My Blogging Journey

A year ago Strawberry Singh asked us why we blog. This year she’s following up on us with a few more questions about our blogging journey. As usual I’m always extra thrilled with q&a memes, so I’m excited to tackle this one.

In preparation I wandered into my archives to see my answers to the meme last year, and found that I’d probably answer them a bit differently if I were tackling the first meme again. Last year I was just starting to pay attention to this blog, but I was still mostly focused on Tumblr. This year I still have all of my previous blogs, although all but one of them are rather quiet these days. Others have sprung up to take their place, though, so I can still manage to neglect several blogs at a time. Yay, right? Oh well, even if I don’t post as regularly as I’d like each one of these blogs is very important to me and I’m glad I have them.

Here are Strawberry’s meme instructions:

Copy and paste the following questions and answers to your post, delete my answers and input your own. Don’t forget to leave a link to your post in the comments (on the original post) so others can come by and read your answers as well!

  1. Which electronic devices do you use to blog with? – I only blog on the computer. I have WordPress apps on my phone and tablet, but I doubt I’d write a post with those, I’d rather have all the features of the regular website.  I mostly use the apps as readers, or to keep up with comment notices.
  2. Do you have a mission statement for your blog, if so, what is it? – Not really. My mission seems to be to share whatever pics I enjoyed, and sometimes to add in some rambly commentary. I’ve decided that since this blog was created entirely for my own personal enjoyment I’m never going to worry about how many people read, I’ll just keep posting happily and if somebody else takes notice once in a while and thinks something was interesting then it’s an extra bonus. 🙂
  3. How do you feel about blogs that use their platforms to spread negativity? – I don’t think I’ve ever stumbled across any blogs that do that, but I wouldn’t want to read it if I did.
  4. Are you a grammar junkie? Do you thoroughly check your blog for errors before posting and/or do you judge other people’s posts if they contain errors? – I rely on the spell checker to warn me about typos, but I usually just hope for the best with grammar. I’m sure sometimes I’m terrible but I try to catch my own errors, and I judge myself pretty harshly when I find something glaring. I try to avoid judging other bloggers for little spelling and grammar errors. It’s easy to miss something even if you’ve read a post fifteen times before you publish.
  5. If you could switch blogs with another blogger who would it be? – Ooo I don’t know, there are so many! I’d love to have the ability to write eloquent travelogues  and art reviews, and take great pics like Ziki Questi.
  6. Has your blog/blogging style evolved over the year(s)? How? – I don’t know if my style has changed much from the start of this blog to now. I’ve noticed my blogging habits have evolved, I’ve found myself moving away from the short form image focused Tumblr blog I started out with and finding more interest in longer posts.
  7. What is the most extraordinary thing that has happened to you because of blogging? – With non-SL blogging I have met some really lovely people who’ve become friends that I keep up with outside the blogging community we were in. With SL blogging I’m not sure I’ve had any extraordinary things happen, but I have been able to find quite a few really interesting bloggers that I read regularly, so that’s enjoyable.
  8. When it comes to Second Life blogs, there are different styles: Fashion bloggers, Lifestyle & Travel bloggers, Informative bloggers, and more. Which style do you prefer and where do you feel your blog fits in? – I read and enjoy all SL blog types, fashion blogs for shopping advice, and travel and art blogs for tips on where to visit. I do enjoy information bloggers a lot, I love reading peoples ideas about SL and keeping up with what’s going on with the platform and related technologies.
    I don’t think my blog really fits into any of the categories. I think it just exists as my little happy spot to talk to myself and share what I think is fun or looks neat.
  9.  What has blogging taught you? – I hope it’s teaching me to organize my thoughts, though I’m not too sure how I’m doing with that. It is teaching me about myself. I often use blogging as therapy, at least lately, so it’s actually helped me get through the day and carry on.
  10.  Share your top 3 tips for new bloggers.  –  1) Blog about things you enjoy.   2) If you are blogging for personal enjoyment don’t worry about following rules, just have fun.  3) Do blog challenges! They’re a great way to get yourself started if you’re not sure what to post.

😀

Relaxin’ With Flat Ebbe

I’m almost a week late in keeping up with Strawberry Singh’s Monday Meme, but life was tossing me around a little and  I just didn’t get in world.  On a bright note, I have finally been reunited with my wayward laptop, all repaired and ready to let me explore again, and, more importantly, take pics. Yay! Of course the first thing I did was grab Flat Ebbe from the marketplace.

Since he’s had an entire week to hang around with lots of bloggers I thought he might be tired by now, and I didn’t have a good plan for sims to tour, so we just stuck close to home at Kannonji Zen Retreat. We started off just chilling by the pond so he could unwind after all that traveling.


He still seemed to be feeling a bit stiff, so I suggested taking a few moments out of his time to have a quiet sit at the main zendo. There wasn’t a scheduled meditation going on when we stopped by, but it’s still a great place to find some peace and rest.

I’d originally hoped to check in on Flat Ebbe from some fun location via SL Go, but unfortunately despite trying at least a half dozen different places in town I can’t find any free WiFi that has a high enough download speed. These are all national bookstores, or restaurant chains, so I don’t know if it’s part of a general policy or just bad luck in my city, but in every case but one the On Live app advised that the speeds were too low and it refused to even connect my account. The one time the speeds were sufficient there was apparently some sort of firewall in place to stop On Live. Oh well. I still think it’s a pretty cool service, even if I can only use it in my house.


Ms. Berry also asked us to include three things we’d like to communicate to Ebbe, so we sat at the coffee bar for a few moments before he set off on more adventures around the grid and I tried to think of what I’d like to tell him. I’ve read through what others have said and really I think I just want to echo some of the suggestions:

  1. Please work on the public relations issue. I couldn’t agree more with all of those who wish SL wasn’t regarded by the media as that virtual porn game. It’s also so frustrating that people who use SL are so often portrayed as stereotypical friendless losers who need a “second” life because they don’t have a “first” life.
  2. Tier prices. While I probably won’t be in a position to own land again anytime soon it would be nice to see some reworking of the tier structure to lower the fees and make land ownership more attractive.
  3. Keep talking! I love that you’re being so communicative with the users, and I hope you keep it up! 😀

Many thanks to Berry for our meme and for Flat Ebbe! I’ve been following his comments, from the keynote speech to his twitter feed and so far I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the future of Second Life. I’m eager to see what happens next!

Dance With Me

My involuntary vacation from SL has made me very sad this month. It never fails to amaze me how when I can’t do something it makes it a thousand times more appealing. That’s certainly been the case with Second Life lately, if I had easy access I’d take it for granted and put off logging in. Can’t explore at all? Massive withdrawal, especially since I really wanted to go to Skin Fair. *Pauses to cry a bit.*  I’ve been wondering if I might still be able to visit on this machine if I set draw distance to 32, turn all the eye candy off, and cross my fingers and hope really hard…

Oh well. Since I couldn’t manage a brand new pic for Strawberry Singh’s Monday Meme about dancing  I’ve gone back in time and found one of my older shots that I’d always liked, mostly because it was just a fun memory. We didn’t dance too often, but it was a good bet if we were involved in any sort of a couples dance I was trying to take pics of us because we were so darn cute. I always loved to watch our avs dance. ♥︎

dance with me04182010

(more…)

Doing Memes While I Wait

Lately I’ve had a feeling that I’m waiting for something to happen. What? I have no idea. Waiting for Spring, for warm weather, for new beginnings. Maybe I’m really just waiting for myself to do something remarkable. (more…)

The Book Meme

Just as the story was getting interesting, I heard a noise in the garden…

I actually had some ideas for blog posts this week, but I see that Strawberry Singh’s Monday Meme is about books. I love my books, and it’s absolutely impossible to resist chattering about them! It would be the same if she asked us to talk about our favorite music, I’d just bounce around happily then ramble for pages and pages. 😀

Onward to the Book Meme! (more…)