I did a little quick math last night and realized, to my surprise, that today’s column is my twenty-seventh with our hometown daily newspaper. In other words, it’s been six months since I first began writing it – way back in September – and all I can say is my, how the time truly does fly.

I’d like to think that, in the past half-a-year, I’ve managed to cover a fairly wide range of topics, which was my ultimate goal when our esteemed editor first offered me this opportunity. From politics to religion, modern technology to music, war, climate change, Facebook, hydrofracturing, my fear of dentists and yes, even alien invasions, I’ve done my best to offer up something a little different, week in and week out.

And while I’ve certainly enjoyed the positive feedback that’s come my way, I’ve also appreciated the occasional criticism – it keeps me on my toes.

Looking back, I distinctly remember my preliminary research on newspaper columns in general. For the first month or so, I even kept a list of “rules” on the wall overlooking my computer here in the office. I think there were three, if I’m not mistaken, and they went something like this: a column is a regular feature in the newspaper, it’s personality-driven and it focuses on the opinion of the writer.