April (frozen) Showers

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I don't know about your calendar, but mine says April 6th. I could swear that I even saw a little square on the calendar way back in March that said, "First Day of Spring." This? This was my Monday morning wake-up call.

Schools in the area are on delayed opening schedules (not Cam's - whew!). The White Sox had to cancel opening day festivities (the Cubs - fortunately - are playing in Houston). A snow day in April??

Yes, I realize that I live in the Midwest, but when I left Minnesota and moved "south" I was certain April showers would be liquid, not frozen.

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much - next month we'll be smack dab in the middle of tornado season and I'll posting from my basement while sirens blare ...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunday Stealing

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm all out of secrets! Seriously ... 18 months ... 4 weeks per month ... that's 72 secrets for goodness sakes. No one should have that many damn secrets!

If I can't tell a secret, then I might as well steal, right? It's Sunday after all. At some point in my internet surfing, I found this blog titled Sunday Stealing. I hoped that some day it would come in handy, and today it did! They write:

Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim's post. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme's best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let's go!

What the hell! Until I can find something better to do with my Sundays, this will have to do ...

~*~*~*~*~

1. How did you come up with your blog title OR what does it mean?

Ha! Well, having a catchy title was really important to me. In fact, I was far more concerned with thinking up a catchy title than I was with what I was going to write. I've always been a fan of phrases with double meanings and "A mid-life crisis" came to mind. I could change that up a little to "Amid Life's Crises" And so it was born.

I'll always remember how proud I was of my creativity and how that came crashing down when my dear friend Tali said, "You misspelled 'crisis'." The fact that I had to explain I was using the plural form kind of deflated my glorious moment of creative genius!

2. What are your general goals for blogging?

I never really had any, which is quite clear after reading just a few posts. I'd say my "informal" goal is to create respectful discussion by bringing to light some common - and some uncommon - ideas, experiences and opinions to a public forum.

3. Do people “in your real life” know that you blog and do they comment on your blog OR is it largely anonymous?

When I started blogging, there was just one person I "knew" (had met in person) who read my blog. Since that time, I've met - in person - a handful of people who read my blog, but it is still largely an anonymous blog.

4. How often do you post (x per week)? How often do you read other blogs (x per week)?

I try to post 6 days per week. I read other blogs daily. My reader currently has about 75 blogs - many that post daily.

5. How do you select blogs to read (do you prefer blogs that focus on certain topics or do you choose by tone or…?)

I get most of my new blog reads through commentors and from reading other blogs. I really like that new Blogger widget that publishes a list of blogs with their most recent posts? I've found many good reads that way.

I don't really have topic requirements. I read everything from Stuff Christians Like (a wonderful, satirical, Christ following blogger) to The Seduction of Infidelity. The tone - the writing style - those things are far more important to me.

6. Do you have any plans to copy your blog entries in any other format, or do you think that one day, you’ll just delete it all?

I haven't thought much about this. I know that there are services out there that print and bind blogs, but I can't imagine there would be anyone interested in a legacy copy of this blog. Deleting the entire thing seems a bit harsh. Maybe I'd be better off just putting the entire thing in draft mode? Who knows ...

7. What are the things you like best about blogging?

By far, the single thing I like best about blogging is the relationships that develop. I have met some really amazing people that I would have never met had I not been for this silly little writing forum. I learn far more from all of you than I learn about myself through introspection.

8. What are the things you don’t like about blogging?

There are a few. One of them I recently addressed here.

Sometimes I feel an "obligation" to post - and to post worthy content. That is certainly a self-imposed sense of obligation and not something that I think is expected by any of you, but it can be a stressor if I let it.

The other one I find annoying is bloggers that promote their blogs all over the place - that ask me to promote their blog - and then just quit blogging. I'm all for helping out another blogger, but when you ask me to do that, then two months later drop off the face of the earth? You're on my shit list.

9. How do you handle comments?

I answer them, with the exception of HNT's and one particular commentor who is now on DELETE status. I am sometimes amiss in answering comments that happen later in the day - most of my blog time is before dinner time, so often comments left later in the day don't get answered.

10. Do you have any burning thoughts to share on blog etiquette?

I have some pet-peeves about blogs - some things that will keep me from visiting very often. If the blog is VISUALLY difficult to read, I'll stop visiting. For example, blog templates where the background scrolls or colors/patterns that make deciphering words a struggle. Music that plays the moment I open the blog in my browser will keep me away too. I appreciate that you are a music aficionado, but I come to your blog to read, not to listen to your music (unless I'm sitting on the Big Leather Couch)

11. Any desired blog features?

I'd love to have the ability to block trolls, stalkers and spammers blog readers by IP address and or user name. Yes, WordPress allows me to block commentors by those criteria, but I'd like to be able to block access - not just comments. I understand that this can be done if one moves off the Blogger/WordPress platforms, but honestly the whole "having your own domain and finding a host for the blog" (not even sure I'm using the correct terminology) thing is BEYOND me and I think cost prohibitive to have someone do it for me. Maybe if I were blogging for business I'd go that route, but I think it's a bit over the top in my case.

12. Have you suffered blog addiction?

I've suffered internet addiction. I spend a lot of time in the virtual world and I have to work fairly diligently at keeping it in check and balanced with "real life" responsibilities.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm all a-Twitter

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was just over a week ago that I was denouncing that social Mecca known as Twitter. I praised those commentors who used words like narcissistic and self-absorbed, and mocked Jay and Karen for their participation in such a silly thing, calling them Twitterphiles and Twutzs. Then, I challenged myself to a week of Twitter – without reserve – without judgment. That, my dear readers, was the beginning of the end.

Sure, I was skeptical. I imagined (because I had nothing but my imagination to rely on) that Twitter was nothing more than self-touting, self-centered bits of nonsense scattered randomly throughout the day. I wondered how two seemingly normal readers (Jay and Karen – I’m not so sure about the rest of you) could possibly get caught up in such foolishness. I mean, I read their blogs and see none of the classic narcissistic traits. What could they possibly see in Twitter?

I logged on and started my quest for enlightenment. I un-followed anyone I didn’t know (I had reciprocated following anyone who followed me – BIG mistake) and typed with baited apprehension. With only a handful of tweets under my belt, I was unfamiliar with twetiquette (and you all know how I am about good manners). I had to ask Jay what RT and # were – he pointed me to a Twitter wiki *gasp* I used the word cleavage and wondered if I’d earn an adult content label. There was definitely a learning curve.

About three days into the twexperiment, I discovered I was having fun! This wasn’t people talking about themselves, but more like some sort of hybrid IM thing. I could talk to people without having to be there real time. I could get motivational quotes, local news updates and crafting ideas in one place. I could let RLL know that Pioneer Woman was having a KitchenAid Mixer giveaway. I could let Karen know that thoughts and prayers were with her when she was on her way to surgery. Yes … in just seven days I was obsessed hooked.

I am beyond shamed. Not only have I discovered that Twitter – like so many other things in life – is all about what you do with what you are given, but I now must admit – publicly - that I was wr … wr … wro … WRONG! OK! There! I said it! I was W-R-O-N-G … WRONG!

Is it possible that there are tons of narcissistic people out there talking about themselves in 140 characters or less? I’d say it’s not only possible, but highly likely. But you know what? I don’t have to follow those people. I am quite happy with the 35 twits tweets that I am following, and I feel just a bit more intimate with every one of them than I did when they were “just” bloggers.

One thing though … don’t let me write a post badmouthing FaceBook, OK? I really don’t feel like eating my words … again!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~