On December 13th/2010, a VERY special thing happened at SnowDays.  The 10 millionth snowflake was created, 8 years after SnowDays first appeared on the net.  As a special "thank you", and in the spirit of the festive season, Popular Front decided to give away a prize to the creator of the 10,000,000th flake.  Here is an "x"cerpt of what they promised...

I was quite sure that a "regular flaker" would make the 10 millionth flake, as this has proven to be the way most million mark flakes have gone in the past.  I have been telling addicted flakers how to SPEED FLAKE ever since the first millionth flake was created at SnowDays, but this time around the sheer numbers of the seasonal flakers, (and the time of day that the 10 millionth flake came around, when MANY of us "regulars" were at work), took precedence.  The 10 millionth flake went to one of these seasonal visitors, and unfortunately (for him), he didn't place his email on the flake.

HORRORS!  What to do?  Well thankfully, Popular Front decided to go to the neXt created flake that DID have an email address on it, and that flake was number 10,000,001...created by my "old" friend, Shalina.  (Sorry Shalina, but you know what I mean!)  ;)  I was absolutely DELIGHTED that this was the case, and also chose to make this flake the LAST featured here.

Shalina and I certainly have a "history" at SnowDays.  In fact, she was the very FIRST real "friend" I ever made there.  Maybe even the very FIRST other person I spoke to on the Slopes of Flakeville, and the internet as a whole.  You see, the reason I call myself "Mister X" is because I had no inclination whatsoever to ever actually "talk" to people while online, and that included SnowDays!  For quite some time I created flakes there, read the comments on them, but NEVER EVER left a comment back!  I felt that most internet people were "creepy", and I certainly didn't want to get involved with any of them, never mind actually get to "know" them!

But Shalina was a HUGE "fan" of my flake worX, and I felt the same way about hers.  She left a LOT of comments on them, and I certainly took notice of them and was often "wowed" by her creations as well.  Eventually I gave in and finally started communicating with her.  After that, communicating with the others at SnowDays became easy for me, and as you all know, I have turned into quite the chatter boX now.  Shalina is more responsible for this than anyone else 'out there'.

In fact, I often think to myself that if it wasn't for Shalina, I would have never created MisterX.ca, and we all know how much the site has had an effect at SnowDays.  So who better to have this wonderfully GENEROUS prize from Popular Front go to?  Who better to have the very LAST Featured Flake go to?  I can't imagine anyone, and am thrilled at Shalina's wonderful "luck" in all this :D

Shalina has chosen a very worthy charity to donate her prize money to, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Although I'm writing this page BEFORE the deadline of January 1st that Popular Front put on the donation amount per flakes made, I'm quite sure that the maXimum amount of 300 dollars can be reached.  HUGE CONGRATS to Shalina, job very WELL DONE!

In an amazing coincidence, (or perhaps some sort of flakey fate), Shalina did not only create the very first 8 digit palindromic flake, (#10,000,001), but she also created the very first 7 digit palindromic flake as well, (flake #1,000,001), over 5½ years ago!

Shalina is truly one of the original "pioneer flakers" of SnowDays.  She was the first flaker to "x"pose negative snowflakes, and she contributed her now famous BUBBLE FLAKES instructions at MisterX.ca, as well her SHALINA's SECRETS page.  You can read more about her on my FEATURED ARTIST page, created "back in the day"!

Although Shalina and I don't get the chance to visit with each other as often as we once did, SnowDays continues to bring us both back together every so often, especially at BIG events like this.  Yet another testament to the special magic contained at the site, which not only creates amazing friendships, but also helps keep them in "x"istence over long distances of time and space~

Well I suppose that since I had intended to make it the last Featured Flake, I should at least show and mention the 10,000,000th flake itself here.  As mentioned above, it was created by one of the hundreds of seasonal flakers that hit the Slopes every X-mas season.  Unfortunately, the creator of this flake did not add his email address, and I would imagine he had no idea what was going on at the time he released this creation and got the magic number.  In fact, I very much doubt he even noticed the flake number itself.  Unless he returns to the Slopes and looks up his own name there, he will likely never realize he created such a special flake to all the regulars of SnowDays, as well as to the creators of the site itself.  Another very interesting piece of SnowDays history!

So there you have it folks, it's the end of an era here at MisterX.ca ... no more Featured Flakes.  Now I'm not saying there won't be more flakes created worth featuring here, but rather quite the opposite.  The talent at SnowDays has truly blossomed over the years, and there are hundreds...perhaps thousands of flakes created there now that most certainly could hold their own in this department.  It is for that reason that I decided I needed to find a finishing point, and this is it.

I came to SnowDays when the flake count was in the 600,000's.  I have now personally made approX 30,000 flakes, and I can't even imagine how many flakes made by others that I have seen fall from the sky!  Each year I watch in amazement as SnowDays becomes even more popular than the year before, and the counter continues to count faster and the MILLIONS of flakes made there show up in more frequency.

I have been delighted to be a part of it all, both as a personal flaker and as a giddy fan promoting it all.  I want to thank Popular Front for keeping SnowDays going all these years.  They have brought a LOT of pure joy into the lives of MANY strangers, and have helped create life long friendships that truly span the globe.

The success of SnowDays has come for several reasons.  Wonderful programming and ingenious conceptional thinking, amazing artwork and animations, fun promoting, and especially from the kind hearted individuals that the site seems to attract regularly.  Combine it all, and you have a web site that was DESTINED to be successful.

I look forward to seeing what the many years ahead will bring to this site, and what the millions of more flakes to be made there will "x"pose artistically.

Many thanX to Popular Front and to EVERYONE ELSE that have brought me so much fun.  Special thanX to ALL my Featured Flakers who made this section of MisterX.ca so interesting and entertaining to view!  :D

"X"