The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007

After a pseudo 2-week blog hiatus (well, I did moderate comments in the queue every day), one very strange entry after The Absence and another 5 days of being unplugged after that last entry, my blog would’ve looked like a ghost town without all your lovely comments and repeat hits from several regulars dropping by. (Dudes… subscribe to my full RSS feed.) What’s really surprising and flattering is one particular comment from C5, a first-time commenter (delurking is a good thing and highly encouraged in my ghost town) who nominated fruityoaty as one of The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007. C5, gimme some of that stuff you’re SMOKING!

Janette Toral has a contest beginning on May 19 and ending on July 28. You write a blog post and pick 10 (or less) emerging influential blogs in the world. Blogs must have started from August 1, 2006 to the present. She’ll compile a list of the Top 10 blogs based on all the posts and pick 10 posts in random that will get US$ 100 each. For full contest details, go here.

C5, many thanks for inspiring me to blog again, but fruityoaty… influential? What? Eh, can you prove that there’s a rising suicide rate in the Philippines after repeated exposure to reading my blog? Like C5, my Top 10 picks are based on sites that elicited connections, laughter and knowledge. I listed the 10 blogs in order of inaugural post date (from oldest to latest):

Blogbastic! (Jim Caro)
Unwritten (Ann)
Jun.anteola (Jun)
Culture Shiok! (Bean)
Cheese to go with my whine* (Lei)
.PHLICKS (Jhed)
City Love (Yoopean)
yummeh.net (Juice)
Diventare (Lexie)
LongCountdown.com (Nick Ramsay)

Did I consider Technorati ranks, Google PageRanks, blah blah? Nope. I also considered 24 other blogs I frequent, but unfortunately 23 of them (with the exception of two) didn’t qualify because of inaugural post date.

I was scratching my head to come up with a few reasons why someone might think fruityoaty is influential (HAHAHA)… because I don’t get that much traffic, really, despite decent Ratified.org and Technorati ranks:

Misteryosa (Shari) wrote in a blog meme that fruityoaty “revels in the fact that she always makes her visitors drool with hunger”.
Spilling my own thunder (Alma) offered to show me around Australia and feed me Tim Tams (mmm chocolate biscuits). Tim Tamming!
Midori-X (Marni) wrote that she smiles at “pineapples that look like rock stars”. Yessir, I’m a legend in my own fruity oaty mind. As if.
Blogbastic! (Jim Caro) was inspired to blog about his business idea for chocolate drinks after reading one of my entries. CHOCOLATE.
Blog award nominations and wins. Ze Biggest Whiner. S-s-super Zeroic.
I am totally way fruityer (that’s a word… it is now) than yo’ momma.

Well, I wrote… a few reasons… I didn’t say they’d be “good reasons”.

FRUITYOATY MANIFESTO:
I am standing on a craggy mountaintop, lightning bolts playing above me, fist thrust upward and head held high as the furious wind hurls rain in my face. I laugh scornfully at the elements that doubt my greatness. I shout lustily into the tempest, “I am ze fruityest in all ze universe, hear me roar!” Neaaah, on second thought, I’m going back to my cozy warm bed.

Oh brother. Oh sister. Yo’ momma. Zzz. Ego? Pish! Self-love, baby.