A Single Southern Guy in America

June 24, 2003

So, does this make me a Carnie now?

Car-nie--one who works at traveling carnivals, fairs, festivals,etc.

At last count this week's Carnival has 54 entries. At last count, I have put in over 20 hours in getting it ready (this excludes the polishing up of my blog).

I have a profound appreciation now of all those who have hosted the Carnival in the past. I vaguely remember something from Vicky I think about all the time Matt was putting in when he hosted the Carnival a few weeks ago. I had no idea. Not a clue.

If you have never hosted a Carnival before and are on the list take this advice--get your theme ready now, get your layout ready now, get your graphics and pics ready now. It makes it a lot easier to plug in the submissions once you have the framework set up.

That being said, I am so very glad that I volunteered to host the Carnival for this week. I have got to meet many more folks from the blogosphere that I never knew were out there, emails from some of my blogger heroes, and met another Arkie blogger to bring into the fraternal bonds of Arkansas bloggers.

I am also so very glad because I know nothing about coding, html, java, XML, RSS, SOS, USA, J.D., Ph.D. Let's put it this way, the book HTML for Dummies is over my head. But, perhaps, not now. I've learned so many new ways of manipulating the magic letters they call code that I am beside myself.

All of that brings me to this. In a sense I've grown because of the Carnival. I've seen things I've never seen before, learned things, met new people who may become friends, scared myself, and explored some of my own heritage (you'll understand when you see the theme). The same thing happened to me every year when I went to the State Fair. A suburban kid who knew cows were big animals that ate grass in barbed wire pens next to the highway was able to see, touch, smell, feel the best cows in the state. I'd wander through the Hall of Industry and see the new products and technologies being offered. I'd climb on the Gravitron and scream as my face pulled back on my skull. I'd meet other young folks from far-flung parts of the state who knew more about chickens than I did about skateboarding. And every night there was a concert sure to appeal to the conservative rural attendees of the State Fair. I grew at that Carnival and I've grown at this one.

Thanks to Bigwig and everyone who submitted an entry. You've helped me grow.

Posted by Adam H at June 24, 2003 01:50 PM ~ Link Cosmos | Trackbacks (0)

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