Hampster Dance and Perseverence
So rate me. How am I doing with this blog, now? Ok, ok, I know I forgot to post on Friday, and I'm late on this one. But I think I'm doing ok, don't you?
And now on to the post.
I know y'all are probably going to shake your heads and say, "where've YOU been?" but my family and I only recently discovered the Hampster Dance song. It was back in May sometime when a friend of my daughter's had it on a CD. We thought it was really cute. So we've listened to it, danced to it a few times, but I never gave it a whole lot of thought. Then one day I wanted to know who performed it, so I went to Google. Wow! What an interesting story behind this fun little...well, song, web site...the works.
If you're not familiar with the story, here's it in a nutshell. In August of 1998, an art student was having a competition with her sister and best friend to see who could get the most hits to their web sites. So in honor of her pet hampster, Hampton, this young lady put together a simple little web site with a bunch of hampsters, and I believe rabbits dancing to a clip that kept repeating. In March of 1999 she was still only getting maybe four hits a day. But something happened, and almost overnight she started getting up to 15,000 hits...A DAY! People started to send emails with the link to friends and family, posted it on blogs, and it was even featured in a television commercial. By 2005 it was named by CNET as the number one web fad.
I seriously doubt the young lady behind the fad ever dreamed it would grow so big, or that she would even get to sell the rights to her creation. But I'm sure those first eight or so months were a little frustrating, waiting to see if people would amble onto her site. I don't know if she won the original contest, don't know how long the friends were holding it. But what a testimony to patience and not giving up.
And this comes at a time in my life where I need to concentrate on that. As a writer, it takes patience and perseverence to keep going even when the rejections come. Even when the house is a mess but the story is calling. Even when the doubts ring so loud they're almost deafening. If the Hampster Dance gal had given up and removed her cute little site, it wouldn't have turned into anything.
So start this week thinking positively. If you've got a dream, any dream, don't give up on it.
And now on to the post.
I know y'all are probably going to shake your heads and say, "where've YOU been?" but my family and I only recently discovered the Hampster Dance song. It was back in May sometime when a friend of my daughter's had it on a CD. We thought it was really cute. So we've listened to it, danced to it a few times, but I never gave it a whole lot of thought. Then one day I wanted to know who performed it, so I went to Google. Wow! What an interesting story behind this fun little...well, song, web site...the works.
If you're not familiar with the story, here's it in a nutshell. In August of 1998, an art student was having a competition with her sister and best friend to see who could get the most hits to their web sites. So in honor of her pet hampster, Hampton, this young lady put together a simple little web site with a bunch of hampsters, and I believe rabbits dancing to a clip that kept repeating. In March of 1999 she was still only getting maybe four hits a day. But something happened, and almost overnight she started getting up to 15,000 hits...A DAY! People started to send emails with the link to friends and family, posted it on blogs, and it was even featured in a television commercial. By 2005 it was named by CNET as the number one web fad.
I seriously doubt the young lady behind the fad ever dreamed it would grow so big, or that she would even get to sell the rights to her creation. But I'm sure those first eight or so months were a little frustrating, waiting to see if people would amble onto her site. I don't know if she won the original contest, don't know how long the friends were holding it. But what a testimony to patience and not giving up.
And this comes at a time in my life where I need to concentrate on that. As a writer, it takes patience and perseverence to keep going even when the rejections come. Even when the house is a mess but the story is calling. Even when the doubts ring so loud they're almost deafening. If the Hampster Dance gal had given up and removed her cute little site, it wouldn't have turned into anything.
So start this week thinking positively. If you've got a dream, any dream, don't give up on it.
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