Gregoriancant's 500th Article and the Meaning of the Number 500

I hereby proclaim that, within a year and two months writing here on Associated Content, I've survived writing 500 articles without need of checking into a carpal tunnel treatment facility. That's right, no visit to such a place, even on an outpatient basis where I'd go home to type up more articles with a pen in my mouth and my hands tied up in bandages. The secret to preventing such a thing is taking breaks as often as possible during a particular writing day while also utilizing an approximate 75 word-per-minute typing speed that I've been lucky to possess by unexplained nature.

But not that I want to celebrate work habits and good wrist health after writing 500 articles in dozens of different categories here since May 2007. To follow in the footsteps of many who celebrate a particular milestone or anniversary either here on Associated Content or elsewhere, I find it necessary to tie in a piece of history to the premise and tie in the connectivity of numbers to this particular accomplishment. After all, the number 500 hardly ever gets looked at in depth despite usually being unrelated to anniversaries. We don't see 500^th anniversaries of marriages, which garners praise of thanks for some. In biblical times, the thought still exists today that people and marriages lasted 500 years or beyond. Too bad life didn't last that long in modern times so we could invent something to give on someone's 500^th anniversary. After silver, gold, platinum and diamond way back there at 25, 50, 70 and 75, though, what could be left?

Well, how about a car? One of the most significant connections to 500 is in the car world, particularly racing. How many NASCAR races have you seen that don't have a 500 in the title? That's because most of them are about 500 miles in laps and could easily be a metaphor for what we writers do here on Associated Content. Most of us who write daily and prolifically sometimes feel like we've run a 500-mile lap and run a victory lap or drink the big container of milk after managing to get a feature on the front page. Yeah, milk, since drinking to inebriation means having to take the next day off to recover and hence getting you behind on your writing schedule.

It's not just the racecar metaphors that can apply to this writing racket. Consider, too, that the 500 also applies to some interesting cars over the years. While not a luxury car, the Fiat 500 was one of the economical and fuel-efficient compact cars in Italy for close to twenty years from the 1950's to the 1970's. The car was practical, much like many of the best writers here on Associated Content are. Many here appear to be conscientious about fuel and join my own philosophy that SUV's are and always have been the blight of the earth. Within one or two of those 500 articles of mine where I've written about the SUV soon being a goner, many people who disagreed marked the star rating into the ground.

Ironic then that Ford once put out a 500 series of American cars in the 60's and 70's that weren't compact at all, yet still highly fuel-efficient. 500 became the magic number again at Ford in recent years with production of similarly-titled cars until they lost money and stopped being made last year. Yep, most of us writers will probably outlast some of the cars being made or dropped and even some of the American carmaker factories themselves.

And let's not forget the metaphor to the card game 500 that's really an ancient card game not played anymore other than 500 Rum, which is an offshoot of Canasta. As with a skilled card player, being a freelancing internet writer requires being almost as proficient in finding the cards you want and playing them in effective ways so you win the game. Not that this writing profession should be a game in anyway, as competitive as it can be sometimes. With the friends and associates I've made here on Associated Content, most to all of that competition is symbiotic...
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Lest I just make 500 more metaphors of 500 for this particular anniversary for 500 or more pages, I must thank those who initially welcomed me to AC in 2007 and have become some of my greatest friends in this growing internet career. Timothy Sexton was one of the first to show generous support for my work here in the summer of '07. I'll forever be indebted to his friendship, mentorship and, yes, being my generous promoter as you've probably noticed, even though I try to make that promotion symbiotic. While Tim and I have some differences in style (well, maybe not), we're frequently on the same wavelength when it comes to basic subject matter we write about daily. I think we noticed that similarity within my first month writing here.

I also thank those on my immediate favorites list, Jacques Boulerice, Lenora Murdock, et. al, for being early supporters and all the more recent people who kindly make comments on a regular basis: jcorn (Jan), Orchiolum (Larry), Will N. Stape (famed "Star Trek: TNG" screenwriter) just to name a few.

Thanks also goes to some of the interesting people who've written me personally from elsewhere giving recognition toward a particular subject I wrote about that managed to push a few buttons out there in cyberspace. The estate of Marilyn Monroe and Vice President Jennifer Dickinson contacted me last spring after I was one of the few to forward the idea that a Marilyn Monroe sex tape was likely a hoax. The same goes recently for Jennifer Henderson, a Hollywood collector and memorabilia debunker, who let me know she appreciated my piece about the Profiles in History website that sells legit pop culture collectibles not from the black market of fakes. These are just two recent contacts of those who've made me proud to be working for alternative media and getting an important word out that helps people make better judgments within our world.

Of course, I can't thank enough the entire staff at Associated Content for their friendly communications and featuring my articles numerous times this year when they didn't have to. Class always abounds in the internal workings of this great alternative media site, even after misunderstandings and slowdowns occur.
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Here's to 500 more articles, 500 more, and 500 even more. Yes, this is a prolific job for me and one that involves keeping on your toes while also protecting your fingers from earlier-mentioned carpal issues. Despite those concerns, perhaps I can eventually give some metaphors here for the number 5,000. Right now, all I can think of is that old 1950's movie adaptation of Dr. Seuss' "5000 Fingers of Dr. T."

Somehow that metaphor seems satisfactory enough for a writer making it to 5,000 articles...