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Six hundred days ago you didn't know me.
And I didn't know you.
You didn't know my taste in music or my handwriting.
You didn't know that there was an abstract painter in Arkansas that you might be friends with one day. I didn't know anything about you, the landscapes of your towns, or your slang.

I didn't know that I would become friends with people all over the world, and become so attached to your images, music, opinions, and witty banter. I didn't know I would make such amazing new friends. I didn't know that I could actually miss people I might never meet.

You didn't know all the comments you would leave here would mean so much to me on the good days and bad. I didn't know how the light in one of your photographs could move me so much, or that the smile of your child could make me beam too.

Six hundred days ago I joined blipfoto, after a massive freak ice storm had devastated my town, leaving me without power for 9 days and snapping all the trees. The first thing I did, when the power came back on was join blip. I joined to keep up with one of my best friend's images and take a few pictures myself. I had no idea what I was signing up for, how I would use the site, or what my images would be like or become. I picked the name etherghost, it was a conscious choice not to be Megan here, so I could have some space and room to play and grow.

I learned a lot about myself these past 600 days. I love photography, I always knew that, but I never knew I could love it this much, and I never knew I could love your photographs this much either.

In the day to day, I have always been one of the guys, and in this world I was able to explore my more vulnerable feminine side and I am grateful for that exploration. I have always thought of myself as a painter, and people have said to me..."you don't paint like a woman" and for some strange reason I always thought this was a good thing, however on the flip side I learned I do photograph like a woman and that has been a strange and thrilling discovery for me personally. Very freeing in some strange way. I am and obviously you know this by now, an extreme romantic at heart and I was finally able to show that side of myself through my photographs and I am so glad I was able to share them with you. Your feedback and comments drove this machine. If you liked something, I wanted to give you more of it, I wanted to give you something beautiful, dreamy, ghostly, something that would take us all away from the day to day. I wanted to tell you a story, take you on an adventure. I wanted to express my love for the world and all those in it, with a flick of the wrist, the pale of my hand, the keys, the feather, the tiny chairs, the mirrors, whatever devices I could use. I would love to live in that world and I wanted to take you there for a minute each day.

This is just a long way of saying, goodbye (for now).
I have decided that six hundred consecutive blips is a wonderful milestone and that now I need to examine my next move. I might blip on occasion or make it more regular and blip once a week. Or I might just take some time off to refocus my energy and come back with a vengeance. I am not sure. I am sure that I will miss you.

Thanks for finding my journal, commenting on it, being my friends, and for those of you who have been my regulars I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have never met such brilliant, elegant, intelligent, creative, compassionate and funny people in all my life. See you soon.

Love,
Megan

and I still can't get enough of this song & video. x.