Geeklings, I was going to go with a normal editorial like post today, but I’ve changed my mind. Instead, I’m going to be self-congratulatory. Today is a massive milestone for I Am Geek as this right here is our 500th column! Let that sink in for just a minute. Five. Hundred. There have been five hundred different times that I’ve posted content for your eyeholes here on I Am Geek and I’m kind of thrilled about that number. It’s a big number for a site that’s been active for two and a half years.

You see Geeklings when I started I Am Geek I initially wanted it to be an outlet for me. As you have seen over the course of these five hundred posts, I have a number of different geeky interests. At any point during the day, I could be thinking about Marvel movies or comic books or the book I’m reading or maybe a French horror movie I saw seven years ago that I haven’t been able to fully shake. I Am Geek was created with the mindset of having a safe place to talk about these vast interests. Because what is the internet if not a place where you can scream out into the void. Here’s the thing though, I Am Geek became more than an outlet for me. In a lot of ways, it’s become the single most important thing I’ve ever created.

This website has become the catalyst for inspiration for me. When I first started the site I knew that I enjoyed writing. I’ve always had a passion for writing fiction and I had tried the blogging thing before. I Am Geek was a bit more focused on its subject matter and it allowed me to kind of excel in my ability to write about a number of different subjects. It was during all those early columns where I discovered, “hey, I really love this. Like really really.” I Am Geek drives me every day, all day. When I wake up and go to the gym I’m thinking about what today’s column will be. When I’m at work I daydream about doing this full time. When I’m driving I’m fine-tuning the upcoming column or completely changing the subject. So much of my day is centered on what I want to do with I Am Geek and it drives me. It drives me to write more. It drives me to do more. It drives me to create something unique. To add my voice to the abyss. To create.

Just look at what’s come from I Am Geek in these short two and a half years. I got a job at Fan Fest where I write television reviews and a weekly comic book column, and I’ve now learned at age thirty-six that that’s my passion. Writing about these geeeky subjects either here or at Fan Fest is what I want to do with my life. That realization stems from this little website.

What else? We’ve got a sporadic podcast that has a fourteen episode catalog. I get to sit, discuss geeky topics, and record with two of my favorite people in the world and you guys listen to it and give us feedback. How cool is that? That doesn’t happen without this little website.

I Am Geek has become an outlet for your voice as well. Not all of these five hundred columns are mine, a good chunk of them belong to you. That’s one of my favorite aspects of the site. The fact that I can turn it over to fans and friends so they can have their voices heard. It’s something I want to do more of and see expand. I stand by my mission statement that I want to turn I Am Geek into a community and over these two and a half years we’ve done just that.

Those are just the things you guys know about too. I’m currently working on a number of different projects that will either be apart of the I Am Geek label or possible because of I Am Geek. One of them I’m hoping to announce soon but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. The thing is, none of these things would be possible without this site and what it’s done for me. Or more importantly what it’s meant to me.

I know in the grand scheme of things that I Am Geek is a small website, and I’m okay with that. It may be small but it’s still my website. All of the 5,798 views, yes I counted for today’s milestone, were brought in by me and by the content that’s being provided here. It’s statistics like that that melt my face. Almost 6,000 views of things I’ve written or promoted. That’s part of the drive. The need to do more. The need to write another five hundred posts. The need to get another 6,000 viewers. The need to get bigger. It’s a rush and a buzz and such a driving force.

I love I Am Geek. It’s my brainchild and I’ve watched it grow and expand over these last two and a half years and now we’re looking at the 500th post. It’s super cool and exciting, but I’m most thankful to you guys. The Geeklings. I’ve done failed blogs before and I Am Geek could have easily been something that had thirty posts and then just kind of faded away as another failed writing experiment. But it hasn’t. You guys read the columns. You comment some. You want to write your own thoughts. All of that is humbling and gives me the butterflies. Whenever I hit publish on a new column there’s that feeling of nervousness. Writing is a very vulnerable trade. You always feel kind of exposed no matter what it is you write. You guys have made it easy for me to come here day after day. So, thank you.

I know this post has been mostly a humblebrag but I can’t help it. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished here so far. There’s still plenty more to go but at 500 columns we’re sitting in a good spot. I listen to the Nerdist Podcast a lot, now the ID10T Podcast, and one of the things Chris Hardwick says over and over again is create your own thing. I Am Geek is my own thing and I’m incredibly proud of it. If this site does anything at all it’s to promote that idea. Create something that you love. Make it yours and be proud of it. Cause who knows where it could lead or what it could awaken.

Thank you Geeklings for these five hundred posts. Here’s to five hundred more!