I rarely get ill. So when I do come down with something as simple as the common cold, I tend to perceive it as intense physical, psychological, and emotional trauma, and I stridently play Disturbed's metal classic, "Down with the Sickness," over and over again as a kind of soundtrack to my state of being. I'm sure this pisses off my South Asian neighbors downstairs—but they have a tantrum-loving kid who sounds like he's constantly auditioning for a Mumbai screamo band. If there's hate in my heart, you now know its source.

But, alas, it's a new year. So even though I'm slogging through a cold this holiday season, I'm handling it by drinking tea and reading Deepak Chopra books. Beyond that, I can only really do undemanding activities, like play every level of Angry Birds and analyze my blog statistics with the same scrutiny as a tax auditor with OCD.

What did I discover? Well, at Bamboo Nation's peak, I wrote between 342 to 826 entries each year for four years straight (with a handful of guest posts by other bloggers). The number of posts took a nosedive in 2011 (45 entries), as my various careers and my personal life ate into my blogging time. (As often as I claimed that attending to Zac Efron and Channing Tatum's needs was the reason for my decreased output, it wasn't true—I know this comes as a shock to most of you.)

I've decided to get my head back in the game in 2012 (vague High School Musical reference, anyone?—anyone?!) because I have so much to share with you. I also remember the time when I was often the first person to show you funny videos that later went viral or when I told you about cool movies, music, and TV shows that you later thanked me for. I miss being a man of influence; now, I'm just a man of influenza. (Okay, I promise, no more bad puns.) But this blog has always been so much more than videos and entertainment recommendations—longtime readers know what I'm talking about, and I hope new readers will catch on pretty soon.

To mark Bamboo Nation's very serious return (put on your best "O" face now!), I've made a few changes to the blog—and they all have to do with Facebook, the Big Brother I Never Knew I Wanted or Needed.

• First of all, like everything else in the world, Bamboo Nation now has its own Facebook page, which you can "like." I hope you like it; I hope you like it long time!

• You can now also show off on Facebook how much you like one of my individual posts because at the end of every post is a new "Like" button. Yay! I can now be even more desperate for your approval!

• In addition to commenting on posts in the traditional way, you can now make comments via your Facebook profile, which means Bamboo Nation and Facebook will be working together to deepen this blog's social networking capabilities. And I like going deep! Real deep!

Now I can't guarantee I'll be posting as often as I was during this blog's heyday, but I can certainly do more than 45 measly posts this year. Besides, it's our last year on Earth (thanks a lot, Mayans!), so I'd better give it my all.

While I recover from this cold and work up the energy to really get things going again, here's a video [NSFW] that made me spit out my drink on Christmas day. Seriously. Watch: