As a 42 year old single, queer, poly, switch, I find myself participating in the world of online dating. I have tried a few different sites. Lesbotronics is great, but they rarely have anybody I match with. I've never met anyone through lesbotronics, and the site was even blocked at a Phoenix coffee shop. Pink Cupid annoyed me. Match.com was filled with monogamous people looking for love, marriage, and a baby carriage. Tinder was gross. So that leaves me using OKCupid most of the time.
I've created a list of things I search for in online dating profiles before deciding if it's someone that I'd like to meet. I am well aware that this list might mean I miss out on some interesting people, but these have ended up as deal breakers often enough that I just skip folks who smoke (for example).
If you're interested in my list, you can see it behind the cut.
Several years ago I was a writing tutor at the writing center of a university. I was horrified to learn that my job was not to help people learn how to avoid grammar errors. The sole purpose of my job was to assist students in learning to communicate clearly; grammar corrections were to be avoided unless there were regular problems distracting from the student clearly communicating.
I'm going to write a SFW post, but the link is NSFW.
The blog in the link shows blackboards in those very special movies that many people don't admit to having seen. The site notes that it is celebrating the folks who are dressing the sets for those movies and going the extra mile to add authenticity to classroom settings by writing on the board.
What the site does is write out what's on the board, discuss the accuracy (or, more precisely inaccuracy) of the writing, and then grades the writing that was on the board. It is my new favorite blog.
"The Rescued Film Project is an online archive gallery of images that were captured on film between the 1930's and late 1990's. Each image in our archive was recovered from found film from locations all over the world, and came to us in the form of undeveloped rolls of film. We have the capability to process film from all era's. Even film that has been degraded by heat, moisture, and age. Or is no longer manufactured."
I've been looking at the photos for over 30 minutes, and I can't stop looking through them. What if the next photo has a picture of someone I know? What if there's an abandoned photo of me in there? My mom? A kid I went to school with? I know that I lost film and disposable cameras at times in my life, and other people have as well.
What if some of those photos are of my grandparents? I wouldn't even know if the young woman in the 1940s was my grandma or her sister or someone else. Would I recognize a photo if it was of my mom as a toddler? Nope!
These lost moments in time, who are they, and what does each photo mean. I stare into each person's face and look for a recognizable quirk of their eyebrow, I look at the background for signs that they were taken someplace I know. Is that the same knick knack that Julie's mom had near the tv? Did I just see the hallway at my old high school? No, that's somewhere else. Wait, that wedding, I've seen that wedding dress before. No, I haven't, it's one of a million wedding dresses that looked alike in the 1980s.
What memories are captured on this site never to be seen again? They developed a stack of film from an unknown WWII soldier. What are the chances that the people in these photos are even alive, let alone going to take a look at the website.
What will happen to my photo albums when I die? My pictures are largely unlabeled, and I don't have kids to pore over the albums like I went through my parent's albums and yearbooks as a kid. They'll be tossed in a rubbage heap somewhere when I'm the only person left who even knows they exist. My dad would recognize that photo of Gloria from back in high school, but my niece has never heard of her; I doubt my sister even remembers her. I've no idea whatever happened to her once she moved away.
In another 50 years, everything I know now will be gone. The photos I took as a kid won't mean anything to anybody but me and maybe a few random people in the world who I may or may not still be in contact with (or may not even be alive). I don't even know who that dark haired girl is in the background of that photo I took of Melissa when she was rolling her eyes at me on a Girl Scout trip. By the time I'm 90, no one around me will even know that I took that photo of Melissa or who the photo is of.
Heck, if she saw photos today of me ten years ago, she probably wouldn't recognize them if they weren't labeled. Like this unlabeled photo of me taken in 2006. Heck, my own father wouldn't even know this was a picture of me or why it's so important to me!
The above comic is from Grammarly. I planned to post this as a Board Worthy comic, but I'm editing a proposal document and want to discuss how this article works within my proposal writing world.
I loved the concepts of BuzzAgent, Influenster, and Smiley, but they were too much work for too little payout. I've received one box (all it had in it was Carefree panty liners), and even though I went to the site everyday and worked it, nothing else ever came. Well, that's not exactly true. On Influenster I did get $75 in eBay funds for writing some articles for them, but I can't make them work, and I can't seem to get them to work simultaneously, so I haven't actually done anything with them. It's super annoying, actually.
So they are off my feed and gone. If you do them, yay! I hope you have a great time.
Do author blogs create situations that help people decide to read their books? This article certainly convinced me to check out Sophia McDougall's work after I finish my current reading.
“Would I ever write a story in which the male hero is raped as part of his origin story, or as the nadir he had to fight back from, or to inspire someone else to take revenge?”
Katie posted such a fun Chanrio Character Creator. As soon as I saw it, I created two. One of I was dressing up as little kid, and one for if I was dressing up myself as a grown up. I'm not telling you which is which!
The cuteness overload is making me giggly! The directions are in Japanese, but I didn't need to use the translation service to figure out how to do this. I have also discovered that I need a magic wand with a glitter star on it and a Hello Kitty purse. I'd also like a pink bow for my hair and some fun star barrettes.
I love all types of creators. I have this awesome Pony Creator downloaded onto my android phone, and I went crazy a few months ago turning all my friends into ponies. Perhaps a better phrase would be creating ponies that look like my friends?
This is my pony:
As you can see, I made my pony when my hair was teal and purple! I am back and forth on my next color, so it's the standard brown with some bleached ombre at the bottom (leftover from when I had bleached my hair to dye it).
I'm not a huge fan of the Great Gatsby, but the Great Gatsby Avatar Creator's just the bee's knees! I'd have hated the 20s because even at my slimmest I'm too curvaceous for those awesome flapper styles. Avatar creators fix that! Check me out in art deco.
Do you have a favorite character creator program you'd like to share?
I want to write a post that will be succinct and well written. I want my post to demonstrate that I am thoughtful and caring, that I am experienced, and that I stayed current and knowledgeable about a variety of interesting and unique topics. This post should be insightful and funny while and show my feminist, left, liberal leaning politics without being over bearing. I want to write a post that will change someone's life.
Instead, I'll just point out that I'm not that good at social media and post this lovely unicorn in a rainbow tutu.
I grew up in a town that had two memorials in the local park where I spent the most time. This park had an Arts and Crafts class in the mornings, the best children's playground in town, the ball fields, and the local pool. There
were picnics, ballgames, fireworks, and festivals held at this park. Children played and
ran and sang and danced (and cried and screamed) all over the park. We sat on, next to, and
against the memorials. We ate on them, slept on them, and I'm willing to bet that we even talked about sex while sitting on or near them.
There is another memorial that sits smack down in the center of the town square next to the courthouse. It's some guy standing on a tall pedestal. I have no idea
what it's for because I didn't ever do anything except drive or walk
past it. I never spent any time
there and didn't care in the least about it.
The WWII Memorial in Washington DC on the site of the Rainbow Pool
There's a forward going around Facebook where Curt Autry at NBC12 states that people wading in the Rainbow Pool at the WWII Memorial in Washington DC are being disrespectful. He blames it on bad parenting and a generation of people who, he says, feel entitled to anything even when they have low SAT scores. You know what? My SAT scores weren't horrible; I respect veterans; I don't feel entitled to having everything handed to me on a platter.
What about wading is disrespectful? Going out on a hot day and looking at all the memorials around DC is exhausting. Taking off your shoes and enjoying the refreshingly cool water around your ankles is a nice way to spend some time at this monument. Sitting down and observing the monument, looking at the arches and the golden stars with your feet in the water is also a good way to rest and reflect on what's around. If you're vacationing with your children, it seems like this would be a nice way to sit down and chat with them about what the memorial means, why it's there, what happened during war and why people are dead because of the war.
The WWII Memorial was built early in the 21st century, and the Rainbow Pool was there for over a century before the WWII memorial portion was built. Look at this 1924 photo of people enjoying the water. Folks were wading in that pool a long time before they built a WWII Memorial there.
When they decided to build the WWII Memorial on the spot of the Rainbow Pool, they kept the shape and location of the pool although they made a few changes like sinking it lower down into the ground to better fit the idea they were working with for the war memorial. Nothing was done to change the look of it being pool and turn it into an obvious fountain that people should not go in, e.g., instead of putting a lip around the pool, they built steps that lead you to walk down and into it.
As you can see in the above photo, the "no wading" sign is small and can't be seen from every direction that you may approach the pool from. Folks in various sites around the internet have also commented that they've asked park rangers if it's ok to wade, and the rangers have replied that they could wade as long as they don't get loud and boisterous.
The memorial and the pool go well together. I can't speak for you, but I remember the memorial I played on and interacted with. I don't remember that one in the town center that has some random guy sitting there. Wading is not a sign of disrespect - nor is laughter, playfulness, or enjoying a beautiful day.
Every summer I look forward to Back to School sales, store College Essentials lists, and the plethora of events put together for this time of year. Sometimes I make great finds. I have the red swingline, a $22 stapler purchased for $6, from an Amazon back to school sale.
The Office Space red swingline photo is from virtualstapler.com/. There's an entire section dedicated
to staplers in movies! Yes, I find this interesting. If you don't,
well, you're just weird.
Amazon and I disagree on what qualifies as a college essential.. They seem to think that you need the following items in order to succeed in college.
A Star Wars self-stirring coffee mug. Now, to be fair, this is a fun and cool gift idea for the person who has everything, but calling it a college necessity is going too far. This is probably harder to wash than a standard mug, and we all know that some college freshman will eventually throw out their moldy dishes instead of washing them. Of course, I didn't do that at all the first few months I lived on my own. *whistles innocently*
This was advertised as a college essential on Monday, July 13, 2015.
On July 13, 2015, Amazon listed crystal jewelry as a college essential, with the first piece pictured being this lovely little seahorse necklace. This begs the question - how many of you needed seahorse necklaces when you started college? Did you find that having a seahorse necklace decreased homesickness? Does a seahorse necklace help you study for your Bio101 exam?
Maybe this necklace is intended to be worn by sexually active hetero cis men as a reminder to carry condoms - after all, it is the male seahorse who carts the kids around all day.
On Friday, July 17, 2015, Amazon added the "Fine Arts and Collectible: Entertainment" category to the College Essentials section. Does a $300 plastic Iron Man prop mask autographed by Stan Lee help you get to class faster? Or is it just something you wear to class on the first day in order to more easily find new gaming buddies? Either way, I think it would get hot in there, and it will probably smell funny.
Of course, we all know that an iron man mask is one way to get revenge on someone who steals your parking space.
Finally I reach the most important college essential posted on Amazon on Monday, July 13, 2015: the meat grinder.
I want to make up funny jokes about how college is akin to a meat market, but I can't find any that don't smack of Hannibal Lechter. After all, once you add an actual meat grinder to the dorm room mix, all jokes about humanity end up on a bun.
Now Bed, Bath, and Beyond is a far more sophisticated shopping tool for back to school than Amazon is. They have college registries, options to help you find the stores closest to your school, the ability for you to place your order and have it already created and waiting for you to pick it up when you get to campus, and they have college specialists. College Specialists are waiting for students to schedule appointments to make sure they register for everything they need for going away to college. Apparently going to college is like getting married and having a baby.
We get a BB&B sales flyer in the mail, and the first thing I noticed is that almost everything came in the color aqua and with a chevron pattern option. So be sure to stock up on your mountain and valley stripes because it's a chevron extravaganza this year! I always wonder, though, which college kids are purchasing huge, $500 desks for their dorm rooms and apartments? It's wild!
Even though the BB&B list is actually far more useful, they still don't disappoint. Mixed among some really nice items for small living spaces (that I need!) are a few college jewels.
Do you wear the same clothes everyday for months on end without washing them? Do you forget to shower until that night where you think you might get laid? Do you see no point in taking out your garbage? Then BB&B's Bad Air Sponge is for you! I found it in the college essentials on July 13, 2015.
The next item is probably actually super useful in a college dorm room, but I couldn't stop laughing at it, so I had to include it. It's the surf board tv tray. When you're buried in five feet of snow at SUNY Oswego, you'll need this, your thermal long johns, and as much booze as you can fit on the tray and the floor.
The SUNY Oswego page shows everything bright and sunny, so below is a more realistic photo of Oswego. I have no idea why people live there.
So not only is my first Board Worthy comic posted, but it's from an awesome geeky comic and references Grammar Girl! Two great things that go great together!
"Board
Worthy" is a term that I've been using for years to describe
certain kinds of comics, and I'm going to start posting Board Worthy
comics here on an irregular basis. Please feel free to email me links
to Board Worthy comics, and I'll add those as well! There are a few
rules for a comic to be deemed Board Worthy. I'll probably update the
rules as I realize what I've forgotten or missed.
1. The term Board Worthy came from an episode of Seinfeld after the
contraceptive sponge was discontinued. Elaine hoarded sponges and would
then decide which men were "Sponge Worthy" and who was stuck with
condoms. Please note that the Seinfeld youtube video below is NSFW.
2. The "Board" refers to a cork board or bulletin board in your
cubicle, outside your office door, wherever your work board is.
3. A Board Worthy comic needs to be appropriate for work and have something to do with yours (or someone else's) profession. Since I have friends with a variety of professions, I am going to keep it rather loose and low, but it could be a grammar comic, a math comic, a business comic, something to do with engineering or science, etc.
4. Since it has to be appropriate for school/work then it has to be SFW.
5. It has to resonate with me in some way. Hey, my blog, my comics listings, my preferences ;-)
Last week was the fourth year since I'd started my blog, and I completely forgot to post "Happy Birthday Blog!"
Help with Credits!*
Instead of trying to sort out some sort of sentimental whooey about my birthday, I'm going to take a page from the Penpal of the Week blog and write about ten of my quirks. Then at some point in the future, I'll write this blogpost down on some gorgeous stationery and mail it to Julie so that I can return to pen palling.
1. The Color Pink
I hated the color pink as a child. At some point over the last ten years I began to love the color pink, and when I wasn't living with a man any longer, I went pink-tastic. My current bedroom is slowly becoming a pink princess palace with pink shelves, a pink and lavender bedspread, pink curtains, and even a pink lamp shade that lights up my room in pink! I am wearing a pink, purple, white, and black dress as I type this, and I'm wearing my favorite pink hair clip. Unfortunately, I left my pink backpack on the bus and haven't managed to replace it, so I've been stuck using a black backpack with my pink and green and white polka dots.
2. A Small Good Thing
In 1993 an English professor introduced me to Raymond Carver's short stories. I don't read short stories very often, but his A Small Good Thing changed how I look at the world and my place in it.
3. I Like Wine
I realize that doesn't seem like a quirk, but I was married to someone who has a deep love of beer. I can enjoy and appreciate a good beer, but I rarely enjoy it. When I do want to enjoy beer, I can't because after one to three sips I'm done, and I hate throwing out an entire beer. Thankfully drinking beer is never a requirement, and I like wine. A lot. I have a bottle of 90+ Pinot Grigio at home just waiting to be poured into my wine glass.
4. I Only Own One Wine Glass
I left the crystal wine glasses with my ex-husband when I moved to Massachusetts.I haven't purchased any other glasses because I miss the feel and the sound of the crystal glasses, so I was drinking my wine from a teacup until a friend gave me a wine glass painted with shoes and boots. One of these days I'm going to thrift store two crystal wine glasses. It sounds like getting inexpensive wine glasses is a good idea, but honestly, I want the full pleasure of that glass in my hand, and using a clear glass teacup isn't any better or worse than using a cheap wine glass, so why bother? My roommate uses small juice glasses to drink her wine, so at least I'm in good company. Perhaps I'll buy a juice glass. I lost the jam jars I used to use as wine glasses. I am super upset about this because I was collecting the character ones. I had a set of Charlie Browns, some smurfs, and a few other random ones. I rarely buy Smuckers jam so I never get the character glasses anymore. Besides, I'm so behind on current pop culture that I wouldn't even know what the current characters even are.
5. Shared Birthdays!
Speaking of blog birthdays and roommates, my roommate and I share a birthday! Oh, the year is different, but the day is the same. I was freaked out about getting into a roommate situation, but so far it's worked out well, and she's been super patient with how long it's taking me to unpack.
6. Dessert Plates
I don't use dinner plates at home. I only own dessert plates. A meal doesn't need to fill a huge, massive plate. If I have more food than can fit on my dessert plate, I grab a second plate, use a bowl, or get up and go get seconds later.
7. Tie Dye
For over ten years I wore tie dye every single day, although it wasn't always visible to the general public *waggles eyebrows*. I still love tie dye, but I haven't had the drive to tie dye my current underthings to ensure I'm always brightly colored somewhere..
8. I Dislike Taking Baths
So many folks like relaxing into a nice hot bath, but I get stuck
on the idea of how I'll have to scrub the tub clean then sit there
soaking in my own filth that I can't enjoy it. Plus, I'm a very large
woman, and the idea of squeezing into a small tub is uncomfortable, especially since I'll be too short for it and won't be able to properly lean back because I keep starting to drift down towards the other end.
A
hotel upgraded me once when I complained that there was blood in the
bathroom, and they put me in a massive two-story suite that had a hot-tub style
bathtub and a separate shower stall. The tub was big enough for two
people and was shaped so that I could sit and read and soak. I was able to take a shower both before and after soaking.
The hotel also provided some delightful and not overly scented bath oils, so I
enjoyed that one bath very much and came out with softer, happier skin. I doubt that sort of thing will ever happen again, though.
9. Paris Hilton's BFF
Back when I owned a tv, I spent two days at home on pain killers after dental work. I discovered the reality tv show about Paris Hilton's BFF. I have been fascinated with this show ever since. I don't remember the specific characters or if I ever saw all of the episodes, but it doesn't matter. I am fascinated with the show. In fact, I might actually find a way to watch all two seasons of it next time I'm sick. Oh, I didn't finish it, and I don't mind that I haven't. I was attached to the perversity of choosing a best friend via a contest, of being mean to these future best friends, of encouraging individuals to back stab each other as proof of their devotion to you, and of expecting best friends to make themselves sick then be perfectly presentable for horseback riding lessons two hours later.
10. I Love Questionable Content
What I mean by that is that I love the online comic Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques. Don't check it out from work because while it's often SFW it does have NSFW moments, and you really don't want your boss walking by during them.
* I found the adorable anime birthday on google image search, but when I tried to check the page, it was a broken link. The anime looks familiar, but I can't think of what it is. If you have any idea what the anime is, who to credit for this specific picture, or anything else, please let me know.
I haven't been feeling well lately, so I haven't wanted to eat. However, I woke up ravenous, and I'm restraining myself from going out and getting every kind of bad food I can imagine. Well, not really restraining myself so much as pulling up pictures of my bank account.
The "good" part is that there is no place that I know sells hotdogs near my office. After days of eating very little, and then being nauseous after I was done, I find myself craving hotdogs. And not just any hotdog. No, I want a Sonoran hotdog, the King of Hotdogs.
The above hotdog happens to be from a food truck at 1575 36th Street in Tucson. However, my favorite Sonoran dogs came from a different place. I don't know if it's still there, and I can't remember the exact intersection, but if I was in Tucson, I'd be there after work today! So what's a Sonoran Hotdog? It's something that turns my stomach to think about whenever I'm not in the mood for one. A Sonorah hotdog is a bacon wrapped hotdog that has onions, chili, tomatoes, mayo, and mustard. They always have a grilled chili pepper on the side (although the one in the photo above is from a place that wraps the chili in bacon, too!). That's Nerdalicious has a post about a variety of types of dogs, and I want so many of them! However, I want mine to be a beef dog, thank you very much. I'm not a fan of the regular ones. Check out the link for some yummy hotdog ideas:
Bad Me... I have no idea where I got this from. I should have published this post when I wrote it last year!
Comic Sans is a font that people get very worked up about. I like it. However, I think it's over used, and (more importantly) it should never be used for professional situations! It does not belong on a work email (and lets not even talk about how many comic sans folks also put a color on their background and bizarre photos and animated gifs in their sig file. Fine, you like it. I don't. I think the page is cluttered and hideous, and why on earth the Assistant to the CEO or the head of finances would use an email format like that is beyond me (and yes, I've gotten that type of email from folks who represent the firm they work for, some of them being very high up the food chain).
This week Jessica Jones posted about Comic Sans on her blog How About Orange. There was a large debate about how Comic Sans sucks while other folks vehemently defended it. Jessica's post included a link to a game where you could Kill Comic Sans. However, it just kept popping back up again, just like users and lovers of Comic Sans constantly pop up.
Comic Sans is a font that everybody loves to hate, and it is everywhere. People change their default email text to Comic Sans, even on work emails. They use it to post signs on the bathroom door asking people to please remember to flush. They make flyers with it and slap it all over their websites. So why does everybody hate it? It is not a professional looking font. It looks like handwriting, and it doesn't give a clean, polished finish. Using it at home to draw-up the family's cleaning schedule is fun. Sending your kids to school with a small note typed in Comic Sans that reminds them that you love them (and that they should finish their carrots) is cutsie. Sending a memo to your entire corporation using Comic Sans font just looks cheesie. Check out Comic Sans Criminal for a delightful slide show that explains the importance of a font fitting the situation.
I believe that it is followed by Papyrus. A commenter on Jessica's Comic Sans post randomly stated, "When I see Papyrus, I think 'ugh, hippies', and just keep on walking. You know when Papyrus is appropriate? Never, that's when." Why bring up Papyrus for no reason? Font hate - it isn't kept hidden.
Felicia Day updated her Google+ status with a link to commentary on the Comic Sans font. Randomly looking through The Oatmeal site, I ended up on a blog page where Michael Inman posted about the fonts he uses on his site. I don't actually know when this post was written; I just stumbled across it this week.
I am a big fan of the 11 Points blog. I don't read it daily; I skim through it every few weeks. I literally stumbled across the 11 Points blog with stumbleupon. From the "About" tab on the 11 Points website, "11points.com is a blog made up entirely of 11-item lists. Because top 10 lists are for cowards."
The first 11 Points blog post I found was the 11 Little-Known Grammatical Errors That Will Shock and Horrify You. Imagine my horror to find two items on the list that I sometimes misuse and that never come across my radar. More importantly, I thought I knew my problem areas that I regularly watch out for when writing and proofreading. I am rather upset with myself right now.
I purposely used "more importantly" in the previous paragraph because I thought "more importantly" was correct until this morning when I found Sam Greenspan's follow-up post, 11 More Little-Know Grammatical Errors That Will Shock and Horrify You. "Most importantly" means "most in an important manner" which is useless, unwieldy, and gross.
Sam Greenspan, the writer of the 11 Points blog, has a serious problem with the Merriam-Webster dictionary (MW). I wanted to argue with him and point out that the times change and that connotations of words change. Then at the bottom of his post, he explained that had such a strong stance against MW because if they just kept adding words, soon words like "irregardless" would be added to the dictionary. He made a good point; I hate the word irregardless. I wonder if "literally" would end up meaning "figuratively speaking."
Of course, I had to investigate further. Merriam-Webster does list irregardless as a word. So I checked the Oxford-English dictionary (OE). Surely, this king of dictionaries wouldn't stoop so low? But there it was, the word irregardless. How could this be? Even the OE betrayed me?
I turned to my beloved Grammar Girl for help. She pointed out the "non-standard" part of the definition in answer to someone else's query about the word irregardless. While irregardless has become a commonly used word, it is still a double negative. It means "without without regard." Thank you for the reminder, Grammar Girl. It is important to not just read the definition; I need to pay attention to what the full listing says. That was sloppy.
I have no plans to comment on the 11 Points blog that words will change and grow and morph. My opinion hasn't changed. Instead, I have learned something new. Being a real word and in the dictionary does not mean that it's a correct word which should be used in speaking or writing. Just look at Joe Namath; drunk as a skunk he was able to remember the difference between "could care less" and "couldn't care less!" (see 11 Little-Known Grammatical Errors That Will Shock and Horrify You)
I love Ernest Cline fan. I don't know exactly when I started listening to him, but according to this, it was earlier than 2002. He is a geek extraordinaire, and my favorite works of his are his spoken word art. "When I Was a Kid," caught my attention first and is available for free on his website. I own the full album and often play it for my friends. There are other samples on his website as well as links to purchase full CDs at http://www.ernestcline.com. Here's a sample video of him performing Dance, Monkey, Dance.
Ernest Cline is a geek of many talents! He is responsible for the movie Fanboys (as well as others). If you haven't seen this fun film, you have to take a look.
It's about a group of high school friends who are traveling cross country to steal a copy of Phantom Menace before it's released. It's one of those movies that geeks watch to make fun of themselves or people they know. I'm guessing non-geeks watch it in order to make fun of geeks (or they don't watch it at all).
Ernest Cline is also a writer, and he posted that Wil Wheaton will be doing the voice for the audio book of Ernest Cline's book which will be released in August! Apparently, Ernest Cline is a huge Wil Wheaton fan. I'd be tripping over myself if Wil Wheaton read any of my work aloud. However, I'm having a difficult time picturing Wil Wheaton reading aloud an instruction manual or articles or a Technical Brief.
Perhaps I'll get a contract one day writing/editing text or instructions for a sci fi website. Then maybe they'll hire Wil Wheaton to read the instructions aloud. MMmmm.... Ok, enough daydreaming. Dream jobs like that don't fall in a woman's lap!
The next time I fly, I'll purchase a copy of Ernest Cline's book being read by Wil Wheaton. I always bring audio books when I fly so I have something to listen to while I knit. Sadly, I didn't take a photo of the Star Trek washcloth I knit. A picture of it would have been the perfect ending for this post!
I love reading blogs, and over the years, the blogs I read have decreased. Here is an example of one blog I read:
How About Orange is a craft blog. Orange is not a favorite color of mine, but I love her sense of style. I find that I usually like her designs even if they use orange! She has a very retro feel with a crisp, clean look. She gives clear descriptions and instructions, and she writes with a friendly tone. I enjoy reading her blog and have used several of the ideas she has posted. I also plan to buy some of her ribbons as accents for future projects. One day, I might even purchase some of her fabrics. I plan to make this clock that was linked on her blog.
Another type of blog I enjoy reading is the blog by a journalist that discusses the articles which have been published. I love the idea of journalists blogging about news articles they write. It is interesting when they write an article filled with facts and then post a blog about how they tracked down facts or how they were affected by what they learned. I do not believe in complete objectivity, so the additional information is useful. The idea of an editorial writer keeping a blog about writing editorials seems ridiculous to me, though. The New York Times does it. I'm sure other papers do, too.
I don't blog about things that might be seen as confidential to other people. For example, I do not discuss work on my blog. I might occasionally refer to it, but my clients' business is their own. They pay me to write for them. However, I spend quite a bit of non-work time drinking tea, perusing websites, and reading. I really should start blogging about some of those things.
I used to use the Stumble! button to wander around online and discover new websites, but life became busy, and I forgot it even existed. I was reminded about it two days ago, and now that I am attempting to resolve some serious apartment complex problems (and the complex is attempting to help me, so hopefully by April 1, I will no longer be living in fear), I find myself attempting to run away from reality.
So I stayed in jammies all day today, and a portion of the day was spent rediscovering the Stumble! button. Here are a few things I discovered.
1. When you are wandering around hitting random websites chosen by a random website, you will be faced with a variety of types of sites. I found a delightful putt-putt game that wasted 30 minutes of my time at http://www.adverputt.com/. However, I also found a site that creates flatulence sounds when you click on (pull) the virtual finger, http://www.misternicehands.com/. I also found a blog that reminded me that while I may hear people outside my door calling each other bitch, fucking asshole, etc, there are people who can be more descriptive when insulting others: http://www.maryannaville.com/when-insults-had-class/.
2. If you allow Stumble! to send you to sites with adult humor, do not be surprised if they send you to a large number of sites containing potty jokes while you stumble around the interblags.
3. No matter how much you Stumble! around, Stumbling is no substitute for hard work. I kept telling myself that I was in a crisis situation so I didn't have to logon and work. I was ahead of schedule and none of my deadlines were until the end of the week (it's only Tuesday), so I knew I would be fine, but I could not shake the feeling of shame. I have always prided myself on completing my work as soon as possible regardless of when the final due date is, so I was unable to shake my responsibilities and goof off.
I gave up on fiddling, faddling, and futzing and got back to work. When I was done, I emailed the final products in, and then I was able to enjoy my internet wanderings with a clear conscience (and a slightly too large glass of wine).
Tomorrow, I'll get my new baffles installed on my bike, and then I'm going for a ride! I'll take my bike north of the Catalinas and ride until all these worries have been blown from my well-helmeted head.
Just thinking about tomorrow's ride has lowered my shoulders an inch. I think I might be able to go to bed now. I have to get up early in the morning, I need to be to the other side of town quite early for my appointment!
