I've been avoiding this kind of post. I wanted to put it off as long as possible. Today just seems like the best day for it. The flurry of emotion wreaking havoc on this place is almost unbearable. You have half the people of Xangaland aboard the ship headed out of here. Pilgrimaging (I just made up a word) their way to a new world. One on the other side of the internet where they may never be seen again. Then, you have a small group of people waiting things out. Hoping for the best possible outcome even though, if worst comes to worst, they will have no where to go. The third and final group is planning on unplugging from the matrix. To wake up in the harshness of the sun's light. To try their luck in the real world.

You see, there's a common link between all of us here on Xanga. We're essentially one of two kinds of Xangans. The first being the ones who's blogging efforts focused on achieve the status of "top blogger". Gathering as many comments and as many rec's as they could. There was the daily struggle to find a niche and capitalize on it. Though, this is what eventually brought Xanga to it's end, I don't think anyone realized it.

The second type of Xangan was the "hermit". Avoiding most of the other users, you fell in to a small clique. A group of friends that you were perfectly fine with interacting with. What initially brought you here was the need for someone to listen to what you had to say. Anyone would do and Xanga was perfect for that.

The thing both have in common, that common link, we were all here for the attention. Every one of us in some way, shape, or form lack a certain kind of attention in our lives and Xanga fills that void. For some, it fills it in a good healthy way and others... well, not so much. Lack of attention from friends, family, significant others, etc. You name it. We're all just shouting in hopes that someone will listen and more often than not, someone would. This is what made Xanga so great.

I'd like to thank everyone for that. Everyone of you who have befriended me when I needed someone to just listen. Ten years ago today, I started up this blog in hopes that someone would listen. A lot of you have. Even when I really wasn't saying much, there was always an ear waiting to be lent.

Do you realize how difficult that is to find in real life? We're all so caught up with things we need to do to get by, a lot of the time we can't be there for the people we want to be there for. Around here, we made time. I am eternally thankful for that.

I still haven't figured out where I'm headed from here. I'm on tumblr, twitter, Facebook, Google+, MySpace, Instagram, LinkedIn, After Dawn... Basically if you need to find me anywhere else, I'm at whatever site @lithium98. As far as blogging goes, I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep it up. These past fee months especially, have been kind of aimless. I wasn't sure why I was blogging anymore. I think, after a decade of the routine, it became just that, a routine. It hasn't been much of an outlet for me lately. Maybe I just don't need it anymore?

I really do enjoy it. That's probably why I'm running rampant over at tumblr. Noncommittal blogging. Ha! There isn't much of a social aspect to it though. It's basically the internet's ADD side. Maybe if I find a new focus for a blog, I'll keep things going, but even if I don't, I'll still see you guys around. This is good bye to Xanga, not to each other. 

"Gordon Ramsay doesn’t care about your gender, race, or creed. All he cares about is that you can cook."

I keep seeing this said about Gordon Ramsey. How he's so great for not caring if you're a minority of some sort. I see it in almost every post he's mentioned. Now, I don't watch his show or any other cooking shows for that matter, but I don't understand why he's getting so much credit for doing something he should be doing just like everyone else. You know, not being racist. "He doesn't care if you're Asian, Black, Hispanic, etc., he just cares that you can cook." Isn't that what the show's about? As far as I know about the show, it's a cooking competition, right? Why would it matter what race anyone is? Are all the other cooking shows racist? 

I wish I got this much credit for not being judgmental based on something as unimportant as race. Kind of how you're already supposed not do. It's like those participation awards they hand out to kids for just showing up. Especially when it comes to racism, if you want it to go away, you gotta treat a situation like this as the norm. When you hold Ramsey in high regard for doing something he should be doing anyway, you're saying to everyone else racism is the standard and this man is exceptional for not being so.

I don't get a cookie every time I'm in a room full of people and I DON'T murder anyone. Though, that would be cool.