You people never cease to amaze me.

Here are the search terms that referred people to my blog this week:

• possum sitting (Aw!)
• mom and baby possum (Double aw!)
• ethel loves him + cartoon
• wordpress ethel (Someone searched for me! Someone knows I exist!)
• who wrote the hey song (Gary Glitter. Duh.)
• i’m wide awake, it’s morning wordpress his mother mom stroke relationship young college life (Wha?)
• claiming to give 110 percent (Those 110 percent-ers. Oh, those silly geese.)
• baby girl possum (Lots of possum searches, huh?)
• never give 110 percent (Of course, “never give 110 percent.” You never give 110 percent because it’s humanly impossible. But hopefully that person read my post and understands that now.)
• is there such thing as 110 percent (No.)
• do dead possums explode (…)

Okay, let’s dwell on that last one for a moment. Someone somewhere is sitting in their house, either in front of a computer or with a cell phone in hand, and suddenly he or she just happens to wonder, “Do dead possums explode?”

Hmm, let’s see.

Does the dead possum have any large, open wounds, either from an animal or motor vehicle impact? If the dead possum has a large wound, this may prevent the explosion.

Did you try shoving a stick of dynamite inside of the dead possum? Although this isn’t the most natural way to make your dead possum explode, it sure does the trick.

Did you try putting the dead possum in the microwave? I’ve heard that certain things will explode when placed in a microwave. Maybe the same holds true for a dead possum.

One last suggestion on how to test the explosiveness of a dead possum: jump on it. If it’s been decaying for awhile, there may be gases built up inside of it. If you jump on it, it may detonate the gases, causing an explosion. (Just make sure to wear your galoshes.)

“Don’t blow us up, please!”

I hope you all aren’t taking me seriously. I would never want someone to blow up a possum.

Riding the tide.

Even though I haven’t posted on this blog in, oh, 1,000 years, somehow it still gets more hits than my other blog.

Here’s why: I wrote this post in a frenzy of frustration. I was irritated that people kept telling me to give 110 percent, and I was pretty sure those people just wanted me to work myself to death.

So I wrote about how unlikely it is that anyone can give more than 100 percent. If you’re already giving all you can, you can’t work harder. Saying, “You need to give 110 percent” … well, that’s just a cop-out for a lazy employer who doesn’t want to teach you the skills you need to do what they want.

That’s what it comes down to: it’s not about working harder. It’s about having the appropriate tools to follow instructions.

Since this blog gets so many more hits than the other one, I’m moving the operation back here (possibly only temporarily) to see what happens. With that blog, I usually just write about books. With this one, I can write about books, work, boyfriend or photography. Hell, I could even write about writing. Imagine that.

As an introductory post, how about a photo of myself pretending to be a star-nosed mole?

Dig it?

I’m not normally all gussied up, but I was covering a story today so I needed to look fancy. Also, I do have hair. It’s just hiding behind my head.

An image for comparison:

He digs it.

Okay … maybe that’s a stretch.

 

Update: Do a Google search for “110 percent.” My post is on the third page. No wonder it gets so many views.