Category Archives: Blogging Community

Beware of the Ego with Blogging

“Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.” –Jane Austen

Blogging can be quite an ego trip don’t you think? It can really give you a fat head. I think anyone who blogs needs to keep this in mind. It is more worthy to maintain our humility.

Nice things we can do for each other as writers is to read each others work and try to be supportive of each other. I have found there are bloggers out there who do this and I really appreciate and admire them.

Give a genuine complement. There has to be something about someone else’s efforts you find praiseworthy.

Vanity is not exclusively a female trait. It applies to both male and female bloggers equally.

|Nano Poblano|

Sunday Rest

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Their_Day_of_Rest_(1919)_-_Ad_1 wikipedia

“She broke his heart with one of her biscuits.”

Here we are at Sunday and taking a day of rest again today. I was looking for an image and found the one above. This old film sounds like it would be funny even today. Carter De Haven was a comedy star of silent films and worked as director and in production with Charlie Chaplin on The Great Dictator and Modern Times. His wife, an actor as well, often worked with him. Her maiden name was Flora Parker. I found a photo of them on Wikipedia as well.

They were a handsome couple. I have watched a few of the old silent films. The actors had to rely on conveying so much with facial expression. The old black and white and their heavy make up did not always bring out their good looks. We can see from the photo they were beautiful.

Many of the old films are lost forever. It is amazing to me that the film above was made almost 100 years ago.

Happy Sunday!

|Nano Poblano|

The Nano Poblano Oddly Specific Gratitude Blog Hop

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My good friend Rachel has nominated me to add my list of things I am grateful for to this long list of what other folks in the Team Pepper are grateful for. Check out Rachel’s blog Could Do Worse – to read about adventures in London.

Here’s what to do:

Add to the list with your own oddly specific bits of gratitude. Add as few or as many things as you’d like. Include a picture or two if you’d like… but you certainly don’t have to. Put your name at the top of the list to see where yours started and the next blogger’s begins.
Tag the post with the usual pepper tags and oddly specific gratitude.
Tag another pepper to add to the list by linking to their About page, but there’s a catch! When you tag the next blogger, be sure to include a bit about why you’re grateful to be in the same blogging world with them.:) (Try not to tag anyone who has already been tagged that way more people get to join in the fun.)

The List of Oddly Specific Gratitude

Nerd in the Brain:

the smell of wild onions when I mow the lawn
coffee makers (having the coffee already prepared in the mornings is magical)
the way my crazy dog barks likes a vicious beast at the horses across the road, but then cowers behind me like a needy wimp whenever a horse actually comes close
hearing my husband talk on the phone to the rest of his team at work… it reminds me that he’s not just my silly, sweet, awesome husband… he’s also my competent, responsible, highly skilled husband
opening a blank lesson plan book and imagining the possibilities to come
sausage balls
watching Grace’s enthusiasm for all things musical
the way I can hear a smile on Olivia’s face whenever we say hello or goodbye on the phone
knitting with really soft, squishy yarn

Not a Punk Rocker

10. Getting a random text when Matthew is in cell-signal range. (“Hi”)

11. Awesome stuff in the mail, including Legos and letters from friends, making me smile when I need it the most at the end of a long day.

12. Cherry chapstick.

13. Somebody found my blog by searching for “deadpool talks about political social issues” yesterday.

14. Skype and chat for keeping me in touch with friends in “real-time” when one or the other of us needs it the most.

15. Finding new blogs to read and follow through this challenge!

Jackie P (tobreathistowrite)

16. Having friends like I do here in the blogging world. You all make my days brighter.

17. My dog Sam. He loves me unconditionally, wish more people could love like that. Plus, he makes me laugh daily.

18.Coffee. Without it the world would be a much sadder and thirsty place. And I would be a much harder person to deal with.

19. All the bright and cheerful colors around. Something about bright colors makes me happy. The gold of the sun, the cerulean blue of the sky, the wonder of a rainbow, they never cease to make me glad I’m alive.

20. Books…… you all know what I mean.

Fish of Gold

21. Spell check. Even though it did just strangely try to correct my horribly botched spelling of “another” to “Antoine.” I don’t even know anyone named Antoine, spell check.

22. I’m grateful to myself for being the sucker who couldn’t walk away from my dog’s cage at the animal rescue. My failure to do so has converted 70 dog pounds into a metric ton of joy and unconditional love.

23. Male’s hilariously failed attempts at sexting.

24. My sense of humor. I wouldn’t have survived this long without it.

25. To the Peppers for continuing my harebrained Nano Poblano Blog Hop Story idea and turning it into something unexpectedly awesome. Go Team Pepper

26.I also second #18.

Knocked Over by a Feather

27. My aunts Oreo truffles. They are addictive.

28. Finding my comfy spot in bed.

29. Receiving a spontaneous real hug from my daughter, which rarely happens.

30. Watching stupid TV with my husband.

31. Hearing my mom call me sweetie or something similarly saccharine sweet on the phone

Mental Mama ( Mental in the Midwest)

32. the world’s best tiny mommy

33. Evie and Sissy Cats

34. lithium, depakote, and gabapentin

35. the world’s most amazing support network

36. good dark chocolate, preferably with cherries

37. the jumbo margaritas at Romeo’s – lime, on the rocks, extra salt

Mark Bialczak

38. My dear wife Karen for buying me two season tickets for Syracuse University football six years ago, going to every game with me (but one when she went on a cruise) since and turning home game Saturdays into Happy Happy days win or lose.

39. That Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle usually looks like this on the end of the living room couch and her specially covered ottoman daily come 10 p.m. after a day of enthusiastically ruling our Syracuse city home we call Little Bitty

40. That Karen talked me into going to the Paws for the Cause rescue dog event that March day four years ago when we saw Ellie marching around in her orange “Adopt Me” vest.

41.That my daughter Elisabeth was smart enough and confident enough and brave enough to go back to school this fall to get her associate’s degree and New York State certificate to become a physical therapist’s assistant, 2 1/2 years after getting her bachelor’s in biology.

42. That writing every day on markbialczak.com since Oct. 27, 2013 has turned out to be so much fun.

43.That Sheena Not a Punk Rocker talked me into hosting Nano Poblano this year, allowing me to meet so many interesting new bloggers! Wait. I want to add two more exclamation points to this one!!

Coulddoworse (Rachel or Lundygirl)

44. The park that I walk through four mornings a week

45. Iced fingers

46. Crochet and blogging; though never at the same time

47. making something beautiful

48. flowers

49. Hot toasted sandwiches with my family on a very rainy bank holiday.

50. beauty that you see in the detail

51. Great memories to mull over and enjoy.

Notes Tied On The Sagebrush

52. I am grateful that I was able to copy this whole list with pictures and get it pasted on to my post without messing it up at all, I hope.

53. I am grateful for my kids xoxo, and my husband xoxo

54. I am grateful to read good books, and watch good films

55. Good food, good wine and good friends

56. That I live in the state of California, USA

57. Discussions with my blogger friends and getting their support for my writing

The List of Oddly Specific Bloggers

Nerd in the Brain

Not a Punk Rocker

To Breath is to Write

Fish of Gold

Knocked Over by a Feather

Mental in the Midwest

Markbialczak.com

Coulddoworse

Notes Tied On The Sagebrush

I nominate Linda G. Hill because she has always been so gracious to me on her blog site. I really like the way she encourages all the bloggers in her events to read each others posts. It really helps promote community and is very nice for newcomers as well.

|Nano Poblano| among other things.

Our DVD Collection

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I love reading books and I love films.

We have quite a library of DVDs we have acquired over the years. We do not buy them as often lately. I borrow many DVDs from my local public library.

I recently purchased some great DVDs from PBS that I thought would be good additions to our collection. They were on sale so I decided to go for it. My husband and I have been watching them the past few days.

A perk of owning DVDs is that you can watch them over and over. If I haven’t watched something in a while I forget enough parts of it that I can enjoy it all over again. Or even if I remember the story, because I love them so much, I don’t care how many times I have seen them. Like re-reading a beloved book. I may even see more of the nuances that I may not have seen with the first viewing.

I like collecting older films or classics. We have a few. One reason I want to collect them is I am afraid that eventually we won’t be able to find them. That they won’t be available anymore. It is like old books that go out of print.

We just finished watching The DVD of Mark Twain by Ken Burns. Very good. It is a 2 Disc set. It covers Mark Twain’s life from beginning to end. It includes many great and funny quotes and excerpts from his books and some great photos. I really love many of his quotes and will be using them from time to time. There are interviews with some Mark Twain scholars, Hal Holbrook and Arthur Miller. It has special features that go into the making of the film and more Mark Twain quotes and photos.

The scholars, Holbrook and Miller share their knowledge, insights and impressions of Twain’s writing, motivations and personality. It is interesting to hear about the man behind the writing.

We all like to think that we are revealing our truth(s) with our blogs. Here is a quote from Mark Twain about honesty:

I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead–and not then until we have been dead years and years. People ought to start dead, and then they would be honest so much earlier.

Do you like having your own collection of films? Have you watched this particular film about Mark Twain and what did you like about it or learn from it? Do you have some favorite classic or older films?

|Nano Poblano| among other things.

Day of Rest

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Now that I have found my voice I am getting tired of hearing myself talk.–D.

Introverts do not like making small talk. I think blogging daily is like trying to make small talk. I wondered if blogging is for introverts at all. I googled the topic and found an old blog about it. It claimed that introverts like to blog because it is easier for them in that they do not have to talk to someone face to face. That is probably true but on the other hand to endlessly blah, blah, blah is not the introvert way.

So today I am taking a day of rest from blah, blah, blogging. Happy Sunday!

Do you think bloggers are introverts or extroverts?

|Nano Poblano| among other things.

Going Batty

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“She’s got bats in the belfry, squirrels in the attic, owls up in the loft. She’s apeshit, bughouse, batty, mad as a march hare” –by gramaticon

Bats are interesting. I have heard their echolocating cries in the evening. They do eat insects which helps control the insect population. I am glad we do not have any in our attic or any nearby belfries however.

When I first started posting daily for NaBloPoMo and Nano Poblano I thought I would go batty. I have gotten a bit less batty lately coping with the demands of writing.

I do attempt to read others blogs and courteously check in on most of the people who like mine. It has been nice to meet some new blogger friends.

One of my goals has been to connect with other writers and I think these events have helped.

So thanks to all the bloggers who have visited, liked and commented on my blog. Hope you keep visiting and I get to know you better. And welcome to anyone who may not have visited yet.

|LindaGHillSoCS|

Inspiration

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There are a multitude of synonyms for inspiration like fountain, spring, root, well, guide, creativity, vision, spark and illumination.

Sometimes when I re-read my writing, after I have had a good session with words flowing, I think to myself how did I come up with that thought expressed in that way?

I am not sure from where in me this creativity originates. Is it part of the brain? I think more likely the soul because it is spontaneous. It is not contrived or mechanical.

Some have credited a muse or external source. A spirit guide or angel.What do you think is the source of your creativity? Is it external or internal?

|Nano poblano| among other things.

Different

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” Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” –Apple Inc.

Abolitionist and Suffragette

Too Passionate

I think there is a passionate temperament. A person that can feel so strongly. There have been many times when I have been standing upon my soapbox and declaring my opinion about something I found wrong in the world.

During those times of strong emotion I have noted others looking on calmly, almost disinterested. I have thought to myself how can they not feel anything about this? How can anyone not feel strongly about this ? How can people feel so dispassionately about things? It is like they are already dead.

I realized that I was different.

It is not just passionate indignation that I feel. When you have the capacity for strong feelings you can feel great joy and elation as well. Like when you see something you find beautiful or hear music that you love.

I am glad I am different if it means to feel deeply and be more aware in the world. Maybe this is why I always wanted to stand up for people’s right to be different. To be who they truly are.

Have you ever felt different or been told you are different?

|Nano Poblano| among other things.

Silver Threading Event Writer’s Quote Wednesday

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Here is my contribution to my fellow blogger’s Silver Threading event. Hope you like it. 😉

SoCS-Memento Means Remember

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The origin of the word memento was, according to Thesaurus.com, from “c.1400…in the Canon of the Mass which began with the Latin word memento and in which the dead are commemorated.” The Latin word memento means remember. The English definition is: an object that reminds us of a person or event. Two synonyms for the word memento are a souvenir and curio.

We have a curio cabinet that belonged to my husband’s maternal grandmother, Nana. We acquired it when she died several years ago. Some of the items we kept in it were hers or gifts from her as well. The cabinet and some of its contents are our mementos of her.

When we were putting in new floors in the living room the furniture was being moved around and the curio cabinet tipped over and the mirror inside shattered. I was upset because this cabinet meant something to me.

It has been lying on its back on an old table ever since while we try to decide what to do with it. My daughter said it looked like it was waiting for surgery. A brother-in-law said it looked like a coffin. This evening I did have some candles on top of it for Halloween which goes along with the coffin image.

The broken curio cabinet reminds me how fragile things are and that they do not last forever. Although I may not always have this memento of Nana we will still have our memories of her and her love.