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4/5/11

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

I'd like to share with you one of my favorite poems, by Dylan Thomas:


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 



While taken slightly out of context, I would like to say to you that I did not go gently into that good night.  I raged, and somehow was able to muster over 300 votes and win...


The Stunner.




Yes, with your help I was able to become the champion of Thank, Q For Common Sense's blogging tournament, beating other bloggers like EmDottie, Thoughts of a Randomista, Squatlo Rant, and ultimately Michelle at Mommy Confessions.


It was a long battle, especially against Miss Mommy.  She may only have 400 or so people following her with a google profile, but she has thousands of followers within her ranks, from Facebook Twitter and the like.  She was the true #1 seed, and I had to pester a lot of friends, family, coworkers, and followers into voting. 


For some reason, even though I have over 450 followers, I only seem to have about 30-50 'regulars.'  It was that other 400 or so that I had to bother, and bother I did.


Happily it paid off, but not without a lot of effort on my part.  The good news is, during the course of the tournament, a lot of the bloggers (Mommy, Q and I included) grew their numbers.  Even though I am the only one who walked away with the official Stunner, we all walked away reaping the rewards of this tournament.


If you have not been to Q's site, I recommend you do ASAP.  Not only to witness the chaos and the carnage first-hand, but because there were some damn-good blogs fighting in this tourney.  Not only that, but Quincy is a damn good blogger himself.  If anything, you can go there and find a good handful of other bloggers worth following and stalking.


But for now I go to sleep, and rest I will.  I'm going to take a decent break from marketing my blog, since I have been pushing it so frantically lately.  But don't worry, avid readers... I'll still be bitching and posting daily.


Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 
Please Share it! :)

30 witty retorts:

Choirchick22 said...

:D you won!!? Congrats!!

Eric P said...

Wow, that's amazing that you won! Not saying you didn't deserve it, cause your blog is fantastic; it's just a great thing that you actually won! Congratulations! Great poem, too.

rinns said...

I voted for you babycakes! :D
Congrats :3

Unknown said...

grats man!

Rebecca said...

love the poem

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the win. I know that you campaigned, fought, and blogged your heart out for that Stunner-it's not Shocker but it's pretty awesome all the same. Uh...enjoy it...I guess?

consuela bananahammoc said...

Comngrats!! Nice poem too :)

Matthew MacNish said...

Good to meet you, MOPI.

Zombie said...

Congrats on your win!

squatlo said...

Glad I lost to the eventual winner of the tourney, Brandon.

Kelly said...

Congratulations on winning. Sounds like you had quite the challenge. I like the poem you picked out because it, to me, represents fighting against oppression or some type of emotional turmoil and surviving by fighting any of it- any way you can. I can relate to this on a very personal level.

Megan Hansen said...

Congratulations! I'm proud to have been a part in your win! This is a fantastic blog and you really deserved it.

Aaron M. Gipson said...

Congrats on the win, and kudos for the Dylan Thomas poem. I think it is probably one of my absolute favorites in literature. I read A Child's Christmas in Wales when I was about 13 and have been hooked on him ever since.

THUNDERCAT said...

Woo hoo! I got a few of my homies to vote for ya, but I don't think you needed it! Thank god you won! I would have lost my damn mind! She's cool, but someone had to take her down lol

The Reckmonster said...

IDAHOMIE REPRESENTIN'!!!! Congrats, Bro!!! You deserved it - a well fought out tourney. And I'm MUCH more impressed with your win than U-Conn. Q's tournament was MUCH MUCH more entertaining, for sure! =)

kitkat said...

yaay! so glad u won cos i voted thrice for u :p

Unknown said...

Woot! Way to go on the win!

Random Girl said...

Yahoo!! Congratulations to you and your victory

DanielM said...

I like the poems.

Also, congrats.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Well done that man. Did you really win a taser?

Alice X said...

Yay! Congrats you deserve it.

i said...

Ha, nice upset! Now you can recover from the post-win celebration, and start the raffle for the gift card!

Tasos said...

that's amazing man! congrats for the win!

Something Concupiscible said...

Congrats on your stunner!

Unknown said...

@Everyone else Stunned that I won: ...I KNOW, RIGHT?

@TVH: No actual taster, but an e-taster that I am going to put on my blog, as a testament to my uncanny ability to whore votes in little time.

@Kelly: I was first exposed to that poem when a classmate of mine died in a car accident. Hit by a drunk driver. A friend that was in the car with him recalled on the fight to survive. One guy lived, the other didn't. The survivor read this poem at the wake, from a wheelchair, and I was affected more than I thought I ever would be.

Q said...

Congrats to the Spud Man! Thanks for the kind words and thanks for allowing the world to see the web's best blogger in 2011.

James Lyndon said...

kudos!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful poem Thomas wrote for his complacently dying father. And what fortune! When I voted, you were behind 7 votes. Look at you now! I think you deserve a memorial. Not joking.

Congratulations and I'm very happy you and a lot of the other contestants were good sports about everything (except for one skirmish).

hed said...

HECK YES!!!

Congrats!

hed

taio said...

interesant

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