This blog won an award of some kind.

I won an award for this blog, so I figured I should say a word or two about it.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Outside of what I write for Anhedonic Headphones, I write the back page, observational “humor” column for a magazine published in Northfield—the Southern Minnesota Scene. I also manage its social media presence.

During the summer, the magazine hosts this ridiculously complicated “Best Of Southern Minnesota” competition, where things have a month to get themselves nominated in various categories, and then once the final ballots are constructed, there is a month where people can vote once every 24 hours for their favorites. Then we, as a staff, have to go through and interview all the winners and we painstakingly compile the November issue—the “Best Of Southern Minnesota” for the given year.

And when I say “we” I mean it’s really my editor Rich. Like, he’s really doing this all on his own.

Anyway, much to my surprise, last year Anhedonic Headphones was nominated as the “best blog” in Southern Minnesota. I was still kind of unemployed at the time, but also working at the bookstore, and was pretty close to things working out at the newspaper. I have no idea how I got nominated, but I did. I joked about launching a “massive campaign” to win, but I didn’t. I wasn’t taking it seriously at all—much like everything else in my life.

I also thought it was a slight conflict of interest, since I did manage the Scene’s social media and I did write for the thing every month.

Needless to say, I didn’t win. And that’s okay. Because I wasn’t, like, banking on it or anything.

Cut to this year, and Anhedonic Headphones was, again, nominated as the “best blog.” And despite the fact that I am entirely too busy and way too depressed to really launch any kind of effort to win—I won. I guess the few times I mentioned it on Facebook really helped and caused a spike that helped push me past last year’s winner (who sucks, by the way. Like, her blog is straight up trash.)

So now I can say that this is no longer an “award nominated” blog, but rather, an “award winning” blog. People liked it, or at least, liked me enough to vote once a day or whatever.

I think it goes without saying that I have to say thank you—thank you to anyone who reads this blog. Whenever I write, whatever I write, I just kind of put it out there and never really think about who, if anyone, is reading it. I never write these reviews with an end reader in mind. But people read this stuff I guess—some pieces more than others. I still get comments on that Land of Talk essay I wrote in 2013. TWO YEARS LATER people are still finding it and commenting on it about how the band touched their lives.

So if you know me in person, or are my internet friend or whatever, or if to you, I’m just a total stranger who writes dumb shit on the internet—and if you voted for me or whatever, thank you.

I’ve been doing this for nearly three years, which is really crazy to think about. Time flies really quickly when you’re listening to albums that are terrible and writing things about those terrible albums.

I’ve realized that every “fun” thing in life—I’ve quit after about 2.75 years. So I was actually due to quit writing for this blog earlier this year, given my track record: I started a band with a friend of mine in 2009, and it completely fizzled out by the end of 2011. And my radio show—started in 2010, and I managed to push it out until the end of 2012, but that was a stretch: I had wanted to quit well before the final show aired.

The reason I give up on these things is because they stopped being fun. The band stopped being fun because we tried too hard, and everyone was living in a different city, so there was really no way to rehearse or ever get together. I gave up on the radio show because I was too depressed to do it after a certain point. I just didn’t want to talk about the music I was playing (an important part of being on a radio show) and the music I did play ended up becoming a cry for help.

Have I wanted to quit writing for this blog? Yes of course. I write all day for a living at the newspaper, so the last thing I want to do when I come home is sit down and continue to stare at a computer.

Also, have you listened to music lately? It’s not great out there. And while in previous years, I had more time to dedicate to writing negative reviews of things; I now can’t even make the time, or bring myself to do that.

So I try to focus on things that are good, or at least that I was excited about listening to—rather than just some rando album I found online that is new—which is why there have been exponentially fewer updates this year, in comparison to 2014, and 2013, when I was writing content all the time.

But I haven’t quit. I’m still here. Still sitting on my floor, watching my rabbit eat, or play, listening to music that I can now stream through a Bluetooth receiver that I bought rather than the awkward act of always fumbling with a pair of headphones.

I haven’t quit because I guess I still have opinions. And this can still be fun. Even when it seems insurmountable to sit down and write something about the latest hip indie release I’ve subjected myself to—the words will eventually find their way onto the page.

So thank you for still reading because despite my best efforts, I am still here. And now I am apparently “the best.”

When my editor gave me the award, we made a lot of jokes about how I was “chasing those album reviews ten years from now” and that “I inspire me.” I can joke about having a huge ego or whatever, but the truth is I don’t. So it’s very humbling to have pulled this off somehow.

So thanks again everyone. I appreciate it.