the big four-oh

I hit 40 today. 40 pictures in Explore -- that mercurial algorithmic popularity engine that logs the top 500 "most interesting" images for the day.

For months I've hovered in the mid-30s, pretty sure that I'd never bust out. Who knows how long this will last: the Flickr gods are fickle, and may drop any image at any time for reasons that only they understand, and I'll be back in the 30s again -- or even the 20s.

But tonight -- as if Anne's sweet comment wasn't enough to make me glad I'm posting these pics even on days when I think they're no good and nobody's noticing -- I can proudly say that I am over the hill.

Sure, yeah, 40 is definitely only middle-weight -- and I feel silly that it makes me so happy -- but it does. And it may be the last time in my life that 40 feels this good.

So who said today was the saddest day of the year [1]? Not around here, baby -- not around here.

(And no, thank you, my mathetically-minded friends -- I don't need you to calculate the ratio of images uploaded to appearances in Explore -- just let me enjoy this for a little while first, please. ;)

Here's the run down, as graciously auto-generated by Flagrant Disregard's Scout utility:

1. street paints, 2. Miracle Car Wash, 3. Inland in Autumn, 4. thank you, mr. sugimoto, 5. he promised to return; she waited., 6. beware of dog, 7. no quarter, 8. Mies' Farnsworth House,

9. miesian time, 10. goldberg's garage, 11. vegas, baby, vegas!, 12. letter g, 13. lantern festival, 14. metra seat, 15. cameraphone drive-by, 16. in passing, ii,

17. the reg, 18. spaces within, 19. class in crown hall, 20. hellas blue #3, 21. do over, 22. wright's pump, 23. senior crossing, 24. mexico city p.o.,

25. the brillig sleeps, 26. Yixing, 27. Untitled, 28. crossing over, 29. Untitled, 30. On this Day, 31. empty gesture, 32. grandmother in esquipulas,

33. solo rio, 34. bluebird, 35. Untitled, 36. Untitled, 37. las niñas, 38. Kyoto Geisha, 39. how many?, 40. Koolhaas' SPL

[1] Coulda sworn I heard something about that on the radio, but the only online reports I can find are for 2006 -- ah well, will update with solid info if I can.

Update: From anniemcq of Mommy's in a Timeout, a link to the most depressing day story on NPR -- thanks annie!