And now, the end approaches rapidly. We see the encroach of Santa Claus and his legions of loyal elves. Even my crusade to conquer all of reality is halted by the holidays, so I take this time to reflect. When the blog cycle started: I can’t say I expected any of this, or for it to end up at such a pivotal cliffhanger as it has. When we began this through the lens of looking at our literacy narrative all those months ago, I cannot lie when I said I expected these blogs to be.. Daft in a sense. The idea of writing these after a predefined topic every other week or so felt like an essay on some topic with extra steps: which is why my first blog appears much more academic in a sense and more stilted(?). But once I found out we chose our topic each blog cycle after, it certainly helped in driving my passion for these.

 

Looking back at my first “real” blog, top ten aquatic animals I could beat in a fight, it is very much a progenitor for all my blogs to follow which have all been in a similar vein. It helped in shaping my style of blogs that would soon become more refined: what definitely helped is the fact I did “land animals” as a broad category immediately after. Despite my spectrum of what I could write about before I repeat starting to narrow, I think it was definitely for the better. It also helped looking at others doing similar animal brawl related topics, or just top tens in how I could format things going forward or what extra details I could use. Alongside the idea of equipment budgets for a given fight: in where it wouldn’t be solely bare knuckle. I had been cautious in my first few outings to avoid “equipment”, in case it would make a fight too easy. But after I announced my grand purpose, and announced the breeds of foe I would be fighting from then on: I came to realize the stakes would be rising ever higher, and intelligent use of gear would assist without making it unfair (stay tuned for top 10 fantasy animals next semester to see how that’s going to help even more). I also saw in reading other people’s blogs more in depth strategies, or some less in depth: and the ways in which more can be just as interesting, or the same with less when it came to facing down all types of animal or creature in general. 

 

It’s funny though, really. Despite the lessons I learned and the refinement of my strategy and writing for these blogs, looking back on it I still think Top 10 Aquatic mammals I could beat in a fight is my favorite. And no, this isn’t just nostalgia speaking: but I also just really like it as a start to the series. It has some good remarks, some good threads, and neat choices: and I just really like how it came out both at the time and now. It is the simplest, most unrefined, but I still think it’s a good one (the dolphin entry is my favorite of the entire series, really). The failure of top 10 chefs has really helped me with the lesson of actual fights being more interesting to people: and I’ve learned to remember to better specify my arenas next time as well. Top 10 chefs didn’t have a particularly interesting arena, and the advantages I gave myself was a bit too generous: so I’ll carry those lessons with me for next semester. In a broader writing sense, giving the protagonist (myself in this case) “up to 5 items of any type” is too generous and generally a bit lazy writing wise. But, with these lessons learned in retrospect, I am more prepared than ever to end this when I return next: and I thank everyone for coming with me on this odyssey into the animal kingdoms so far. This was infinitely more fun than I expected it to be.