Category: metablogging

No, not really.

Okay, so I’m not on Twitter. I was kidding with that last post. Ha! The joke was on you.

But more people took me seriously than I expected, so I guess the joke is on me.

The fact that several people took me seriously could mean that:

    a) My faux tweets were convincing.¹
    b) People did not actually read them.
    c) People who Twitter are used to filtering out the sort of decontextualized response that I put up in “reply” to my imaginary friends.

The even bigger joke is that having made this joke, I’ve come terribly close to actually signing up for an account.²

The truth is, though, I really can’t afford another online timesuck. I’ve been so tempted, with various friends seeming to all be playing together off in Twitterland. So I stop by people’s Twitter pages.

Then I feel like I’ve stepped into a cocktail party full of people continuing a variety of conversations that I can’t quite follow. And I can’t even get a drink or find the cheese platter. My head spins around a bit, and then I leave.

Anyhow, my Tweetybird friends, I’m afraid I can’t come out to play with you now. But if I do, I promise that I will take every opportunity to write about ceiling tiles.

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¹ But come on! I talked about cupcakes with exploding olives! I crack myself up!
² But I haven’t.³
³ Or have I?

excuses, excuses (ad nauseam)

Dear Blogosphere,

Please excuse Alejna’s continued absence from posting and visiting and other blog-related activities. She has been recovering from a blechy stomach virus, which has been making her feel really icky since Wednesday night. She has also been tending to a very sick sweet Phoebe, who was hit even harder by the nasty bug. Also to a teething Theo, who thankfully seems not to be overly affected by the virus.

Alejna hopes to return to her regular blog attendance in the next couple of days, and hopes she can be allowed to turn in any missed assignments at that time.

Sincerely,

Alejna’s Largely Neglected Laptop

So much for jumping right back into blogging.

I was feeling really great Wednesday morning, if just starting to deal with the the 3-hour time difference. I took Phoebe late to daycare, ran some errands with Theo, then came home. At which point I noticed that the contractor we’ve been working with installed a different door on our deck than the one we discussed. (Have I mentioned we’ve been dealing with home repais?) Then I tried to do a little work, trying to hold on to my recent productivity, and encountered a big setback in my research. So I turned to the internet for solace, and skimmed through friends’ recent status updates on Facebook. And saw that azahar, who had been told she was clear of any signs of cancer, now has evidence of two new tumors. Fuck.

These various things, combined with jetlag, left me feeling drained, and then queasy with worry for the evening. Or at least I thought it was the anxiety causing the queasiness. The 101 fever seemed a bit much. And then when my anxiety caused Phoebe to start vomiting, I realized that there was probably something else going on, too.

John was up with Phoebe just about all night. Theo was also quite fussy, though that may have just been teething. (His first tooth broke through Thursday night.) Phoebe was sicker than we’ve ever seen her on Thursday, and recovery’s been pretty slow. I’ve had a much milder version of whatever it is, but I haven’t managed to eat normal food until today. It’s been largely impossible for me to get in the sort of calories I need to keep up with Theo’s feeding.

We’re glad this didn’t hit us while we were on the trip. And relieved that John has (at least so far) seemed to have missed it. (I don’t know how single parents manage sometimes.) John has some important work deadlines he’s got to keep working towards, too.

We largely gave up on trying to adjust to the time zone, so we are still on West Coast time. Sleep, whenever we could get it, seemed more important than paying attention to the clocks.

I’m still feeling pretty icky, but am clearly on the mend. Phoebe’s mostly better, but is now afraid both of sleeping in her own bed, and of vomiting. Theo is still teething, and may have a second tooth about to pop through.

I haven’t really managed to get online much, so I’m sorry for my continued neglect. Thanks so much for your comments on my last post, and thanks to anyone else who is still reading for standing by.

I’ll be back for real. Sometime. Soon, I hope.

p.s. The March Just Posts are just around the corner, and they need you! Have you read posts this month that moved you or made you think about topics of relating to social justice? Have you written one? There’s still time. For more info, check out the info page.

p.p.s. Just to add to my general crankiness, I am informed that my post title contained a spelling error, so I have fixed it.

away

Hey, friends-

So, I may not have mentioned it, but I’m not at home now. We’re down in Texas (Houston area) for a nephew’s wedding. We flew in Thursday. (And boy are our arms tired. Actually, they are, with all that luggage-lugging and toddler-wrangling and baby-hoisting. My feet are still pretty tired, too.)

If it’s any indication of how busy we’ve been, I started to write the above bit on Friday, and then had to adjust my original statement of “flew in yesterday.” I’ve had about 10 minutes time with my laptop up till now. Right now everyone else is asleep.

The wedding was yesterday, so we got to have cake on Pi Day. (No time to bake a pi pie this year.) I’ll hopefully manage to upload some photos. Photos of the kids, that is. I’m afraid I have no photos of the cake.

It’s been fun to see John’s family, but I find myself thinking that time “alone” with John with “only” two small children feels more like “privacy” than I’d been accustomed to.

Tomorrow we fly off to California to meet my newest nephew, who is almost 2 months old, and I’m terribly excited about that. Well, I’m excited about meeting the nephew, and seeing my family. I wish we could skip the flying off part. (Actually, the plane trip itself wasn’t so bad. It was the wrangling of 3 suitcases, 2 carseats, umbrella stroller, 5 carry-on bags, 1 three-year-old and 1 very large infant that was somewhat more challenging.)

The other bit that’s been keeping me busy, by the way, is work. I’ve had it in my head to make some progress on my research, with the goal of submitting an abstract to a conference. I was using just about every minute that was not dedicated to the care of small children to working on work that I pretty much owe. I made some good progress, but with the trip, it wasn’t looking like I could manage. However, the deadline for the conference was miraculously extended a week, so there’s still a chance I can pull it off. Really, I should be using this unexpected window of time (before the onslaught of family obligations kicks in) to get back to work, but here I am instead.

I’m not sure when I’ll have time to post again, or even to read blogs. And now I hear the wimper of a little person beginning to stir, so I’d best post this before another 2 days pass.

Thinking of you fondly,

Alejna

snowed

After a brief teaser from spring, who popped by for a couple of days with her sunny disposition and temperatures warm enough to show a bit of bare ground, prudish winter came back in a rush to cover the ground once more in a thick blanket of snow.¹

The silver lining to those snow-dumping clouds is that I finally got to put Theo in that red snowsuit.

Aside from that, I have lately realized that I’m really behind in my work.

Yes, I know that I’ve known before, but this time the realization has hit me hard. Like a snowball. A packed, icy snowball, that hits me in the face, and knocks me down into a snowbank where I flail awkwardly trying to get myself up, as snow-laden tree branches drop their load on top of me with a whump, getting snow in under my jacket collar.

I’m feeling, as it were, snowed under. Until I manage to dig myself out, I should be spending less time, you know, blogging.

So, once again, I apologize for the general absence of comments, and responses to comments. I’m still reading, but have such limited time with the ability to type.²

And once more, to distract you, I offer you gratuitous baby photos.

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¹ Our driveway this year has been variously covered in blankets of snow and sheets of ice. I think at some point there may also have been a mattress pad of slush, topped by an eiderdown of freezing rain.

² Because my hands are numb from playing in the snow without gloves. Or something like that.

red britches

red_pants-250px1This was a post that I meant to write and post on Sunday. See how the post title from Saturday was “red bridges”?¹

The pants in the photo are from a snow suit I got for Theo at a second hand store for a few dollars. I quite like the festive suit, with its bright red fabric and traditional Chinese design, but we haven’t managed to get any use out of it yet.

Sunday was a special Chinese New Year’s event at the Boston Children’s museum, and John and I had talked about going. So I thought “hey, Theo can wear the snowsuit!” Of course, plans change. For a start, John was too busy with work to go. And then it was surprisingly warm, with temperatures in the low 50s after a long cold spell, so the snowsuit was out.

The museum website had a few items listed for the Chinese New Year day, including some plays and some concerts. There was even mention of a Lion Dance. Phoebe has a book about the Lion Dance, which was a favorite for a while. She loves music. She was going to love the day.

Getting ready to go was rough, though. Somehow amongst feeding Theo, getting breakfast for Phoebe and me, finding clothing for the 3 of us, diaper changes, trips to the potty, brushing hair, and packing up all the snacks, lunch, and whatnots we’d be needing for the day, the morning just evaporated. It was a bit past noon by the time we were ready to get in the car.

The last concert scheduled was for 1:30, and I wasn’t sure we could make it. But somehow we did. Phoebe and I ate our lunch in the car. We met up with my friend Erica (who happily was able to join us), parked at the garage, walked the couple of blocks over, checked in, and made it into the theater before the concert began.

I felt mildly victorious.

Of course, I didn’t get to see the whole thing, even though it was only a half hour long. We probably saw 15 or 20 minutes of it before Phoebe suddenly needed to use the potty. By the time we made it back, the concert was done. Then we missed the Lion Dance. There was a flyer given out with the schedule and so forth, but we hadn’t been given one, and didn’t find one till later. At which point we saw other goings on that we missed, too.

In all, we had a fine time, but it was rather a bust in terms of Chinese New Year activities.

When I got home, I thought I could write a little post about the day, and my various failed plans. But that plan failed, too. I don’t even remember what happened to the evening. It might have been one of the recent nights when I’ve fallen asleep in my clothes while putting Theo to bed.

Then I was going to post Monday, but the day evaporated again, and it was time to put together the Just Posts post, a new commitment I’ve taken on.

This is a common pattern in my life right now. I have grand plans for things I want to do, but time barrels forward in a blur of feedings and eating and diaper changes and trips to the potty. In trying to get little people to sleep, and big people to wake up. Work meetings. Doctor’s appointments. Home repairs. And somehow I’m always behind. Out of clean clothes, missing bill due dates and car inspections. Still needing to put away the Christmas tree ornaments. I often feel like I have little control, that I’m just bounced around from one obligation to the next. I get frustrated at the lack of time I have to myself, to do with as I wish.

But then again, I realize how good I have it. I may feel like I have no control over my time and my life, but I am here in this life by choice, and by good fortune. My days are full because my life is full.

But I’m a bit sorry I haven’t managed to get Theo into the damn snowsuit.

red_snowsuit

¹ Playing with post titles is one of the ways that I amuse myself. (cf. look who’s stalking and look whose stocking, putting my money where my mouth is vs. putting my money where my mouse is, pigeon post vs pidgin post, and grrrr vs. brrrr)

January Just Posts

jpbuttonjan2009Welcome to the newest incarnation of the Just Posts, a monthly roundtable of posts about social justice started 2 years ago by jen of One Plus Two and Mad of Under the Mad Hat.

This is the debut of the Just Posts in their two new venues, here and over with my co-hostess, Holly at Cold Spaghetti.

We are very pleased to share with you a bounty of posts by people who have in common the desire to see the world become a better place.

Writing about causes that we care about is more than “just words.” The act of writing helps us put our thoughts together, and helps us connect to others. In many cases, the writing then moves us on to further action.

I know that my own participation with the Just Posts has moved me to take actions in my personal life. I buy more local and sustainably grown produce, and more fair trade choclate. I have cancelled catalogs and junk mail. I have donated money and signed petitions. Bought more used clothing items, given gifts that benefit worthy organizations, and stepped back a bit from the consumerist frenzy that constantly beckons. Most of these are small actions, when taken individually. But they are moves in the right direction.

In the months that come, I hope to explore issues of social justice in my own writing, with emphasis on finding ways that I can do more, and make more of a difference. One of my big personal goals is to find a way to do volunteer work that I can fit in with my (seemingly already overloaded) personal and professional life, and I hope to share my progress in that goal.

Now I’d like to direct your attention to the amazing list of posts below.

I would like to encourage you to pay a visit to as many of the folks below as you can. A simple click or two on your part can help motivate a blogger to write and do more. Please consider leaving a comment at a post or two, even if it is only to say “thank you.”

I would like to say “thank you” as well. First, to Mad and Jen for their work and inspiration with the Just Posts these past 2 years, as well as to Su and Hel who helped them along the way. Thank you to Holly for sharing this new endeavor with me. Thank you to all of you who have written the posts below, or nominated them. And I would especially like to thank you, for stopping by here, and clicking on some links below. Click away!

The January Just Posts Roundup:

Some of the January Just Post readers:

Please stop by to see what Holly has to say, too.

gather round the table

I’m pleased as punch that Holly and I will be hosting the ongoing Just Posts roundtable, an affair passed on to us by hostesses extraordinaire jen, Mad and Su.
canterbury tales roundtable
Our first gathering is coming up on Tuesday, February 10th, and you are invited. We’ll be serving up posts from around the blogosphere on topics of social justice and activism, and raise our glasses to the cause of making the world a better place.

We’d love to have you join us at the table. Help us offer a scrumptious menu by nominating posts from January that you have read (or written) by this Saturday, and then come back on Tuesday to partake of the feast.

For details on how and what, please check out the appetizing new Just Posts info page.

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Round table woodcut image is from “William Caxton’s second edition of the Canterbury Tales printed in 1483.”

right from the start

I have given in to the urge to put together a sort of 2008 blog recap. Following in the footsteps of Mad, Magpie, Bea and Holly, I present to you the opening sentence of each first post of the month. (Or in some cases, a sentence fragment. Because I like sentence fragments.) (And I’ve also put the post title.)(In parentheses.)(Because I like parentheses.)

What this excercise has demonstrated to me is that my posts tend to lack interesting beginnings. I’d like to say that I’ll work on getting more interesting “hooks” for my posts. However, if I were to agonize about the beginnings of my posts, I would likely collapse in a heap of debilitating self-awareness.

On the other hand, I could try starting with the right opening sentences, and then work my way from there. What my openers above clearly lack, aside from elements that might intrigue a reader, is pants.

I offer to you an alternate universe list of post openers:


    January: The moment I walked in the room, I realized that I had worn entirely the wrong pair of pants.

    February: Hell hath no fury like a woman pantsed.

    March: You would not believe the number of people who have been trying to get into my pants this week.

    April: Today I invented a novel way of wearing pants.

    May: You can tell a lot about people from their body language, or from going through the contents of their pants pockets.

    June: I can’t remember where I left my pants last night.

    July: Shakespeare knew a thing or two about writing, but from what I’ve heard, he was a bit lacking in the pants department.

    August: My love of pants may finally have gotten me in trouble with the law.

    September: Last night I found a mysterious message, a poetic missive written in an elegant hand, stuck to the seat of my pants.

    October: On beautiful Fall days like this, I sometimes gaze out the window at the leaves falling gracefully from the trees and the pants falling clumsily from the waistlines of the passersby.

    November: I’ve signed on for NaPaWriMo (National Pants Writing Month) this year, which means that every day for this whole month, I’ll be joining the ranks of those who can’t help but write about pants.

    December: Today turned out to be an unfortunate day to go outside without my pants.

NaBloPoMoPoMo

A certified spoon-free post! (Well, except for that use of the word spoon. Oh, and that last one, too. Ah, to hell with it. Spoon, spoon, spooooooooons!)

I made it through my second NaBloPoMo, having posted 30 times in the month of November. This here is my National Blog Posting Month Post Mortem. You know, the NaBloPoMoPoMo.

Last year vs. this year:
I have to say that it wasn’t a very satisfying experience this time around.

Last year, I followed Magpie over, and dove in enthusiastically. I really took advantage of the social networking aspects of the NaBloPoMo Ning website. I joined several groups, and created a few of my own. I’m most proud of the Ministry of Silly Blogs, for which I even started a new blog. There are a good dozen or so bloggers who I met last year through NaBloPoMo, and whose blogs I still read regularly, many of whom I now consider friends (see appendix).

This year, I didn’t manage to engage in the social networking. I had meant to revive the Ministry of Silly Blogs (I still hope to at some point), and to start a couple other groups. But alas, I didn’t have the time.

Really, my time is not my own at this point in my life. With a new baby, a toddler, as well as my job/school commitments, any time I find for blogging is actually borrowed time.

Last night I ended up posting a super-lame placeholder (or a placemat?) of a post, after a long day with my hands otherwise occupied. It seems quite fitting to end with a sputter, considering how things went this month. (I confess that I even had one other uber-lame post where I backdated the time by about 3 seconds. It was still before midnight on my laptop when I hit “publish,” but, well…)

I did at least accomplish the goal of 30 posts in those 30 days. At least some of which were worth posting.

What I posted:
I did 4 ThThTh lists, including a couple that had been rattling around in my head for ages. (Oddly enough, I had the utensils list in mind back when I started my themed lists.)

I enjoyed running away with themes and having more thematic connections between posts. (I had 3 posts relating to cans, 3 with dragons and an another on a Monster, 2 with reflections, and then a staggering 4 posts filled with utensils. Would you believe that I even have a 5th utensil one drafted? Yeah, I guess you’d believe that. But don’t worry, spoons won’t replace pants in my heart.)

I had grandiose plans to offer up a word each day, inspired by my appreciation of the word omphaloskepsis. I kept that up for maybe 5 posts.

I posted quite a few photo posts, some of which I’d been wanting to share but hadn’t gotten around to, and some of which I shared on a whim.

I managed to keep most of my posts brief, which is something I’ve tried to work on. (I’m always amused when people apologize for short posts. I like to read short posts! I need to apologize for this one, which is waaaaay too long…)

The highlights:
I’m going to take up an invitation from Heather of finding atman to list 5 posts I was glad I wrote during this past chaotic month.

  1. 80s pants party! pants-themed 80s songs complete with album cover art with my own pants font. (A Monday Mission.)
  2. Making history: in which I express my excitement on the eve of the US presidential election.
  3. You may have already won! A politically-oriented post in the style of a “congratulations” letter. (Also for a Monday Mission.)
  4. Feeding the Monster: about camping trips and can-collecting with my grandmother.
  5. anatomy lessons: in which I introduce the word penis to my 2-year-old daughter

I also wrote a post called The bittersweetness of pants, in which I talk about my dear friend who died last year. I’m not actually happy with the post, as I can’t really read it, but I needed to write it.

Appendix: NaBloBloggers

Blog(ger)s I met through last year’s NaBloPoMo, and still read regularly:

  1. a daily dose of zen sarcasm
  2. adventures in randomness
  3. Arbitrary Ruminations
  4. Art of Darkness
  5. ashley awesome
  6. BipolarLawyerCook
  7. blogapotamus rex
  8. Citizen of the Month
  9. country girl / city girl
  10. eye heart internet
  11. Fairstar the Funship
  12. Fretting the Small Stuff
  13. greeblemonkey
  14. laboratory tested
  15. riddlebiddle
  16. The Gav Menagerie
  17. wreke havoc

Blog(ger)s I met this NaBloPoMo season:

  1. On the Curb
  2. Donna Likes Orange
  3. Organize to Revitalize

And just to round things out, here are my blogger friends who have been partaking of this year’s NaBloMadness (some of whom also did it last year):

  1. Cold Spaghetti
  2. Mimi on the Breach
  3. finding atman
  4. If you want kin, you must plant kin
  5. The Journey
  6. Life as I Live It
  7. laboratory tested
  8. ashley awesome
  9. wreke havoc
  10. country girl / city girl
  11. a daily dose of zen sarcasm

(If I left you off my list, let me know, and I’ll add you.)