Wednesday, September 24, 2008

300,000 Thanks and More!

All of you must have noticed that new banner I've been using since Sunday (24 September), it's actually to commemorate the 300,000th-visit milestone this blog achieved on that next day (Monday, 25 Monday).


300,000 visits! ^^


My 'stock value' is increasing amidst the global share market crisis right now XD



Readers form the United States are the majority of my blog's audience. ^^ Thanks!

I've been monitoring the counter for a few days after discovering it to be over 295,000 some time last week. Since then, I was counting down to the days when this benchmark would be reached. Not that the number is all important, but at the very least, it (the benchmark) reminds me to think about the direction I would like to set for my blog in the future.

I can't really remember the exact reason of setting up this blog in the first place actually, ^^; and that was two years ago. I only recall being unhappy with the features of my Friendster blog, which made me switched to Blogger, the one you see now.

Ngee Khiong for the first year was talk-all-I-want. ^^ Gundam news and updates were not exactly the main dish, because Gunota Headlines was still around at the moment, going very strong as well. At that time, my postings were more like what I thought about those news and updates.

I only got serious about providing Gundam news and updates around May last year, and really serious that August, with (almost) daily updates. After the sad announcement of Gunota Headlines closing down at the end of last month, my blog became one of the main stations for Gundam news and updates. Thanks very much for your support. My friends jokingly said that maintaining this blog is my part-time job now ^^;

It's a mixed blessing actually, the way I see it, because I would definitely like to keep everyone updated with the latest news, and I'm very happy to share what I know. But then again, I have my own job as a lecturer, and updating my blog can only be done during free time or during the night, sometimes all the way till the wee hours as well. For the sake of verifying the news and the source of course. Forums and imageboards have faster news, images and magazine scans actually, but I'm always concerned about where they are being taken initially, so the links are very important to me.

Loyal readers can always find a text of "Images are from ...", "All images are from ..." or something similar at the bottom of each posting, you can use it to trace the source of the news and images if you're particularly interested in it.

Tips: if you see that the name of the website is there, but there's no link, that means the links are somewhere in the italic caption of those images.

It's tiring as I said, because I'm also illiterate in Japanese. When I come across the latest news written in Japanese, Google translate is probably the only tool I can use, ^^; but sometimes it can be really confusing as well. The funniest example recently was Banpresto Humable Models. The Japanese name was ガンダムシリーズ ヒューマブルモデル, and the translation from Google Translation is "Gundam HYUMABURUMODERU". Since 'Humable' is a word made up by the company for this particular merchandise, who would be able to guess the exact name anyway?

It was not until I saw the sign board in one of the images introducing this merchandise series that has the name in the recent AM Show 2008 that I realized its name.

You have no idea some of the names I guessed before that ^^;

In the past, sometime I got lazy and didn't wish to write up anything for my blog. I would go "No worries, Gunota Headlines has it too, faster even."

That's not the case now eh?

Of course there are many other sites with similar roles as well, and sometimes they provide more news as well, for example, news and info about games are almost non-existing on my blog, but you can find it easily on SRW Hotnews. But the feeling of not wanting to disappoint my readers is a strong force that keep me going right now, and I thank you for that :)

Anyway, back to the main idea of this posting. XD A big, big thank-you for everyone who visit my blog. Thank you very much. I know there are many loyal readers out there, who frequent my blog everyday for the latest updates and news. Thanks a lot for your support.

A big thank you for sites and blogs that link to Ngee Khiong as well. My blog couldn't have been able to reach to so many people without your help.


Happy Cat says, "Thank you very much!"

Also, the rather simple banner used above isn't supposed to reflect my current level of image editing of course. XD It's actually the earliest banner I used for this blog, and as the text on it said, I'll trying to return to the original spirit of this blog, and the first step is to respond more to comments and emails for the 'presonal touch'. ^^ I realized there are many emails I haven't reply actually, they are still in my mail box along with those requests from some desperate princesses and businessmen from Africa too eager to give away their kingdoms and money to me (spams-lah). Sorry for the long wait, I'll try to reply as much as possible.

After the tiring period of getting used to working and blogging (a lot), now I would like to return to the time when I really enjoy blogging. Hopefully I get to put in more of my own opinions in each posting, and to respond more to the comments given as well. Let's see where that's going to lead this blog to ^^

By the way, for your information, this particular posting is #900 for my blog ^^

Here, I would like to present to you, my favorite postings (from the writer's point of view) from the past:

- PLAMO Review 29: MG Acguy Part 4
- Gunpla Wars 3: The Return of ...
- The Tag-Tag Game
- Careless XBox Advertisement
- My Blogging Experience
- The Dark Knight
- Childhood Nostalgia 2 – White Tiger Megazord
- Superior Balls than Malaysian
- Stop Motion Coolness
- Childhood Nostalgia 3 – Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs
- The End of an Era