Thank you Therese!

Melancholicus couldn’t believe his eyes.

His sitemeter has gone haywire with activity.

He is not normally given to boasting about stats since his regular readership is so tiny, and if Infelix Ego were online for a hundred years he still wouldn’t receive as many visitors as the heavy hitters get in a week.

Investigating this sudden upsurge in activity, he traced its source to a comment by one Therese B on this post on Fr. Z’s site, in which a link back to Infelix Ego is provided. Not a few wdtprs readers have followed the link, and it has more than tripled his stats - look!



Thank you, Therese! Your blogger is most grateful.

The Bloggers' Choice Awards

It’s that time of year again.

Although Melancholicus was sufficiently vain as to solicit nomination from another blogger, he was at least not so vain as to nominate himself!

Unhappily, though, some weeks ago he discovered through carelessly fiddling with the website, and much to his surprise, that it is indeed possible to vote for oneself—and hence through that ill-conceived experiment, his vote for 2009 is already used up.

That was not his intention. He would much prefer to have given his vote to someone more deserving. Ah well, he shall remember this lesson next year.

But, gentle reader, if Infelix Ego has in any way moved you, whether to rapture, laughter, fury, boredom or tears, do consider visiting the Bloggers’ Choice Awards and voting...

... for Mulier Fortis.

Tagged

Another milestone in the annals of Infelix Ego, for today Melancholicus has been tagged, and that for the very first time.

The rules of this particular tag are as follows:

• Link to the person who tagged you: The Bovina Bloviator.


• Post the rules on your blog.


• Write six random things about yourself.


• Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.


• Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.


• Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Melancholicus shall refrain from tagging six others, for he moves in narrow and esoteric circles, and despite the length of his blogroll (see right) is not confident of finding six suitable fellow bloggers to tag. Many of his regular reads no doubt will have already been tagged in this wise by someone else. Instead he shall modify the rules on his own authority. Anyone reading this with a blog of their own may consider themselves tagged if they wish to play.

And now for six random pieces of trivia about Melancholicus:

1. He was born and raised in Ireland, but has lived for extended periods in Utrecht (the Netherlands), Oslo (Norway) and Nebraska (USA).


2. After lapsing from the Catholic faith in his teenage years, he was converted at the age of 24 by reading a book on Christianity—written by an Anglican!


3. He has at least some knowledge of the Irish, French, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Russian and Arabic languages, but speaks none of them with any degree of fluency (and can not yet read Arabic script), so (with the possible exception of Germany and the Netherlands) he would be quite unable to function in any country in which these are spoken without having to resort finally to English. He also has a reading knowledge through his academic training of Early Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Gothic and Latin.


4. As a boy, his ambition was to be a bus driver for CIÉ. This ambition was thwarted when the buses which inspired it were withdrawn from service at the end of their working lives while Melancholicus was still too young to hold a D-class driving licence, after which he lost all interest. He has no desire to be associated with these bland, characterless modern yokes.


5. He is fascinated with the subject of nuclear weapons, loves looking at photographs and archive footage of nuclear tests and would love to have the opportunity to witness a real live atmospheric high-yield test at sufficiently close range to feel the heat on his face and the onrush of the shock front, but no so close as to risk serious injury or death, naturally.


6. He really likes the interface presented by Safari browser, though for blogging purposes, Firefox is his clear favourite. Microsoft Internet Explorer he regards as the novus ordo of web browsers and hence not worth bothering with.

And that’s that.

No one links to me?

Actually, someone does!

Melancholicus has just noticed Infelix Ego included among the Catholic links on this very fine blog by Elena Maria Vidal.

Go pay her a visit.

Visitors and profile views

Melancholicus has just noticed that his profile has, at the time of this writing, been viewed 135 times.

Some of these hits are doubtless owing to Melancholicus viewing the content of his own profile on occasion, but he can hardly have done so THAT MANY times!

Therefore, he must have had a few visitors, and these visitors have doubtless found their way there from Infelix Ego.

Melancholicus has not promoted this blog in any way; he has not informed even friends or family of its existence. He has not thus far even approached fellow bloggers with a view to exchanging links, but has kept himself very quiet in his own little corner of the internet. Infelix Ego he regards as a private journal wherein to ramble on at length about whatever claims his passing interest, even though it is live on the web and can be read by anyone who knows where to find it. Because as far as he knows, no one links to Infelix Ego. No one at all!

But the fact that his profile has been viewed 135 times means that this blog must have some readers, even if they are only of the casual variety who, stumbling upon Infelix Ego by accident, have been so shocked by the right-wing views expressed therein that they have not since returned.

But perhaps Melancholicus has acquired a regular readership, even if it be only one or two souls. It is strange to think of this blog having attracted a reading public in so short a time, especially when it has not been promoted or advertised anywhere else.

So, if Infelix Ego does have any regular readers, Melancholicus invites you to make yourselves known, and to leave a comment or a greeting on a post of your choosing. Especially if you are yourself a blogger.

Don’t be shy. Melancholicus often writes like a grumpy, self-righteous, reactionary curmudgeon, but he’s not such a bad bloke really.

It would be really cool to see if anyone out there has actually found me.

Comments?

My peculiar aristocratic title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Right Reverend Melancholicus the Dejected of Wallop upon Deane Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Right Reverend? That’s a very bishoppy title, and Melancholicus definitely has no ambitions in that direction! It is also, moreover, the title given to bishops of the Church of England, no less. I guess that at least entitles us to a seat in the House of Lords.