Writing Challenge Day 1

5 problems with social media.

1. Trolls. People who enjoy being dicks and hurting people’s feelings or winding them up for no other reason than that they like causing issues and causing harm.

2. Bigots, sexists, racists, etc. People who are absolutely hateful.

3. A lack of ability to convey subtext with things like tone of voice. That can mean that people can hurt each other and get into arguments they wouldn’t otherwise because of misunderstanding.

4. It’s addictive. You can end up browsing any number of social media sites for hours which is usually a waste of time. When it’s a few minutes here and there and talking with friends, it’s helpful, but when you get sucked into the vortex and suddenly it’s been an hour of watching BuzzFeed videos… well, at that point, I’m usually frustrated with myself for all the things I would’ve enjoyed more/found more memorable/been more productive.

5. It can be used by terrorist groups and other people who are generally doing horrible things to people just trying to go about their lives, to formulate plans, recruit more members, etc.

Ramble on

I’ve written my goals for the week and written stuff for the writing challenge I’m involved in with Reb and Em but those didn’t take a whole lot of words and I am going to try to do 600 words a day. I think that’s going to be my goal for the year too--an average of 600 words a day. I should probably make a spreadsheet to track that too so that I don’t have to go searching through my documents at the end of the year to find and open every single month’s spreadsheet to look up the total word count from each month to add it up at the end of the year. I have my January spreadsheet started now which is great.

This weekend was so fun and I just had an amazing time. The trip back was a little annoying because there was a lot of traffic. I don’t know why people can’t manage to drive but it was seriously kind of obnoxious. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just a fender bender here and there but we’re talking about delays that--at least according to Google--ranged from 42 minutes to almost an hour and a half. It’s only supposed to be a four hour trip to begin with! I ended up making it in about five even with stopping for gas and a pee thanks to the rerouting by the GPS. I have a feeling I would’ve been home much, much later and possibly a lot crankier without it.  

I was enjoying my audiobook though. I have to laugh at myself because I have about 375 books I could listen to that I haven’t yet listened to and another chunk that I’ve only listened to once and here I am reading the same series for what I’m pretty sure is the fourth time. Because I’m pretty sure I read the physical copies at some point and only got into the audiobooks later and I’m 99.99999% that this is my third audiobook listen. It’s definitely at least the second as I re-listened to them all early on in 2016. I’m probably not going to get into all the side novellas like the ones about Niles Van Holtz and Irene or Eggie and Darla, just the main ones. I started at the beginning and have now made it to my favorite of the series. At least I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite. There are two others that give it a serious run for its money and it is possible there is a tie, but I think it’s the reigning favorite. It’s technically the sixth book but the first book is really two different stories so I always consider it the 6th in the series. Although, that whole “what number in the series it is” thing isn’t really important.

I’m also thinking I’m going to re-read “A Wrinkle in Time” this year. I haven’t read it, I don’t think, since grade school and the movie looks amazingggggg. There are so many things coming out soon that I seriously can’t wait to see. And so many books I’m going to want to read. Still probably going to finish this 9 book series first. At the very least I’m going to finish five and six and possibly nine. It really love every book in the series, including seven and eight, it’s just that I started listening to these books because I was in need of the comfort of the familiarity and humor and now I’m starting to want to read new stuff again. Or at the very least stuff I haven’t re-read several time, the last time of which was less than a year ago.

Regardless, I think I’m going to be busy this year.

Earache Trouble

I’m watching one of the Hallmark Christmas Movies. Yes, I hear you, Christmas was over a week ago. We’re past New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. But I enjoy these dumb movies and I’m going to go on enjoying these movies for as long as I damn well please thank you very much.

I’m annoyed because my throat is a little sore and my ear is really sore and kind of full feeling which makes me think I may have an ear infection which is worrisome. I do not have the time or energy for that right now. Okay… the real problem is that I don’t want to go to the doctor’s office and I sure as shit don’t want to spend money on the visit or the prescription--assuming there is one and I haven’t gone to the doctor for nothing at all which is honestly a possibility.

I need to do my topic for today and then head to bed. I stayed up way too late last night and I’m on my way to being up too late again tonight.

Writing Challenge Day 2

The topic for the day is writing about my earliest memory. It’s hard for me to be sure exactly what my earliest memory is. I think I remember bits of one of my early birthdays. Two maybe? There was a little old lady and she got me this alphabet-tile standing wooden toy thing? Anyway, I feel like it’s not very clear so I’d rather talk about one of my early memories that I actually remember a little more clearly.

I wasn’t quite three and while I know now that it was almost Christmas, I don’t know if I really understood anything about it at the time. What I do remember is hanging out with friends of the family for a little while before my dad came to get me late at night. Now, it was very dark out but it was also during the longest nights of the year and much farther north than where I am now, so it could’ve been as early as 5 in the evening for all I can say for sure. But I remember being tired and I remember Dad being tired too.

When we got to the hospital, I was given a little gown--kind of like what doctors where in surgery except mine had Mickey Mouse on the front and was, of course, toddler sized. I don’t think I really understood what was happening but I do know I was excited. I was meeting my baby sister for the very first time and it was amazing. I remember the nurse helping me with how to interact with the little newborn. I couldn’t hold her but I could sort of cuddle her a little and that was like, The.Best. I’m so glad I was just old enough to remember the pieces that I do of that night. Had I been much younger, I’m not sure that I would’ve.