This is very self-serving but I am very appreciative of everyone who read and commented on my blog. In the great scheme of things, I think of myself of a bartender first and a writer second. Thanks to everyone for validating the latter half of my identity.
There is nothing more obnoxious than people talking about their craft. So, I’ll spare you the minutia of what makes me write. I already sound enough like a blowhard. I will say this that they were all written in my small home office with the dogs nearby and fuelled by either coffee or whiskey. I think the coffee-based blogs are better but the whiskey-fueled one tended to be funnier.
I wish I could remember which ones were powered by what.
Every column was done with Pandora on the background. I listen to three stations this year: Pearl Jam, Fugazi and Rage Against The Machine. The background noise was essential for me to focus on getting these things written. If I accidentally lifted a lyric and claimed it as my own during publication, it was not intentional.
Hopefully, Eddie Veddar will forgive me.
In posting 60 columns this year, that breaks down to at least one a week. I did miss a couple of weeks of writing after Samson died. I didn’t much feel like writing about anything during that time. Because of my work schedule, I try to get most of the blogs posted at the beginning of the week. I rarely carry over columns for more than a day. I try to get as much out on the electronic paper before I call it quits for the day. I think this is why they start well and end like train wrecks.
My favorite part of the blog is my byline at the end. I love crafting a little joke at the end of each blog. This is the most self-serving pleasure that I’ve done all year. I figure it is my apology to my small but loyal base of readers for truncating the end of each story.
I’ll work harder to be tidier with the endings.
Between Keys On Main, freelancing at the Salt Lake Tribune, podcasting (yeah, I know. I have been dragging), being Erin’s partner, looking after Roxy & Shelly and trying to meet with friends, time is a limited commonity. I have no intention of stopping blogging and hopefully you will still be kind enough to give it a read when they come up.
In the movie Contagion, Jude Law is accused by Brian Cox of being nothing more than a blogger. Law defends himself in saying that blogger are writers where Cox says that “Blogging is online graffiti.” I think somewhere in the middle, they are both right. I rarely side with Jude Law but I hope he is right.
To a safe and exciting new year, I hope it matches 2012. Baby New Year will shortly be kicking Old Father Time in the beanbag and take over for the ‘13s. 13 is my lucky number and I hope it works for you.
See what I mean? I can never end these God damn things…
Ben Raskin bartends at Key On Main Wednesday through Saturday. Follow him on Twitter @BennyRaskin. Podcast? We don’t need no stinkin’ podcast. Happy New Years.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,500 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 11 years to get that many views.
Raskin's Rhetoric 
i myself am completely grateful for your blogging, it makes my days lighter with laughter, deeper with thought, and completely entertained. well done you!
Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Happy New Years. Benny