The naked truth

I guess one of my obsessions is with the round number thing. When I am pumping gas I tend to stop on an even dollar, say thirty five bucks on the nose. My wife takes an opposite tack, she always ends on a number like, say $32.32. She says that it makes it easier for her to check her statement and make sure nobody is monkeying with her credit card. I wonder if my strange o.c.d. with my habit of reaching for a "centiunit" or multiple of 100 is my own little quirk or is one that is shared by you folks or the greater world at large?

The reason I am broaching the subject is that this is my 503rd blog post of the year. Now a look back at the last three years shows that I have written 600 posts the first year, then 625 and finally, 650 of my little gems last year. My pattern or orderly obsession is crying out for if not 700, at least the equally permissible 675 posts for the year 2011. It will take 172 more submissions to hit the storied literary bullseye on the latter figure. If my math is correct, there are 106 days left in the year or an output of about 1.6 posts a day to reach the less lofty goal. Definitely doable but will take a little work.

Now in a normal year I would think that I could hit a watermark like this with my eyes closed and my fingers crossed. Give me a head of steam and a slight tailwind and I can shpiel with the best of them. Unfortunately, this is not a normal year. I have repeatedly hit a writer's block this year, being either disinterested in continually feeding this bloggy beast or frankly sick of my own voice.

Now I managed to suck it up and hit the hundred blog post in July and I hope that you were suitably impressed. The shame of sticking on 98 or 99 propelled me to even greater heights. But due to apathy and travel, August was my cumulative nadir for the year and September is trudging along awfully slowly as well.

So don't be surprised to see a little backsliding this year, I may end on 577 or some other odd figure equally random and un noteworthy. Or else I  rely on hopeful inspiration or hitting you with lots of music. I guess that we will see.

I saw the figure 5 in gold - Charles DeMuth (1883-1935) c. 1928
Oil on Cardboard