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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We’ve talked about this before, but a recent Buzzfeed article drove it home. The current internet is not like the old internet; not just in temperament (remember when the internet was kind?) but in actual format. We moved from message boards and blogs to social media in ten short years.

“Sure, blogs still exist, but the promise of a scrappy new form of communication, open to anyone has been chewed up and spit out by social media. Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and even Medium have all made the idea of a personal, updated website seem less useful to someone who just wants to post stuff about their life.”

Sigh.

I know life moves on, and it should move on. I don’t expect the internet in 2020 to look exactly like the internet in 2010, but I miss the blogging community of ten years ago. There are still plenty of us writing regularly, so there is always stuff to read. But I miss the blogs that shut down in the last ten years; the writers moving to social media.

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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 post.

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

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I want a Dame, the reusable tampon applicator. I know this isn’t a great use of my money. I am two minutes away from menopause; how many more tampons will I possibly need in this lifetime? And it’s not like you can pass it along to someone else when you’re done. (Here, take my used reusable tampon applicator.)

But I got sucked into the video of how it works, and then Googled it and read reviews. And now I want to become part of the Dame family. I want to smarmily nod at a fellow Dame as she washes out her tampon applicator, like Tesla owners acknowledging each other while they plug in their cars.

I am only half joking.

I mean, I am completely joking about making eye contact with another person washing out their Dame. I am completely serious about wanting a Dame.

Totally gross but beyond that, what do you think?

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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 post.

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

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I only read the headline this week, but apparently breaks on Wednesdays are more recharging than having a three-day weekend. Which we get this week: two days on, Christmas on a Wednesday, and two days back on if your office is open.

But I’m not a fan of the mid-week break. I love it when holidays fall close to a weekend, and feel pretty stressed out when they’re smack in the middle of the week. Even when I’m not hosting, and all I need to do is show up.

What do you think? Do you like having a mid-week Christmas, or do you wish the holiday backed up onto a weekend?

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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 post.

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

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Another thought from Shaun Bythell’s Diary of a Bookseller. (Can you tell I marked up his book?)

On page 294, he tells a story:

In the afternoon a customer spent about an hour wandering around the shop. He finally came to the counter and said, ‘I never buy second-hand books. You don’t know who else has touched them, or where they’ve been.’ Apart from being an irritating thing to say to a second-hand bookseller, who knows whose hands have touched the books in the shop? Doubtless everyone from ministers to murderers. For many that secret history of provenance is a source of excitement which fires their imagination. A friend and I once discussed annotations and marginalia in books. Again, they are a divisive issue. We occasionally have Amazon orders returned because the recipient has discovered notes in a book, scribbled by previous readers, which we had not spotted. To me these things do not detract but are captivating additions – a glimpse into the mind of another person who has read the same book.

While that is a bizarre thing to say to a second-hand book dealer while in his shop (why did the person wander around if they don’t like them?), I’ll admit that I prefer new books, though I also buy used books. I like the idea of recycling and the cost of used books, but I love holding crisp, new books.

Do you like used books?

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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 post.

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

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The Wolvog has been trying to get a sandwich from a new-ish grilled cheese bar in our town, but every time we’ve gone, they’ve been closed. Last week, the timing worked out that we needed dinner, I didn’t have time to cook, and the place was open. He got the grilled cheese sandwich of his dreams.

I jokingly said in the car as we pulled out of the parking lot, “You’re not supposed to meet your heroes.” I meant it in the “I hope you’re not disappointed” sense. (But… do you get it? Because he didn’t… a “hero” is a type of sandwich… Bad joke or terrible joke?) It turns out that he was disappointed. The sandwich was awful.

I met my hero––several times. Norton Juster. The writer who made me want to be a writer. I’ve had tea with him and dinner with him. I’ve hung out after a performance with him and conducted phone interviews with him. I got really really lucky that my hero turned out to be just as awesome as I hoped.

But it could have gone the other way. It could have been a bad interaction. You take your chances when you meet your heroes.

Would you want to meet your hero? Have you met your hero?

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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 post.