This is Number 499

Welcome to the 499th entry on my web log. I was going to wait and write a little something about my 500th entry, but everyone writes about their 500th entry. Who ever stops to celebrate the 499th entry? Well, me, for one.

When people observe some milestone with their blogs, they usually say something like "When I started my blog a year ago, I didn't think I would have enough to say to keep it going." Oddly, that seems to be true. I started "Just Ask Christopher" in December 2005 -- a little more than 3 1/2 years ago. I am a writer by profession, and have been writing in one form or another since 1976 so I knew I would have plenty to say to keep it going at least a year -- maybe two; but I must admit that even I am surprised it is nearing four years.

I like writing. Writing is what I do. I am good at it. It is, in fact, the only talent I have. No, really. I would trade half of the awards I have won for my writing to be able to paint or sculpt or draw. (Okeh, who am I kidding? I would trade away ALL those awards.) But it seems that we always want what we do not or can not have.

Writing has served me well these many years, allowing me entree to meet people and go places I would not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet or go. I like knowing that the words I have strung together have become a part of history (if only a little part) and that people many years from now will read something I wrote. They might not know my name or even care, but they will read my words. I think that's neat. Not as neat, perhaps, as someone walking through a museum and marveling at some painting Helen Frankenthaler did in the 1960s, but there you are.

Not only has my writing appeared in one form or another on radio and television and in magazines and newspapers, it is also in repository in a few locations around the country. Here in Arizona, you can walk into the Arizona Historical Society (Papago Park / Tempe branch) and ask to hear audio tapes of shows I did when I hosted my own radio program in the 1990s. So, 100 years from now, anyone who is so inclined can hear my voice. I think that is pretty neat, too.

And, of course, in 100 years or so, someone might stumble upon an archived version of this web log -- and scroll through and read this, my 499th entry, and think "What a weirdo! Who ever celebrates the 499th of anything?" Well, I guess that would be me.