Hoo boy, yesirooty! It’s that time of the year, the time when we rub your face into the cold, boring weather and the lack of interesting subjects by doing the ol’ tag roundup! In case you’re new here, I’ll point out that tags are the little topical words attached to posts…
“I know what the hell a tag is, Sunshine,” you may say derisively, but I shoot back, Ah, but in the case of Walkabout, they’re also cutting or snide commentary on the post content, like those things muttered under your breath as the boss turns away. If you haven’t been examining them at the bottoms of posts, you been missing out on so much bloggy goodness – well, bloggy something. So to help you out, I present a few of the single-use tags that have popped up herein. The numbers have expanded disturbingly, largely due to the Profiles of Nature posts, and pretty soon we’ll probably have to hire someone to trap them and release them in a toxic waste dump someplace. But until then…
All bastards are bastards, but some bastards is bastards – Along with, ‘no worries,’ ‘pea soup floater,’ ‘Dijabringabeeralong,’ and, ‘mwaa.’ And of course, tags are separated by commas and cannot have one within, so that’s two tags at the forefront, chosen so nothing could get between. I felt using any fewer than these was not doing it justice, but to understand any of them, I think, you’d have to have read the book. Also, there are no italics in tags, but the original quote had them so I upgraded it here.
you like that do you? – Yeah, you’re a bad chick…
don’t ask where the pig is – I mean, the glare is a clue…
did you see Bigfoot in there? – I’m sure an experienced crypto-tracker would find him. It. Whatever.
tell me that’s not the same mook with the camera – I may have a reputation.
knockin’ lots of boots – Some of these I simply stare at in confusion, trying to remember the context (because I have to extract the tags alone without links, at least until I know more SQL – look, never mind,) and then I find the post and recognition dawns.
we come in AAUUUGHH – It’s no joking matter.
you know Gilligan in the opening credits? – Also, ‘Boy Scouts be shakin’ their heads,’ and, ‘one word: porters.’ Listen, I don’t like missing shots, okay?
them damn libs – And, ‘blame where blame is due.’ See above.
Poindexter of the Piedmont maybe – With, ‘no I didn’t yodel,’ ‘not even George,’ and, ‘we were idiots.’ It was a holiday, so I was obligated.
some of us have the belly for it – As well as, ‘no not the The Bangles song,’ and, ‘ook,’ which should have been used before. If you were sharp-eyed, you might have noticed what seemed to be a typo in one of those, but it’s actually correct, because the band name contains ‘The.’ Of course, another holiday – how’d it go for you?
bad film I tells ya! – Followed by, ‘oh who the fuck cares?’ Nobody shares my drama.
But we can’t ignore the Profiles:
it’s been downhill since the beginning and it’s not even accelerating – With, ‘yeah well my dad will – never mind.’ Bullies are the worst.
at least I didn’t go with common cockchafer – While, ‘HR Pufnstuf we could understand,’ goes hand-in-hand with that.
a little mousse for dessert – Had to.
Beyonce are you listening? – Please, please, please take that hint.
98 – 99 – 100! – Some photos had lots of possible interpretations. But, ‘brit milah (we will not let you go!)’ was inexcusable, I admit. Not that that ever would have stopped me.
‘Diddlepunk’ is my Bay City Rollers cover band – S-A, T-U-R, D-A-Y, night! C’mon, sing along!
ladies and gentlemen is this the face of a parasite? – Former maggot – former.
so so tired of Timbits – And who wouldn’t be?
uneven bars are still parallel dammit – Gym teachers hate math students.
no not “art is anal” hard as that may be to believe – Though if you pronounce it this way people will stop using it, so there’s that.
totes yeeted – Rad as heckin’.
And perhaps my favorite:
bird – Courtesy of The Manatee, filling in while I was traveling – credit for this precise identification.
The previous tag roundups can be found below, because why stop a bad thing?
2015: Tagged
2016: Tagged again
2017: Papa’s got a brand new tag
2018: So what did 2017 hold?
2019: Do not read tag under penalty of law
2020: Tagginses! We hates it forever!
2021: Tag ’em and bag ’em
We cannot ignore the holidays we all celebrated in 2021, can we?
Prep Your Home Video Setting Day, January 27 – so much for that winter project.
Remember The Dumb Shit That You’ve Done Day, February 26
Provide Unwanted and Disregarded Insight Into Yourself Day, March 28 (it was still winter.)
I Meant To Do That Day, April 1
Blurred Bird Day, May 29
Don’t Drive Anywhere At All Day, June 28
Walk Like an Orangutan Day, July 6
Find the Flounder Day, August 16
Shoot The Moon Twice In Different Phases Day, September 24 – yes, this is the correct holiday, and not that Beware of Strangers Baring Gifs Day shit.
Discard An Old Photo That You’re Never Gonna Use From The Blog Folder Day, October 28
Never Assume That Someone Else Did It Correctly Day, November 27
Capture Something Inadvertently Day, December 24
… which of course, all have their own appropriate tags.
You’ve been wondering if I’m gonna get to the stats, haven’t you? You should know not to doubt me about boring content.
2020’s image total of 1,037 was a major line to cross, and I didn’t make it, but it had also been a huge jump ahead of all previous years, so I don’t feel too bad – I came 56 images shy and blew second place out of the water, so, fine. I don’t feel I was lacking in regards of illustrations or regular content, even though it got a little slow towards the end. The post count was definitely a record, having passed all other years in October I think, so go me. The word count of 199,928 was also a record, but that’s related to the post count of course. I note that I was only 72 words short of breaking 200,000, which I would have done just for the hell of it had I checked before the end of the year, but oh well. That brings the total word count for the blog, since inception, at a little under 2 million.
Are these good? Not really. Maintaining regular content means something, I guess, but if people aren’t visiting, what’s that say? (A friend recently said that I tend to be “loquacious,” and credit for the fifty-cent word, but that may be a factor of the visitation stats.) At the same time, I have no patience for the short-attention-span crowd, and some of the blogs that I routinely visit far exceed my efforts, word and count wise, as well as having exponentially more visitors. Some of it comes down to discovery in a glutted medium, I know, but how much? And what are my goals anyway? Well, more sales, certainly. I’ve been into this before.
However, this is me, and I’m not going to change to reflect what’s popular – that’s a fickle mistress, to be sure, so the solution is to locate those who appreciate the same things. How to do that? Iunno. Maybe I already have.
But all that angst aside, we forge onwards, with more bugs and lizards and birds and wretched humor, and not one fucking vapor-brained celebrity. Cheers!