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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It’s Monday the 13th.  Which has no scary significance, except that it is housed in October, and everything is sort of scary in October.

I used to love horror films.  Not just the good ones.  I saw the first 6 Children of the Corn films.  (Yes, there were more than 6.)  The Nightmare on Elm Streets.  The Friday the Thirteenths.  Poltergeist.  Blair Witch Project.  And horror books: everything Stephen King.

And then one day, the world started looking too scary, and I couldn’t understand the point in trying to scare myself when there were so many real things to be scared of in the here and now.  And I never saw another horror film.  Though I have a soft spot in my heart for vampires and haunted houses.

Horror films for you: yay or nay?

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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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After disgusting my children by saying on three separate occasions that I have a burning crush on Peter Capaldi, the ChickieNob informed me that I wasn’t allowed to have a crush on an actor.  That in getting married to Daddy, I checked my ability to visually appreciate other humans at the door.  So… could I leave the crushes for the young’uns?

I informed her that celebrity crushes are totally okay because (1) there is zero chance of ever even meeting Peter Capaldi and (2) because I wanted to have a celebrity crush so I needed to tell her it was okay in order to have one.

Plus, he’s totally cute.

The ChickieNob was not convinced and asked me to stop saying it before every episode because it made her feel bored to keep hearing me say it. (“We know!  You have a crush!”)  But I can say it here, and she can’t stop me: I have a crush on Peter Capaldi!

Who is your celebrity crush?

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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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Gizmodo had an article about an Occulus-Rift-like contraption created by Marriott that turned virtuality into a 4D experience.  It’s not just seeing images in front of you: you’re inside a teleporter-like device that pipes in smells, wind, vibrations, etc.  The one-minute trip currently takes you to a beach and then London.

Of course I love to go to actual, physical spaces and explore them on my own, but there are many places that I know I will never get to in this lifetime, mostly due to physical limitations, fear, or fantasy: top of Everest, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, Antarctica, Hogwarts, the Shire.  A machine like this would be perfect to simulate being there without actually having to go there or when you can’t actually go there.

Can you imagine a library-like space in the future where you could go and strap a machine on your head and order up any place you wish?  I’d go to places I’ve never been to and revisit places I’ve been.  It would be like being inside Google street view.  But anywhere.  And feel as if you’re there.

Where would you want to virtually go?

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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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I am reading Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, and I have to read it slowly because it sort of hurts my heart.  I want it to be true.  I want there to really be a magic college called Brakebills.  And I want to go to Brakebills.  And I want to meet Quentin.  And I just really really really want to be there so badly that sometimes I need to put the book down and curl up in a ball and wish instead of read.

The last time I felt this way was with Harry Potter.  And before that, Life of Pi. (I didn’t actually care if the rest of the book came true, but I desperately wanted to see the island with the meerkats, and it hurt my heart to not be able to go to the island of the meerkats.)

So what good book have you read lately?  Something so good that it affected your whole mood?

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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.

So I’m obviously a complete and utter liar since I said that I would never remind you about #MicroblogMondays again, but really, if you want to blame someone, blame Loribeth because she is the one who sent me this brilliant article.

If you’re not going to click over and read it, it basically says that people who write, even a small amount, reap health benefits.

No matter the quality of your prose, the act of writing itself leads to strong physical and mental health benefits, like long-term improvements in mood, stress levels and depressive symptoms. In a 2005 study on the emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, researchers found that just 15 to 20 minutes of writing three to five times over the course of the four-month study was enough to make a difference.

I am guessing when they talk about writing for 15 minutes, they do not mean throwing out flippant Facebook status updates.  They’re talking about a blog post.  Even a microblog post.

One study found that blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to the effect from running or listening to music.

So… yeah… it matters to me that you do this.  Not just because I’m a selfish bastard who now looks forward to Mondays because I know I have a solid block of posts to read (vs. the weekends when my feed reader is bare, bare, bare).  I want you to do this because it could impact your overall health and emotional well-being.

Writing could very well save your life.

Tomorrow marks the fourth #MicroblogMonday, and hopefully, by now, it is becoming a habit. (Because I swear, one day I will stop writing these reminder posts!)  Thank you for participating and giving us a tiny glimpse into your world. Even if you don’t accomplish another post this week, you at least know that you got up one. And you did it before the week really began.

So at some point between Monday morning and Tuesday morning, post a brief update. It can be as short as 1 word (“blech!”) or as long as 8 sentences.  Actually don’t get hung up on the length. Micro just means small. Anything you’d post on Twitter or Facebook, or an image you’d post on Instagram… that’s all this is.

So… see you tomorrow with your mini post.

And in the meantime, do you feel different emotionally on the days you write vs. the days you don’t write?