Tag Archives: meme

Five years ago

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I’ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately, partially because it’s great procrastination when you’re writing a novel and partly because I’ve been finding a lot of cool people lately and having awesome conversations with them. @sudobeer and I were talking about wishlists, which led us to Livejournal, which led me to look up my old Livejournal accounts. I thought it would be interesting to post an entry from five years ago, back when blogging meant updating my Livejournal and bitching about stuff. Technically the following entry is from 11/16/2004, but that’s close enough for me.

Whew. Been awhile since I could update. I’ve been updating friend’s only a lot lately, but felt I should update normally just in case anyone who isn’t on my friend’s list thinks I dropped off the planet ><''

Currently I've been busy with school and work, and I have several projects underway in my free time, such as expanding my rpg. I've also just joined a new rpg that seems to be a lot more active than the others that I'm in, so... Also have a lot of site work to do, only one of which I'm looking forward to. I can't register a domain cos, low and behold, I have no credit card and no way to get one. Have to wait two years, which is really going to kill my portfolio. *dies* Which somehow reminds me of the novel I need to work on....

But anyway.. I'm working every day this week (except today) and possibly going to see Sean on Sunday (sure hope so!), so..

I miss you all and I haven't forgotten you -- just been so busy! And tomorrow the cycle changes to shop for me. Joy. I'm really not looking forward to being on Faculty Range with Chef Z. Not my idea of fun, since I'm most likely going to be sous and he is most likely going to put everything on me like he did to Joan. I miss Chef B, but it's time to realize he isn't coming back and that I have to accept it. But I can't. I still feel like he's coming back soon, and then I remember he's not, and it hits me too hard.

Mindy -- are you coming down for Thanksgiving?

Well, that's all for now. Maybe I'll update Saturday morning or later that night, if I have the energy. Or maybe i'll work another double shift. ^________^ Oh, and guess where I'm working on Thursday?? That's right guys -- the game store!!! *jumps up and down* John is the best manager in the whole wide world ^^

Ja ne~

Yes, I am totally ashamed of all the Japanophile crap clogging up that entry.

If you’ve been blogging long enough, I dare you to dig up an old post from five years ago and repost it on your current blog. DO IT and comment here with the link so I can read. Let’s start a meme!

Five things I hate about Twitter

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As addicted as I am to Twitter, there are some things about it that irk me. There are a lot of great things about the site, but here are some of the things that keep small children up at night and make dogs howl at the moon:

Spam accounts As in, porn. If I get one more “check out my naughty pics” tweet or one more follower with an avatar of a picture of some girl’s lips wrapped around some guy’s wiener, I’m going to go crazy. I initially made my account private to keep out the spam, but found that it was hurting me rather than helping me (I talk to a lot more people now)! Now I just spend a hell of a lot of time blocking these accounts, which gets on my damn nerves.

Direct messages trying to sell me something DMs saying “thanks for following, check out my website at blahblahblah” sent by some robot website every time someone follows you back are lame. I’d much rather get a REAL personal message saying something like, “please don’t follow me back, you suck,” than get one of these. It’s impersonal and I kind of take offense that you can’t be bothered to send me 140 real characters of friendly speech.

People following me for no reason These people never talk to me, have never talked to me, and never will — even when I tweet them or DM them. These people don’t even have anything in common with me. Their sole agenda is to get me to follow them back so that they can be oh-so-elite with thousands of followers. Pfft. I’m not biting.

The number game Twitter has a sort of unwritten rule: the more followers, the more popular you are. This is why people follow me for no reason (see above). I think this popularity contest is worse on Twitter than it was on MySpace. (I don’t really see it as a problem on Facebook. I’m not sure why.) I think because Twitter is so simple, people measure their success with numbers (which is natural, I guess, but still lame). It’s not lame, however, if you’re actually interacting with your followers. But if you’re just trying to look cool, go home.

Replying to my new blog post tweet, instead of commenting on my blog I know this might make me look like an ungrateful douchebag, but come on! Comments make me happy. They make me feel like I’m not talking to myself. They validate that my thoughts are worth something. Plus, when other people see comments on a blog post, they are more likely to comment themselves. It’s some weird psychological chain reaction, but it’s my chain, and you are breaking it! If you feel the need to tweet about it, how about commenting on my blog and then retweeting the post? It’s a win-win!

Strangely, I feel a lot better now.

What about you? What do you hate about Twitter? Post a comment and tell me (and maybe RT this post)!

Someone more "Sarcastica" than me?

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Since today is Bloggy Love Sunday and Mother’s Day, I thought I’d give some Bloggy Love to a certain new mommy.

I met Sarcastica when I first left LiveJournal, bought this domain, and started blogging outside of my familiar little LJ ecosystem. I didn’t really know anyone with a real blog (I don’t believe a LiveJournal is a real blog, but that’s another post for another day). I remember stumbling upon the Bloggies while at work and seeing that someone called Sarcastica had won best teen blog.

I liked her right away. Witty, smart, and not just another dough head (as Faiqa likes to say), Sarcastica writes about everything from boyfriends to childhood to coping with MHE. I learned a lot from her, and I don’t think she even knows it. Reading her blog has helped me learn to be my own medical advocate, instead of waiting for doctors to come to me. She’s taught me to be strong even when I don’t feel strong.

She may live quite far from me — Canada! Holy COW! — but I feel that she is a relatively close friend. She’s a great listener, and she replies to comments. (We all know how big a deal that is to me!)

One of my favorite posts is the one about the honesty spell. One of the things I love about Sarcastica’s blog is that she sometimes goes back and writes about her childhood. It was cool to read about her and her friends’ creepy experiences with Ouija boards and spells, partially because I dabbled with the occult myself as a young teenager.

I couldn’t imagine the blogosphere without Sarcastica. She is truly a great friend and an awesome blogger. Sarcastica recently gave birth to a healthy, beautiful little boy, so go say hi and shower her with Mother’s Day gifts!

How religion is helping me, even though I'm not religious

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I’m not religious. I was baptized and raised Protestant, but never really “got” it, no matter how much I tried. After years of not fitting in at church — and trying to figure out new ways to get out of going to church — I finally realized that I didn’t have to be religious to be a good person.

That said, I have friends and family from all different faiths and beliefs. It’s always interesting for me to learn about others’ religions. When I worked at the fruit basket place, most of my co-workers were Muslim. Those who weren’t Muslim were Christian. They all passed the work time talking about their beliefs, and I would pass the work time listening to them and soaking it all up. I don’t knock any religion — unless you’re a scientologist; as mean as it sounds, I just don’t get it and I don’t think I’ll ever even try to.

I am a little wary when it comes to discussing religion though. I tend to stick out like a sore thumb because I am not religious, and it actually makes me a little uncomfortable sometimes. My coworkers at the fruit basket place didn’t try to hide the fact that they were baffled by my religion-less lifestyle, and I’m pretty sure that when my boss fired me it was because I don’t believe in a higher power. As interested as I was in what they had to say, I felt a little alienated by their remarks. “How can you not believe in anything?” The way they said it, you’d think I’d just told them I ate babies. “That’s so weird,” they would say.

So I was a little on the defense when I first commented on Fruitful Words, a blog mostly about chronic pain and chronic pain management, focused entirely on women — and Christianity. I didn’t want to admit that I don’t practice Catholicism or even Buddhism, because I was terrified that the blog’s author, Susan, wouldn’t talk to me. I was terrified that the blog’s community would reject me.

I was wrong.

From the very first post I read about what to do and not to do for a woman with chronic pain, I was hooked. From my very first comment, I was accepted with open arms. No one seems to mind that I’m not religious, even though Susan specializes in women’s pastoral chronic pain management. Her advice is sound, and her words are uplifting and encouraging. I have been reading Fruitful Words almost daily since I found it a couple of days ago, because it is really helping to carry me through.

It is with gratitude and pleasure that I pass on some Bloggy Love to Susan.

Bloggy Love

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How many blogs do you read and say to yourself, “everyone should be reading this”? How many times have you stumbled upon an awesome blog, buried under the radar, wishing you could parade it to all of the internet?

I’ve been doing this blogging thing for years — if you can tell me my original Diaryland username, I’ll give you a cookie; not even I remember it — and I’ve noticed one big thing: It’s a very clique-y digital world, my friends. Not that that’s a bad thing. Whenever someone in the blogosphere needs help, their blog clique is to their rescue. These groups of bloggers are very close-knit and, usually, if you read one of them you read all (or most) of them.

But what about the rest of the blogosphere? How many other awesome blogs are out there that we (usually) miss, because we’re too busy shoving our faces into our feed readers instead of out there looking for new blogs?

It is time, my friends, to break out of the cliques. It’s time to share the Bloggy Love.

Every Sunday (or whenever), I’m asking you to write a quickie post about one of your favorite blogs. In that post, you should:

  • link to that blog
  • link to your favorite post from that blog
  • and then link back to this post

You should also comment on that person’s blog to let them know that you love them, that way they can participate too. Because everyone loves badges, below is a badge that you can stick on your Bloggy Love posts. I only ask that you link it to this post, and that you don’t direct link (just right/ctrl-click and choose save). (You can also snag it if your blog has been selected.)

Ideally, we will have a constantly growing list of blogs that we can all refer to when we’re looking for something new to read. This is also a great way to spread the love and introduce a new or shy blogger to the community.

One of my favorite blogs is And Cinderella Lost Her Shoe, by Larissa. Don’t let her age fool you; this girl has some serious talent, and her wit and sense of humor will keep you coming back for more. Her honest and in-your-face style is sometimes heartbreaking, but I think pretty much anyone can relate to Larissa and her experiences.

I was trying to find one of her posts that has always stuck with me and happened upon the bra post. I think this post sums her humorous side best. (I will add that other post here as soon as I find it.)

So go forth, my fellow bloggers, and spread the Bloggy Love!