Category — Microblog Mondays

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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If you read my blog years ago, you might remember that the twins had outlined several ways a person could die back when they were first learning about death.  Those ways were not eating, not holding your mother’s hand while crossing the street and getting hit by a car, and turning 100.

Um… Microblog Mondays just turned 100, y’all.

But no worries, it’s not dropping over dead.  To ensure that, I already jotted down an idea for the 101st Microblog Monday.  So, yeah, that’s happening next week.  But 100 feels like such a big number.  How did it get so important?  I mean, why did we all declare that 100 would be a milestone, but 97 would not?

The point of Microblog Monday will also remain the same: To stop giving over your best thoughts to other social media outlets and instead record them on your blog, where you’ll be able to re-read them in years to come.

So go do that.  The best way to ensure that Microblog Monday is around 100 posts from now is to participate.  Make the commitment to write one small thing on your blog every Monday for the next 100 weeks.

Are you in?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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A friend is in a place for the next month where it will be difficult to reach her via phone and impossible to reach her to via email (no cellular service), but she can receive letters.  So I dragged out the stationery after she left and started writing.  And discovered I had forgotten how to write letters!

The first two were awful, rambling messes.  The paragraphs didn’t fit together.  I felt embarrassed sending them.

By the third one, I got comfortable using pen and paper again.  All the paragraphs fit together, retelling stories from the weekend.  Letter writing skills refound.

It has been nice to start my day several times a week sitting down and writing her a letter at my desk before turning on the computer.  Part of me wants to continue it even after she comes home.

Do you regularly write letters?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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The ChickieNob and I hauled ourselves over to the hairdresser for our annual haircut.

Every time I go, she tries to sell me on the expensive shampoo they carry at the salon.  I am thinking about getting a t-shirt printed that says, “I use shampoo from the drugstore, and you’ve already expressed your disgust at it during the last visit.”  Though this time she said, “I remember that you think your grey hair is a pretty colour, so I am not going to tell you change that.”

Small victories.

She really does do a great job with the cut, hence why I keep going back to her.  She also gets me in and out of the salon in under 15 minutes (including hair washing).

I dread haircuts because I don’t like strangers touching me. I find things like manicures or haircuts very stressful.  I let her go a little shorter than I wanted just so I wouldn’t have to see her again for a long time.

Do you enjoy getting haircuts (or manicures or other pampering services) or do you also find them a dreaded item on your to-do list?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Today is Independence Day in the US.  Election years push the whole concept of government and political issues and red, white and blue to the foreground, so this Independence Day feels a little less popsicle-y and more a reminder of all the work ahead.

I know it feels overwhelming.  I know things feel broken.  I know it sounds really loud right now.

But to quote Hamilton, “Winning was easy, young man. Governing’s harder.”  And sure, Washington says that in retrospect; the after always feels easier than the moments ahead of you.  Governing is hard work.  We can do it, of course, we’ve been doing it for 241 years since the Declaration of Independence.  But, damn, it is hard.

What are you doing to mark the day if you live in (or are from) the US?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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CNN recently asked me if I was addicted to work.  (I like to think that all headlines that reference the pronoun “you” are speaking solely to me.)  Um… I’m not addicted to work, though I am addicted to staying employed and being paid.

When asked of the general population instead of a specific case, it’s a question rooted in privilege.  Everyone I know who gives extra hours to work are doing so because they feel insecure in their position.  They’ve either been through unemployment and think doing extra work or giving their job extra attention will protect them from a layoff (or, at the very least, it’s the only thing they can control in a situation outside of their hands) or they want to convey how dedicated they are to their work place.  If they could be guaranteed by their employer that they would be retained as long as they did their job well, they would relax and work normal hours.

But no employer makes that guarantee.  And employers benefit from their employees feeling as if they need to go above and beyond for no extra pay.

Sure, there are some who throw themselves into their work to avoid other stressors and many who don’t mind extra hours because they love their position, but I think the vast majority of “addicted to work” employees are more addicted to knowing they have a paycheck coming and they’ve chosen a job they enjoy.

What are your thoughts?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.