Hello? Is this thing still working? It can't be because it's been deserted for the past three months. But wait! The most recent post has over 800 comments and almost 10,000 pageviews! A shit ton of people are still looking at this site even though I've silently abandoned it. I know I owe an explanation.
It's plain and simple: school has been bombarding me. For those who don't know, I've transferred to a four-year university this year and I definitely don't have as much free time now. I don't have a car, so every day I commute to and from school by train and bus, which is a few hours out of my day. I obviously have classes that take up my time and any time I'm at school and not in class, I'm either working on something school-related or I'm working out at the fitness center because my physical health matters. By the time I get home, I'm tired, so it's hard to find time to post here.
But I've also just been really unmotivated and I think that has to do with my decreased interest in Hits 1 and mainstream music in general. That's not to say that I don't like mainstream music or anything that Hits 1 plays. There are obviously some great hits right now, but I just feel like what's big in the charts right now doesn't align with what I enjoy listening to at the moment. That applies for the Hot 100, but mostly for Hits 1. I hear Hits 1 every now and then because my fitness center likes to have that playing in the background and I'm just not a fan of a lot of what they play. A lot of it is either very basic, generic, overplayed, or just straight up bad. So it's hard for me to find the motivation to blog because my posts will just be full of criticism and although it is fun to tear songs apart at times, it's not something I want to do multiple times every week.
I came to this realization a few months ago, not long before my hiatus began. I came to the decision that I would push through for the remainder of 2019 and call it quits at the beginning of 2020. That clearly did not work out very well and it's hard for me to just stop doing this in the middle of the year, but I just don't have the time, energy, or motivation for this. Do I regret starting this blog? Absolutely not. It's been an amazing six years here just giving my opinions. I've had a lot of fun, I've met some cool people, and I've made some great friendships. I'm currently the owner of the Hits 1 Discord server, which I am still active on despite not being active here. It's full of people who read and comment and some of which who blog on their own. And every now and then, I think about the fact that I've brought these people together because they decided to check out my silly little blog. So even though it's become too much for me, I recognize the impact it's had and I wouldn't change any of it.
So, what's the plan moving forward? Unfortunately, I've decided I will no longer be reviewing the Weekend Countdown. Maybe I will do one more with the most recent countdown just to give thoughts on songs I haven't had the chance to talk about. And who knows? Maybe a while from now, I'll feel motivated to blog some random countdown next year. It's unlikely but you never know. As of right now though, I've been doing this for a long time and all good things must come to an end eventually. I will obviously keep this blog and all of its posts up in case for some reason, someone finds use for this nonsense.
Is this the last you'll see of me? Not quite because I do want to make at least a few year-end posts before my official sign-off. I still have a couple weeks left of school this semester, then I will use my winter break to do everything I can here. So year-end posts will still be happening. Also, the 2010s rankdown is still up and I'm hoping to finish that before 2019 ends as well. We're at the Top 20, so it shouldn't take long to finish that. So stay tuned. I think that's all I have right now. I'm sorry that I just went away without really saying anything and I hope you guys understand. Hopefully I'll be back with another post relatively soon.
TL,DR: I'm really busy and unmotivated due to my decreased interest in Hits 1, so I will be discontinuing this blog. However, year-end posts for 2019 will still happen.
