Yo, check it – Finger Candy is six years old today! That, according to my site analytics, translates to 70,000 views of 1,634 POSTS (wow, really?) across 37,000 visitors. Which is actually nothing terribly impressive, but it’s nothing to sneeze at either. I wish I had a count on the total number of words; now, THAT would be impressive, ’cause I be wordy. Not bad for the little blog that just sort of sprang up out of nothing. Good on you, Finger Candy, I’m proud of you. And proud of me, too.
And while we’re at it, proud of you as well, dear reader or occasional dropper-byer! You’re fun, thoughtful, witty folks, and it’s been a blast getting to know you through this platform. You’re the audience I always have in mind when I come up with a new idea and think to myself, “Is anyone even going to know what this is?” Because the answer nearly always is, “Aw yeah, X will TOTALLY know what this is!” Which really makes it all the sweeter. So thank you, as always, for being a good neighbour. I endeavor to continue respecting my side of our shared (Internet) fence to promote harmony in the blogisphood. 😉 To the next six!
“Sandra,” you are most likely not thinking, “it has been an eternity since you’ve yammered in our faces about Disney. Why so taciturn?” Or something to that effect. 😉 Well, that’s because I’ve moved the majority of my Disney blindness over to both Instagram (find me at park_or_perish, or click on the IG link in my sidebar) and YouTube.
I’m particularly proud of our little YouTube channel, Park or Perish!, because I am notoriously tech-unfriendly. I have accidentally destroyed more expensive electronics than my parents definitely would have preferred (on our wedding day, my dad pulled Mr. Finger Candy aside and, in his usual droll manner, said, “Well, she’s “yours” now. But you do know she destroys electronics, right?”) and in university an emergency infusion of McDonalds was the only thing that held off a complete breakdown during the Online Editing Session From Hell, 1999 edition. Holy crap I’m old. Anyhow, I’m bad with tech. Basically, if it deals with “stuff,” I will find a way of accidentally trashing that stuff and, I dunno, stapling it to myself or something. I’m really kind of an incredible klutz for someone who took dance lessons for 20 years.
But I digress. As always. What I was trying to say is for someone so inept at the “business” side of blogging, and just generally anything having to do with tech, I’m super proud of myself for learning a little video editing program so I could launch our YouTube channel. I’ve pulled off some not totally unfortunate edits, and I love to edit sound – it’s nitpicky work, but so satisfying when your timing finally snugs into place seamlessly. YouTube also represents its very own particular little publishing quagmire; it took me more than a couple of test runs to work out the bugs. None of this stuff comes naturally to me, so I’m really quite pleased that I’ve been able to jump in with both feet regardless.
So that’s where the Disney has scampered off to – it went off to seek adventure in the great wide somewhere known as Instagram and YouTube! I made this video this weekend, and I thought I’d share it with you. It’s all about the Disney nevers you know we’ll probably never actually respect; Disney has a particular knack for dulling one’s sense and reason, or at least our sense and reason. I hope you’ll check it out, and thanks so much for being a great virtual neighbour!
So here’s that thing I was so very proud of that I wanted to show you, but first needed a something to show, but the something got caught up in transit, and so I had nothing to show. Thing thing thing, show show show!
*Ahem* So the thing I was so very proud of – the physical proof of which was indeed caught in a sort of transit – is that thanks to our year-long diligence in cutting back, watching our spending and enjoying that which we already have, we were able to become Disney World annual passholders! That’s kind of big deal, right, it’s not just my imagination? 🙂 But for what we have planned for the next 365 days, it made the most financial sense, and that’s on a cost-of-tickets basis alone; the extra little perks like money off dining, merchandise, entertainment and accommodations and special, passholder-exclusive offers are just that – extra little perks (and already well-used, thanks to our Labour Day long weekend trip!)
Anyhow, it’s been a donkey’s age since I’ve done any nail art, and so I thought I’d do a manicure celebrating this awesome – and awesomely fun – financial milestone. I am so, so proud of us for making this happen, as silly as it may seem. Which I bet to many of you is very silly. And I’m cool with that; the Peter Pan approach to life is not for everyone. But consider that Mr. Finger Candy and I have decided to just get out there and fully immerse ourselves in the Deep Disney State – anything we can do to save money while we’re out being dorky dreamers is going to be a help.
TL;DR: While year-long passes to four of the world’s most popular theme parks may seem like a gigantic financial leap, it’s a chasm we easily crossed thanks to our very best efforts in reining in our spending and dedicating everything extra to this one financial goal. I love that we worked toward a goal and met it. Gotta say, it feels pretty darn great! Just like these nails – I’ve missed doing nail art, must really aspire to feature more of it here on this, uh, nail art blog. 😉
Finger Candy 