And My Viewership is So Quirky!

A Friendly Russian Bear

Twice a month, there are mass visitations to this rather mundane, and generally unviewed, little blog of mine.  Each time, usually about the 5th or 20th of the month (this time the 24th), I get a sudden spike.

Blogger is nice enough to flag the points of origin, and it may come as no surprise that they have been - for the most part - from Mother Russia.

Lately, however, there has been a shift, as if the land of Vladdy Boy is attempting to obscure its inexplicable interest in these typings.

At first, it was obvious - Ukraine.  I suppose it's just to see if their absorbed servers there are working.

Then came, inexplicably - Brazil.  Now, I think Brazilians are monstrously cool, if only from my admiration of their gleeful attendance of Disney World in crisp uniforms and linear progression through the park.  I just wonder at their interest in a collection of doodles from a Michigan pharmacist.

And then, perhaps, not inexplicably -- unknown region.  Granted, until the US acknowledged China in the 1970s, it was considered a "big empty hole in the space," or some such phrase I vaguely recall from a period MAD issue.  Could that still be the attitude of Blogger?  Another quandary.

But tonight, 104 hits at 3am from, of all places, FRANCE! Now, I'm a bit of a francophile, I love me some croque monsieur whenever possible, but a trip to Montreal or Quebec is about as gallic an experience I've been able to muster since high school.  Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier rock my world, and I love mistranslating Jean Gabin into storyboards that'll never be produced due to copyright issues (I have learned from Nina Paley's encounters, so those guilty pleasures will remain for my eyes only).  But 104 folks simultaneously interested in me from France at 3am?  If I were in France at 3am, I wouldn't be interested in me, yet alone my blog!

Vive la France! Ooo La La!!!

Now, if Mother Russia is trying to boost my ego by artificially nudging my pandemic numbers, that's very flattering of her.  She already sends a surfeit of solemn bride material to my effectively  collapsed Instagram account, after all.  But my lovely wife is all the companionship I require, thank you, and if I need more hirsute experiences, I have an adoring dog who already lays claim to me as her human.  I admire your expanse of time zones, I respect your knowledge of transdermal chemical substances (at a safe distance), get a kick of of Shostakovich, and think vodka is the third best use of a potato, after French fries and potato chips.

Masters of Transdermal Compounding

Whoa - an epiphany - French fries! Maybe that's the French Connection!

Mother Russia - you're one clever mother!

My dog guards us diligently...

But, sometimes, at a distance

November 2018 update - now we can add the "United Arab Emirates" to the list of binge visitors!
November 2018 update #2 - and we can add OH CANADA!!!! as well....
November 2018 update #3 - and another 100 hits from Russia!  Who's putin me on?
February 2019 update #4 - and Russian bots are going nuts today!  Wowza!! - and as March approaches, a sudden 100 hits from - wait for it - FRANCE! Bien sur!
March 2019 update #5 - both Russia AND the United Arab Emirates in the past 48 hours! A bifecta!
April 2019 update #6 - a ping from France! bien sur!
May 2019 - update #7 - encore avec France pour ce mois-ci.
July 2019 - update #8 - the Russians are sooooooooooooooo curious this month!  Imagine that....
August 2019 - update #9 - now the Netherlands!?  Over 150 hits in one day? Wooo-eeee!
September 2019 - update #10 - back to Mother Russia for bursts of 20 hits on random days - those poor robots - later September update !!! Now we have South Korea as of September 20! Welcome South Korea!!