Monday, November 3, 2014

25 Things About ... This Is CorpGoth


It's my fourth blogoversary! How time flies. In honor of this milestone, I'm indulging in a little look back and some useless trivia...

1. While I had a couple posts earlier, I consider November 3, 2010, the real start of the blog because that's when I did my first "what I'm wearing today" post. Before that, I was just testing the waters.

2. I still have and wear everything in that first outfit!

3. At this point, I can't quite remember what inspired me to start the blog. It may have had something to do with a couple outfits I wore to work, looking in the office's restroom mirror, and thinking "THIS is CorpGoth, somebody should take a picture, people need to know how it's done." Yeah, that has my egotism written all over it ;-)

4. This blog has become the only regularly updated, wholly public place anyone can find me online anymore. My costume website is fully public, but I only update when I have a new costume. And Frock Flicks is public, but it's not just me posting. But every week, I have some work outfits that are decent enough to photograph. And while I'm constantly checking in on Facebook and LiveJournal, those are strictly friends-only.

5. This blog has lasted through three cameras and two tripods. What up with that?

6. I read a ton of blogs, for both entrainment and inspiration for this blog. My RSS feed is filled with gothic, costuming, fashion, and quirky lifestyle blogs that I check in with throughout the week.

7. I remember when I got my first comment from Sal of Already Pretty -- I felt like I'd hit the big time! Wow, a popular mainstream blogger said something nice on my blog, yay!

8. Aside from just web searches, a TON of this blog's traffic comes from Already Pretty's blogroll.

9. The other BIG referrer is Gothic Charm School, run by a good friend from way back in my Usenet days (back when she was the Gothic Miss Manners and I was the Gothic Martha Stewart; she decided to have a go with her moniker and thus had to make it more copyright-friendly).

10. Btw, my Gothic Martha Stewart site is still around, and I occasionally cannibalize content from it here. I just don't update it over there.

11. Of course, I wear mostly black. But I like color too (have you read my Gothic Color Theory?). I've worn accents of purple 68 times, hot pink 66 times, grey 63 times, red 57 times, burgundy 52 times, and blue just 11 times.

12. I don't own a ton of shoes (just 64 at last count), and I don't buy fancy brands beloved by goths such as Fleuvogs. Yet I've still considered my shoes interesting enough to include them in an outfit post 132 times.

13. I often joke that the ability to accessorize is what separates us from the lower primates. So it's appropriate that I've shown accessories in my blog posts 185 times -- usually as jewelry close-ups.

14. The most popular post on CorpGoth these days is "How to Dress Your Gothic Self in a Casual Workplace." I feel like that's kind of a distillation of the entire blog.

15. For a long time, the most popular post was "Size Is Just a Number (Swimsuit Edition)." Pleasantly surprised that this post received positive feedback, as I was a little nervous putting my stats and swimsuit pix up.

16. You may have noticed that, this year, I've been using a lot of memes and writing prompts to add text content to the blog. Well, I got tired of and bored with writing about the actual outfit. There's only so much I can say about this dress and that sweater! I don't want the blog to become about my daily life (because that would be boring), and the prompts are a way to make it personal without being "what I had for lunch today" (which, again, is super-boring because I just eat Lean Cuisine at my desk while surfing the net).

17. The longer I've been at this blog, the more I write and schedule posts in advance. It's the only way I can keep up anymore! I create posts at night, on weekends, during work breaks, and even on my train commute. I try to get two weeks done at a time, if not more.

18. I love participating in other blogger's theme days. Whenever I have the time and have something that fits the theme, I try to join in Sophistique Noir's monthly themes and The Professor's Homework Assignments. I also love Sophistique Noir's Red & Black Week.

19. And then I started my own monthly theme day -- we've had 13 CorpGoth Mid-Month Status Reports so far! I'm so happy that you've taken to this feature, it's a lot of fun for me thinking up the theme and then seeing how everyone interprets it.

20. The most popular Status Report was February 2013's "Love What You Do." We had 15 reports, showing a love of everything from Finnish literature at university to loving being a biologist working on human genetics. You're an amazing bunch of CorpGoths :)

21. July 2014's Status Report on "Summer in the Office" featured my first (and so-far only) free schwag from this blogging gig, a dress courtesy of eShakti. The company didn't require anything of me, the dress turned out lovely, and I wore it all summer.

22. eShakti must have known I love dresses -- I've worn them 170 times on this blog. Here's my dirty little secret about why I wear dresses so often.

23. I also wear a heck of a lot of sweaters. 147 times or so. Because it's overly air-conditioned in my office, plus I like the look of a good cardigan.

24. For a classic CorpGoth touch, skulls have shown up in my outfits (typically in scarves and jewelry) pretty often at 63 times, while bats have appeared (usually as jewelry) 41 times.

25. I've shown 404 outfits on this blog. Heh, 404. Well, I hope you don't feel like this is a 'file not found' page! That tally includes a lot of repeated outfits, a few evening outfits and costumed events, an occasional weekend casual outfit, but mostly just what I've worn to work for the past four years. About 100 outfits per year, so I guess I blog a third of the work week on average, which sounds about right.

Thanks for hanging in here with me! I really do appreciate every comment, I read them all, even if I don't get a chance to reply. I love hearing from you. I'll keep doing this as long as I have the time and it seems like you don't mind having me around :)

What I'm wearing: Black silk dress, Target | Black & pink stripe sweater, Macy's | Black stripe net tights, unknown brand | Black ribbon-tie pumps, Clark's | Black & silver skull-bead necklace, DisneyLand | Faux-jet dangly earrings, random accessory store

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