chain called “Pointers Pizza.” I’m surprised her comment didn’t get flagged as spam. But it didn’t, so well played, Shannon. I hope Pointers is paying you well. Whatever they’re paying, I’ll double it!

Now… To find someone to go with.

Again, Shannon shows her literary chops by quoting from none other than Big Willy himself, Shakespeare. We all know the famous line from Prospero in “The “Tempest”: “As dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. ..now, to find someone to go with.”

Shannon is referring to one of the greatest paradoxes of the human condition: that we spend nearly a third of our time asleep, those precious minutes wasted in the hourglass of our lives. And yet if we find someone to sleep next to at night, those unconscious hours don’t seem wasted after all.

Well done, Shannon, well done. I’m glad the 10,000th comment was one of so many nuances and layers. You’ve set a high standard for the next 10,000 comments.

4 thoughts on “The 10,000th Comment”

  1. *stands at the end of the Jamey’s performance, applauding wildly* Although you missed the mark with the pizza parlor, you deciphered every line eloquently! Bravo, sir. I look forward to reading your flowery bs while the next 10,000 comments are made.

    Reply

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