Riceball Lovin'

O

nce again, the O-man--I leave the abbreviation up to your imagination--is feelin' the love, man. I've again noticed a slight surge in traffic this week and it is because of all the lovin' I'm get from my fellow Xangans.

It all started with Eechim. I played along with her "Interview" challenge. I answered some questions and as a result was required to get five people to answer. Since one who asked to be interviewed hasn't blogged since 2003--and has yet to answer the questions I posed--I decided to ask more than five people. Randomcarbon also asked to be interviewed and he HAS answered, but he's on LiveJournal, so I decided to make sure that I got five Xangans to respond. Below, I have already highlighted JustBeingV, TheWaterJar and ca1b0y, and I have been getting some of the traffic through them since they posted a link to my site when they posted their responses. I have also asked BurningSecrets and Gokingsgo, but that have yet to answer their questions. I hope they will soon. But these aren't the only places where I've been getting traffic from. I have been getting them from two young ladies as well. Woo hoo!

Babyjenk5 is a student at Johns Hopkins who--professing to be a Xanga whore--offered to write about those who commented on her site. Now, she has plenty of friends and gets her share of comments, so she is being facetious. She is not a whore, Xangan or otherwise... She is a carefree and light read that I enjoy, despite the fact that she loves her Mac and expresses a rather dim view of Microsoft. Okay, I don't love Bill Gates, but I DO use Windows... She is one of the first to bookmark me at RBJ and that is where I first learned of her. Anyway, she wrote about me (and others) and I'm glad she enjoys my site as much as I enjoy hers. Thanks, girl.

Iluvpajun is another young lady who wrote about me. (Why am I so lucky?) She says she used to make onigiri rice balls for lunch all the time. I wonder if she thinks of me when she eats them now? Will it affect the taste? Mmmm... oops, I mean, hmmmm... Anyway, she loves starchy foods--pajun is a Korean food that is like a pancake with vegetables in it (I think). And she owns a guinea pig named Genki (full of energy/high spirited) that she--get this--TAKES FOR A WALK on the streets of New York City. I have begged her for photgraphic proof, but I am still waiting. But the piece de resistance is that she is a classical pianist soon to be heading out to Italy for a competition--yes, she is that good! So go visit her to wish her luck...

Now the above people I know and so do not mind finding myself on their pages; indeed it is flattering. But lately, I have found myself in odd places as well. I saw a link to a place on LiveJournal, a guy named lhdakine, on my sitemeter references znd clicked it out of curiousity. I was rather shocked to find the following as his bio:

"We bloggers are, to varying degrees, narcissists and exhibitionists. We love to expose ourselves, talk about ourselves. And yet, ultimately, we expose only what we want to expose: a little thigh, some cleavage--well, I don't really have any cleavage..."

This is a quote of mine that was highlighted on RBJ, where I figure this guy found it. Shizknitz also has up the same quote, but she has me bookmarked at RBJ so it's no big deal. I don't really mind lhdakine as well, I guess, since he did source me. But it is rather surprising to find my words unexpectedly.

I have also joined a few sites that propose to offer more exposure for your blog--you may have noticed the links on the main page. Places like Bloglines and Blogazoo promise to increase your traffic, but you have to surf on their site other bloggers who are looking for traffic, too. By surfing, other sites you earn points and the more points you earn, the more your site will be put into the surfing rotation and receive more visibility. It's kinda more work than its worth, so I don't really do anything with it.

However, there is a place called Technorati that has a search engine for members that allows readers to do searches. You'll notice that I have a small search box on the main page. If you are looking for an old post of mine, you can enter a few words that you remember (onsen, DKLA) and it will search my site and provide links to them. I am also a part of their larger database now and so when other members do a word search, there is every chance that Onigiriman will appear on their list. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. I found my name on a site of which I know absolutely nothing.

This person apparently lives in the DC area and posted pics of the recent cherry blossom in and around the National Mall. He told his readers to visit my site to get more info on the practice of o-hanami, flower viewing. He is a Techonrati member and so likely got the info from there. Again, since I am sourced, it's not a big deal, I suppose, but I am surprised to find my name in places that are totally unrelated and unexpected...

Have a good weekend everyone!