17 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in My Blag is on the Interwebs
So, other than my usual volumes of booby-googlers, my blog has been fairly dead for the last couple of months. Some of my posts have gotten zero comments. Most get way less than they used to.
So I figure I must be getting boring.
If anyone is still stopping by here, what would you like to hear about?
01 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Memes
Tags
I was browsing through my old Livejournal today and realized how many memes I used to do there. I don’t know if those kind of memes are falling out of vogue now that we have simple share buttons on Facebook, but a lot of them looked like fun. Here’s one that seemed appropriate to this time of year:
Share the first sentence from the first post of each month for the last year (or, as a variation, if your blog is photo-heavy, post your first PICTURE of each month).
Or maybe I’ll do both! Because I’m a KEENER.
January:
I am nearly thirty years old.
February:
I haven’t updated on the Owl Sleep Situation in quite a long while, and there’s a reason for that.
March:
Hi all,
PH here.
April:
PH and I drove to Seattle for Emerald City Comicon.
May:
As you may remember, Elizabeth Pantley of the No-Cry Sleep Solution sent me some more of her books for me to check out.
June:
So, here we are.
July:
I am an introvert.
August:
Check out my latest post on World Moms Blog, and our shiny new website.
September:
Me: “Owl, I have to use the potty. Do you want to come upstairs with me, or stay here and play with your cars?”
^funny aside: this photo wasn’t even from the same post. It was just the first photo I posted… in my NEXT, totally unrelated post.
October:
PH is seriously pissed off about the whole NHL lockout thing.
November:
I’m attempting NaNoWriMo this year.
December:
Back in March, I proposed a battle of wits between my baby and my dog.
…Okay, now do yours!
25 Saturday Aug 2012
Posted in My Blag is on the Interwebs
Tags
Blogging, facebook, internet, myspace, pinterest, social good, social media, social networking, tumblr, twitter
Social Media has been blamed for teen depression, poor grades, crime, identity theft, data mining, censorship, divorce, envy, bullying, defamation, anti-semitism, and pretty much everything else.
In fact, if Facebook hadn’t been launched three years too late, I’m sure someone would have linked it to September 11th by now.
But the fact remains that in a few short years, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have become so popular that they even get their own verbs.
Facebook, being the most popular social media company out there, tends to be the social media scapegoat, much the way that McDonald’s is the scapegoat for the fast food industry. They get blamed for everything the most.
Maybe it’s because nearly a billion people use Facebook to some extent and it bothers us that one company owns information on that many human beings.
Maybe it’s because breastfeeding photos are taken down, but holocaust denial groups and pro-anorexia boards thrive.
Maybe it’s because no one is entirely sure they understand their own privacy settings.
Maybe it’s because we want this excellent method of sharing our information with others to be (paradoxically) completely private.
Maybe it’s just that there’s something creepy and Big-Brotherish about Facebook and its ilk.
We are sure that all of this online sharing of information must be bad. Anything this addictive can’t be good.
Social Media is frequently labelled as the the downfall of true human interaction.
Studies have found that teens who use Facebook a lot are much more likely to be depressed, have lower grades, and all sorts of other problems in their lives. We talk a lot about how much social media is changing our world, and we’re pretty sure it’s for the worse.
We have never been more detached from one another, or lonelier. In a world consumed by ever more novel modes of socializing, we have less and less actual society. We live in an accelerating contradiction: the more connected we become, the lonelier we are. We were promised a global village; instead we inhabit the drab cul-de-sacs and endless freeways of a vast suburb of information.” – Stephen Marche, The Atlantic
But I disagree.
I think it could save the world.
19 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Memes, My Blag is on the Interwebs
Tags
Blogging, blogs, first memories, memes, questions, sports, tag, tests, travel, web browsers
I’ve been tagged by Life Starts Now, so the game is afoot!
The rules for playing blog tag are simple:
1- You must post the rules
2- Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post
3- Create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged
4- Tag eleven people with a link to your post
5- Let them know they’ve been tagged
Here are the questions I was given.
31 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in 30 Posts To 30, From The Owlery, Life and Love
Tags
Joining Farewell Stranger’s link-up, here is my year in photographs!
And yes, they’re basically all Owl photos. Because HE was my year. Work stuff isn’t worth photographing.
I’ll be posting the year-in-review meme soon, too. The long and the short of it, though?
09 Friday Dec 2011
Tags
Remember the good old days, when spam used to mindlessly flatter you in order to flog the links and products that it was trying to disseminate?
My spam all used to be stuff like this:
You understand therefore considerably in terms of this matter, made me individually consider it from a lot of various angles. Its like men and women are not interested until it’s one thing to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your individual stuffs great. All the time take care of it up!
And I’d be like “Well, that has absolutely nothing to do with my family history, which is what this post was about, but thanks, random spammer!”
DELETE.
But lately it’s started to change.
Some of the posts were just… more neutral. Like this one:
I found this quote very fitting “Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” — Louis E. Boone
Um… thanks? Are you calling me a coward? HOW SHOULD I INTERPRET THIS, MISTER ENLARGE-YOUR-PENIS?
Some would contain random ass-vice.
I suggest adding a facebook like button for the blog!
Thanks, Miss Elliptical Machine Reviewer, I use what wordpress gives me, but whatever.
Then my spam took a definite downward turn. On PH’s rant on the misogyny of the 1930s, someone replied
Seriously? This post is mediocre in my opinion, just like carrot cake. I know you can do better
And yes, it came complete with the passive aggressive smiley face. I was like “WTF? Carrot cake is awesome and so is PH’s rare but wonderful writing.”
Then this one appeared on my Daycare-makes-my-baby-wear-a-hat-inside post:
In this grand design of things you secure a B- with regard to hard work. Exactly where you actually confused me ended up being on all the specifics….For right now I will subscribe to your point but wish in the foreseeable future you link the dots much better.
What is this, English class?
I give this spam comment a D- in the grand design of things, for general failure at making coherent sentences. The point where he confused me ended up being ALL THE SPECIFICS.
And then, AND THEN, this one arrived in my spam box:
This is pointless, why am I even reading it and not enjoying gulrotkake appelsin? I should learn to spend my time better.
Well.
You can’t argue with logic like that.
03 Thursday Nov 2011
Posted in How is Babby Formed?, My Blag is on the Interwebs
Tags
We are a culture of too many cultures.
Canada prides itself on being a “salad bowl” (as opposed to America’s “melting pot”). We don’t strive to assimilate. We believe in leaving each other alone.
And so, there are pockets of Vancouver where people don’t bother to use English signs, and despite the fact that our official languages are English and French, a working knowledge of Korean will get you a lot further if you live in Richmond, BC.
Child rearing is the same.
We all just raise our kids the way we see fit, from the yoga-pants-wearing-stroller-moms, to the Japanese mom I met at the airport whose 10 year old son still slept with her at night – totally normal to the Japanese.
There are certain pressures levelled at us, mostly around the time of birth, from the government. Since we all contribute to a government health plan, and all our medical bills are paid out of that, the government takes an active interest in whether we breastfeed, whether we let our child sleep with blankets, and so on.
They know that a formula fed child is more likely to have ear infections, allergies, asthma, and so on. In other words, they know that a formula fed child will cost them more money. So they push breastfeeding pretty heavily, from the forms you have to sign acknowledging their lectures, to the massive posters all over the hospitals.
They also know that a baby who sleeps away from his parents is more likely to die of SIDS (and therefore not become a contributing tax payer someday) but that a child who sleeps WITH his parents may be smothered, so they push the “near-you-but-not-in-bed-with-you” sleeping arrangement.
They give mothers a year (or fathers six months) off of work on unemployment insurance benefits to care for the baby.
They push vaccines.
But none of that seems to have really made much impact on our culture… er, cultures. Some women breastfeed. Most try, at least. But the ones who were pretty sure they wanted to do formula usually do switch to formula shortly after leaving the hospital. Many, like me, discover that co-sleeping is easier and just take care not to smother their baby.
Basically, we go back to doing our own thing.
In a way, this is nice. It’s nice to be able to raise your child the way you want, without much interference.
On the other hand, there’s no cohesive bond. We have no collective set of childrearing rules, so what do you do when someone else’s child starts misbehaving?
I once saw a passing old lady grab a teenage boy by the ear when she spotted him littering. She made him pick it up and take it to the garbage – a total stranger.
Once upon a time, that would have been normal. Everyone disciplines everyone’s children based on a mutually agreed on set of rules. If your kid is out of sight, you can bet that whatever adult is around will continue to enforce standards of politeness and appropriate behaviour.
We don’t have that now.
Now, I don’t know what to do when someone’s kid walks up to me and says something insulting, while the mother smiles indulgently.
Now, I have to worry that someone will let my own kid do the same some day, when I’m not around to stop it.
I want my child learning sign language, and not watching TV. The people across the road, who are awesome, don’t care about their toddler watching TV and can’t be bothered with sign language.
Neither of us are right, or wrong.
But it can make conversation awkward.
We are all raising our children in Canada, but what culture are they being raised in?
Do we even have one?
Do you have something to say about motherhood in your country? Join the World Moms Blog Link Up, this Nov 2-4!
25 Thursday Aug 2011
Tags
No, "Angel" is DEFINITELY not on the list
So, I’ve talked about re-nicknaming Babby, since he will soon not be so much a Babby as a toddler, and also because he is developing a personality and deserves to have that acknowledged.
Thanks to all who made suggestions! If you think of others, feel free to toss them out there, but in the meantime, please give your opinion on existing ideas.
I have considered, and tossed away, the following options:
Stubborn (too negative, since he is not so much STUBBORN as… strong willed/opinionated)
Cheerful (positive and mostly true, but will seem weird when I complain about his tantrums during the toddler years or when I post pictures like this)
Screamy McGee (it fits him less every day, although I am sure there will be days, during the terrible twos, when it will fit him to a tee…)
Perfect Son (an appropos suggestion, but possibly damaging emotionally to Babby’s future siblings, and untrue in any case)
% (another suggestion, to which I will not apply adjectives)
Toddy (makes him sound like a night cap)
I am also concerned that it will be confusing to those who think of him as “Babby” to go to a totally different name, so I have considered similar sounding names such as:
Bobby
Billy
Buddy (an actual nickname we use)
However, since these are actual people names, but not HIS name, I am afraid people might think my son’s name actually is Billy or Buddy, and that’s not quite right, either.
Other names still on the table:
Owl or Little Owl (a great suggestion, since my mother calls him this all the time, and he DOES have massive eyes, and he sure doesn’t sleep well at night)
Wol (because “owl” is awkward to say out loud, and because Owl in Winnie The Pooh spells his name Wol)
Willful (a more positive trait name, which I feel fits his personality more)
Goobs/Goobergeiger (a real life nickname of ours, taken from Mission Hill)
What names do you like?
There’s also the problem that I have a mild form of synaesthesia. I am concerned that people will be confused if I go to a different COLOURED name. For example, “Babby” is a blue word, and his real name is a gold/brown word. I’m afraid that people will be confused if he goes from being blue to being, say, purple or green.
That is a normal concern, right? Am I misleading you all by making you think he is blue or another colour, when he is actually gold/brown?
Should his new name be another blue name, so as not to confuse my readership, or should it fit his real name in colour, thus aligning his nickname with reality better?
So, if it affects your judgement, Buddy/Bobby/Billy are more or less the same colour as Babby (because b is blue, you see). Owl and Willful are similar in colour to his ACTUAL name.
Just in case it matters to you.
It might.
07 Tuesday Jun 2011
Posted in My Blag is on the Interwebs
Yes, they got in touch with me.
Just in the nick of time, too. We had finished at the Maritime Museum (where I had a great time with my niece and nephew – I’ve seen their exhibits many times, but the new tribute to being gay at sea was a lot of fun) and PH was on the verge of reluctantly abandoning me on the waterfront so he could get to Dartmouth in time for his nephews’ track and field events. But they messaged and said they were headed to the Economy Shoe Shop, so he dropped me off on Argyle St instead, making me promise to not let the internet strangers steal my kidneys.
I hung out there with Babby while a variety of scenarios played out in my head. They were going to change their minds at the last moment and decide to go to a restaurant on Quinpool or somewhere instead, and I would have a really long hike or would have to figure out the bus schedule. Or they would change restaurants and not even tell me.
OR, I decided, they would show up, but afterwards inform me that they were all going to Peggy’s Cove. I wouldn’t be able to come along because I didn’t have the car and car seat, and so would be left wandering disconsolately around the city with Babby in tow until my husband returned from Dartmouth at the end of the day.
Meanwhile Babby got fussy so I sat on a flower box and nursed him. Now, I have long since resigned myself to strangers seeing my boobas. I used to have a little nursing canopy for more public situations, but Babby now thinks that that is a great game of peekaboo, and any covering gets whipped off immediately. If there is one thing more awkward than showing everyone your booba, it’s desperately trying to cover your boobas but failing miserably. So I just haul ’em out without shame, because then at least I retain a semblance of dignity.
However, nursing on a public street while a hobo shuffled by periodically and commented on my baby’s big brains was a new experience.
Then they arrived – I recognized The Urban Cowgirl right away, because she posts pictures of herself in a variety of outfits, and I was quickly introduced to blondevixen, CO, So Dramatic, Too So Much Alex, AllieLG, MomofTwo, ATXGirl (aka The Squeaker), Darleya, and Sakura (who has published a REAL book and everything!). Of course, I knew OF them all from the Dooce Community, and had read their blogs, even, but meeting them in person is a strange feeling.
We had a fun lunch at the Shoe Shop and then walked around Barrington St and Privateer’s Wharf. We missed Curiosity, so we brought her image with us!
at four thirty PH found me and after a round of hellos and goodbyes we packed Babby into the car and went home. Babby, who had not slept since 10 that morning, was so worked up that he babbled to us for a while (no doubt regaling his Daddy with tales about his day with the DoCo ladies) and showed no signs of settling down until he finally conked out after a hearty round of Old MacDonald.
It was a good day. And I got to keep my kidneys and everything!
06 Friday May 2011
Posted in My Blag is on the Interwebs
Tags
I got my IUD yesterday. A good friend picked me up, took me in, and held Babby in the waiting room while I laid on my back with no bottoms on under a paper sheet and suffered flashbacks of eight months ago.
It’s funny, you’d think giving birth and such would make me be all like “Pah, nothing down there can ever bother me again” BUT NO. I feel like the birth happened to someone else, and I’m still me, still uncomfortable with people sticking things up my hoo-ha.
The actual insertion was fine. Uncomfortable, very, and a surprising amount of blood was spilled in the process, but uneventful. Dr. Gooch told me to come back in two months, and suggested I use an alternate form of birth control “just in case” for the first month. Why?? I thought I would be rewarded for suffering through this by never thinking about such things ever again!
I had cramping the rest of yesterday and into this morning, and I was uncomfortable but it still wasn’t as bad as, say, labour. So I ate the chocolate PH brought me and curled up on the couch and suffered through it.
Anyway, the other thing I wanted to say was:
As much as I love blogging for NO MONEY, and as committed as I am to not becoming a corporate schill (I guarantee you that I will never take money to put up ads on this site, and that if I ever review something, it’s because I wanted to, not just because I was offered free stuff or money. I will also make it very, very clear if I ever am given compensations for any kind of marketing, not that I think I am likely to do that.) I have no money. I would really, really like to change this.
I have dreams of someday someone paying me tons to sit at home and write, and not having to put Babby in care. Right now, I’m thrilled to get paid any amount of money for anything I write. The BlogHer syndication post was a dream come true for that reason.
But this Good Blogs site pays bloggers whose posts get voted onto their front page!
I made a post. If y’all wanted to visit it, and click the “it’s good!” button, that would be cool, y’all. It basically revisits and then updates on the whole IUD situation.
Please click through and vote. Babby needs new socks.
FEET. I has dem.
No, seriously, he does. Think of those poor sockless baby feet and visit my off-blog post!
Thank you. I Love you. If any of you join, I’ll vote on your posts too, promise.
