Has it been five years of blogging here already? Yes. Technically, I should be an old salt at it, but I did have an issue trying to write this entry. Should it be short and sweet, or should I make some long, drawn-out entry? Should I include pictures? Should it be a blogcast?

I decided that I'd just name a few things that I've learned and gained over the past five years here:

The Good

• Awesome people - I have had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with the most diverse, talented and coolest people online. If I start naming names, then I know I'll miss someone, so I want to thank them all. The fans, the commenters, the people who used to comment, the haters, the lovers, the sisters, the brothers…everyone.
• Improved writing - I'd like to think that my blogging and my writing has gotten better over the years — less rambling, and more focused. I've been syndicated on a few sites, been in a few books, and have been on a few radio shows. And while I've kicked around the idea of doing a book for a while now, something tells me all the material I need is already here. If I made a book of the best entries here, you think it'd sell?
• Cash and prizes - OK, not a whole lot of cash and prizes, but definitely enough to pay my hosting fees. Publishers, on occassion, send books, movies, CDs, DVDs, etc. This blog isn't paying the rent by a longshot, but it puts change in my pocket. Nothing like a side income.
• Experience - I've gained an invaluable understanding of how blogs, online marketing and social networks all work, and how people can use them to their best advantages. That's something a lot of people don't get, and struggle to understand through half-assed e-mail forwards and listservs. Just because something's on the Internet doesn't mean people will find it and flock to it.

The Bad

• Shit-ton of E-mails - I do get somewhere between 250-300 e-mails every day. And the killing part is, most of it is NOT spam (including spam, the number'd be twice that). It takes me at least an hour or so to effectively go through my mail and reply back, and sometimes, even longer than that.
• The perceptions - You know what I mean: "You're black/gay/young so you should only write about yadda yadda yadda." I write about whatever I want, and haven't been swayed by advertisers or audience influence as to what I should or should not talk about. I'm fortunate in that since I've been doing this for so long, but a lot of people do come here expecting one thing, then I get angry e-mails asking why there isn't any porn on here. Hmph.
• The transparency - As "anonymous" as Karsh may be, the longer I blog, the more that wears away. Since I do write about any and everything on here, there's not much that goes in my life that I don't write about. That's good and bad, but I've gotten used to it by now.

The Ugly

• The crazies - The religious zealots. The gaybashers. The Tyler Perry fans. Early on, I used to get some real whackjobs; now, not so much. Every now and then, one will bubble up to the surface, but they're usually handled with quite easily. I remember a while back when people would post my phone number and mailing address and place of occupation in the comments. Then there was the whole "Man of Morehouse" series which really pissed a lot of people off. I figure, though, that so long as I write about whatever I choose, there'll be someone opposed to it.

The traditional gift for a fifth anniversary is wood. The modern gift is silverware. And the travel gift is airline tickets…so that's what I got myself.

And with that, I bid you adieu. For those in the know, I should be updating my Twitter and/or Plurk as to what's cracking once I'm out of Atlanta. See ya!

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