Tag Archives: Blogging

Disconnections

I wrote this post last year and decided it was a good one for today’s Stream of Consciousness on the word “miss.” When you don’t check into WordPress or Facebook each day, do you feel like you are missing something? There is a popular phrase for that called “the Fear of Missing Out” or FOMO. This whole week, I feel like I have been recovering from the Thanksgiving weekend activities or maybe it is because the weather is getting colder here in Southern California. At least colder at night and in the mornings. Puts me into a sleepy, hibernating kind of mood. The leaves are falling off the trees, except for the palm trees. I feel like bundling up with a good book or movie. And I think my old post, with a bit of editing, from last winter will be new to many people so here it goes:

I know this is true but I had forgotten. When you are wrestling with an issue information will start popping up about it all around you.

Today I opened my email from Idealist Careers and here was a post about something I had been thinking and writing about myself. The post was called Embrace JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out by Allison Jones. In it she linked to another blogger Anil Dash who had written on this topic as well. JOMO is a response to FOMO or Fear of Missing Out.

I get a little crazy with all the acronyms. Believe me, it is not that I have never seen an acronym before because in my work life there were plenty of them. It just seems like, with all the frenzied communication, we are all talking in acronyms. When I first saw FLOTUS it reminded me of flatus and I thought of gas. POTUS, a potted plant. Well maybe these acronyms are a lot of hot air after all. But I digress.

The gist of the blogs about JOMO and mine is that we can be selective about all the social activities and interactions that are asking for our participation these days. We need to be in touch with ourselves and what our needs and priorities are. There is great JOY in taking time for our private lives and quiet pastimes alone or with our friends and families.

Other bloggers commented on my post with similar sentiments. The need to find a balance and find the JOMO.

Now to curl up with that good book and I have a nice cup of coffee right here.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by LindaGHill

Mood Indigo

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We don’t always have to be perky bunnies, do we? We can have low times. I am not talking about Depression. Because full blown Depression is not a mood to luxuriate in. I read an essay The Case for Melancholy by Loren Stover, which had some good points. That there is this big push to be Happy :))))) all the time and if you are not then you can read an article in Huffington Post, and just follow these 3 easy steps, and find your bliss.

There is something to be said for quiet, down days, when you can take it slow and think deep thoughts, or take naps, or watch old romantic movies, or read old romantic books, and recharge your batteries.

Stover says Happiness is overrated and bit much for us to aspire to continually, “Happiness, like the sun, is ridiculously bright, a hope you can never live up to, or even look at straight on.” At least not all the time. I am grateful I have experienced joyful times and some happiness but not continually. That would probably be a little weird, like Stepford Wives.

Her advice: “Should melancholy descend, you may as well welcome it, wear your finest lounging outfit; give it your finest fainting couch or chaise to lounge in, or that hammock stretched between two elm trees. Let it settle in….and no running shoes under any circumstances.”

Yes, no running shoes. No braggy, happy face of you on Facebook completing your 5 K or whatever.

A little quiet music:

Via DavidFarandWide on You Tube:

and

via evie 1942

and via disc 070s

What are your thoughts?

You Can Buy (Fake) Followers, Likes, and Viewers

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I read about this in an article by Constant Dullaart in Hyperallergic, Why I’m Amassing an Army of Fake Facebook Followers, where he states he bought fake followers with “Profiles made to look like actual people, made to follow any profile I wanted for $0.002 each, so $5,000 bought me 2.5 million followers.” He says that there are people already doing this to make their product, candidate, and art look much more popular than they really are.

Isn’t it satisfying, a bit scary, ( and humbling I hope), to see more Followers for your blog? I mean real followers, not ones you bought and paid for.

image by Kate Ter Haar

Dullaart goes on to say how some artists were basing the market value of their work on You Tube views and being influenced on the types of work they produced according to the social media responses. He calls this trend in marketing ” the attention economy.” It turns my stomach a little.

A friend of mine just wrote that he received an email offering lots of fake views for a cheap cost. It sounds similar to what Dullaart was saying.

I like to think that I will go on writing whatever I write according to my inner inspiration, feelings, and things I feel strongly about, and not get too overly upset or influenced by Likes and Followers.

The best reason I have for liking real Likes, Comments, and Follows is that people show me they are reading what I am writing, which is encouraging. How do you feel about Social Media responses influencing what you write and are you shocked by the article and my blogger friend reporting the ability to buy followers, likes, and views?

Blood Moon

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Viewing Maps from Space.com

Are you planning to watch the Super Moon Lunar Eclipse? Do you know any interesting legends about the Blood Moon?

The Arranged Marriage

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PHOTO PROMPT © The Reclining Gentleman

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Zenarra thought the commute was worth it to have the beautiful natural landscape that surrounded her when she got home. She smiled to herself and sighed. She never thought she could be so happy.

She sensed his presence before she saw the headlights. ” How did you find me, Jolar?” she said dejectedly, ” Minat swore she would never betray me.”

” Those of royal blood have a sensor implanted at birth so that they can never be taken for ransom. You will fulfill your duty and marry Tomar with the next moon rising.”

Friday Fictioneers

Plein Air

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She had a lot of time on her hands nowadays. Much more time than she had planned for. She had always told herself that if she had the time she would like to take up her art again. She hadn’t painted since High School when she was discouraged by one of her teachers from pursuing a career in art. It felt good to be doing it again. Once she got started painting she was in “the flow” like Mihály Csíkszentmihályi described it. She lost all sense of time and felt almost in a meditative state. She was barely aware of her surrounding except for the flower she was focused on capturing on her canvas. That was until she heard the sound from a TV news broadcast coming from the neighbor’s patio. Ashley Madison hack predicted to have impact on many marriages. It already had an effect on hers. She had endured his emotional abuse for years thinking it was wrong to get a divorce. When she saw his name on the website she knew it was time to start her new life. She moved out last week after she withdrew all the money from their savings account.

Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers

Hosted by Priceless Joy and Thanks to Graham Lawrence for the image above.

The Tree House

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“She lived in a Mango Tree,” she heard the kids shout as they ran past the house. Her husband had built the tree house when their kids were little. This was where their kids spent many hours playing and even slept there on hot summer nights. She had been spending more and more time up in the tree house lately.

As she climbed the stairs she thought she heard their laughter. They shouldn’t be up here now, she thought, it’s time to get ready for school. The caregiver came to the house later that morning. When she couldn’t find Miss Grace in the house she knew where to look. She found her asleep on the old bunk bed. She woke the old woman saying, “Miss Grace you know you shouldn’t be up here. You’re liable to fall and break your neck.”

The neighborhood kids would often sing out when running past her house, “There was an old lady. She lived in a Mango Tree….”

Mondays Finish the Story

California Dreaming Route 66

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Road trips are the best. When gas was cheap, people were able to travel all over by car. It still one of the best ways to see California. Get lost in your day dreams while looking out the window at the beautiful scenery passing by. Maybe some good music playing.

California Dreaming

All the leaves are brown

And the sky is grey

I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day

I’d be safe and warm if I was in L.A.

California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day.

(Gilliam, Michelle/Phillips, John Edmund Andrew)

Get your kicks on Route 66.

“Well if you ever plan to motor west

Just take my way

it’s the highway that’s the best

Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.

More than 2000 miles all the way

Get your kicks on Route 66..”( Bobby Troop)

Route 66 song via accebernosam on You Tube:

Ahoy Mateys and shiver me timbers! Dave Barry reminded me that Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So…

What do you do with a drunken sailor

Early in the morning….

You’re guess is as good as mine. Harrr!

My contribution for Stream of Conciousness Saturday

The Iron Gate

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Friday Fictioneers writing challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The small notice stuck in a crack between the iron gate and the old concrete wall warned the water would be shut off if the bill was not paid within a few days. My Grandpa’s garden looked beautiful. An abundance of flowers and assorted edibles. I remember when this garden fed our family and most of the neighborhood. It was hard for Grandpa now to make ends meet on his meager Social Security check. After putting in so many years slaving away at that factory job, he had been laid off without pension.

The Witch

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“From her small balcony, the witch watched the world go by.” It was getting harder and harder for her to get up and down the stairs. The neighbors seemed to ignore her when she did venture out. The children would giggle and point as she made slow progress down the sidewalk. She often looked like she was lost in her own world.

“A penny for your thoughts,” said the mother to her little girl.

” I was just thinking about that old lady that lives up stairs. Some of the kids say she’s a witch! Do you think she’s a witch Mommy?” her face showing her apprehension.

“I think we should go up ask her if she needs anything from the market. It must be very hard for her to get her groceries,” the mother answered.

They quickly climbed the stairs and knocked. A strange light spilled out as the door opened. The luminous being spoke, “So glad you’ve come. I have finished my observations of this planet. I was going to report that your species is hopeless but you have changed my mind.”

Mondays Finish the Story