Ooh that Fi, she doesn’t harf ask a lorra questions… Actually, I’m a bit grateful for them… I’m all out if inspiration for posting at the moment (as you’ll have gathered…)
1) How did you hear about blogging, and what made you start blogging?
I came across a map of a town called Wibblethorpe which took me here… and so I discovered blogging and my first foray into it was at the ‘original’ singular scene… Actually, I love the guys there so much I blog at both places!!
2) What keeps you logging, and what is your favourite part about blogging?
Definitely the feedback from readers, and the opportunity to process my day (as is a writer’s wont) and actually have an audience (not that I’m giving them much to read lately)
3) What are your do’s and don’t’s to anyone starting out?
Given Petite’s current predicament it’s a bit obvious…. Don’t blog about work, from work, about workmates… Actually don’t blog anything you wouldn’t be prepared to have your mother or your family read unless you are committed enough to blog completely anonymously… and anonymous blogging isn’t easy…
4) What don’t you like about blogging?
That I could waste SO MUCH time at it if I had my way…
5) Do you aspire to be the next dooce, with thousands of hits a day?
No way… couldn’t afford the bandwidth
Are you happy with your current visitor levels?
Basically yes, actually, I barely check the stats.
Would you like more people to visit?
Sure who wouldn’t but I’d settle for more comments.
6) What things appeal to you when you first visit a blog?
How it looks and how real the writer is.
And what puts you off?
MUSIC …
7) Do you blog at work?
Occasionally, but never about work…
What do you think of people being fired for blogging?
Depends on why they’re fired. If they should have been doing other work related stuff, if they’ve been slagging the boss, if they’ve brought their employer into disrepute I think it’s fair. Having said that I’m blogging from work right now and actually have the guilts about it… there are other more important things to do…
8) Are you content with your blog?
Never, there’s always better designs, more tricks to make it do but never enough time…
Would you like to improve it in any way?
I have a new design up my sleeve and no time to set it up… but that’s about all…
9) Have you met fellow bloggers?
Hello? Have you forgotten coffee at Atomic??? [kidding]. Ah yep. 2 in NZ and about 5 here in Oz
How did it feel to know them, but not really know them!?
It’s a bit awkward to start off… I mean, we’re total strangers with the most peculiar door into their lives, but the walls come down quickly enough I think, I just wish I could do it more often… (do they serve Atomic in Whangarei???)
10) Does your family and friends know that you blog, or is your secret?
Actually, they know about it. I almost wish on some days that I didn’t so I COULD write all my thoughts, but actually, it’s better in the long run isn’t it, if you don’t say everything you feel? and I don’t just mean where blogging is concerned. Truth to tell, we’ve been so slack at keeping up lately the blog is the only way they know I’m not dead!!!
I am WISE – Hurrah!
Well, happily my package arrived in the postbox and I didn’t even have to go collect it from the Post Office… very astute on Chas’ part, I’m not a big fan of delayed gratifaction… that little red card in the box means packages awaiting and a hurried schedule change for The Following Day to get to the PO before it closes and the lunch hour runs out.
I’ve heard much of this book and not read it so I’m thrilled to add it to my collection!!! An inspired choice. The optional extra is the little book about Edinburgh, there are [count them] 4 postcards between its pages… I didn’t have the heart to detatch them so you’ll just have to trust I’m not kidding you! (Chas, Apparently John Knox disappeared somewhere between Ed and Oz… Perhaps he was an apparition, or more divine than was previously thought and has returned to be in glory… or something!!!)
You guys are legends, it’s such a thrill for me to see little posts popping up here and there heralding literary delightfulness popping up all over the world.. I can barely contain my excitement!! And leave a comment if you want to do a Christmas Decoration exchange at the end of the year!!
Oh yeah… better attach the photo…
Baby Sitter? Try Baby Whisperer…
Do you remember the big bad I Said No*? I was thinking about him this week because I took a babysitting job for a friend with 2 kids. A friend who is a sterling bloke but who is a little bit held to ransom by is adorable 2 year old. You know the kind of ransom right? The kind where the real kind of I Said No isn’t actually interpreted as authentic… so the little fella gives maw and paw the run around…
Anyway last week Ah So asked if I still do the sitting on babies thing. Of course I said yes (I’ve got to pay for the trip to the US somehow – Did I tell you about that yet?), nearly made him choke on the price and once he’d got his breath back told him I’d be delighted to mind the little ‘uns.
The reason they picked me over the usual suspects is that the regular sitters are all family members and the big gig for Saturday night was a family one. So, Ah So was worried about the fact that Cue plays up for them and wanted someone slightly familiar who would be able to deal with Cue’s shennaigans…
A little tacker like that calls for the Babysitting Bag.
The Babysitting Bag is a beyootiful big shiny bag filled up with all the sorts of books and games and toys that tantilize the inquiring minds of the under threes. The BB teases and tortures because it is totally out of bounds until Mummy and Daddy have disentangled themselves from the arms of their precious little cling on and gone their way in [relative] peace. The BB is Bribery Central.
Well, I approached the house in anticipation of having all the tricks pulled… the Mummy Daddy don’t leave me trick, the I need a drink/cookie/blanky trick, the I’m scared/’thirsty tricks, the long, precise and convoluted trick of the bedtime usual routine and finally the best trick of all, the screaming at the top of my lungs trick.
And I didn’t get a single one. This was a total no-tears gig.
There was the threat of tears when Mummy and Dad hovered a little too long in the kitchen more worried than I that the fireworks were about to start, and at that point I came very close to the “Scoot now, while he’s distracted speech” carefully screening the exasperation before giving them the boot… and they left the house, and out came the BB and without blinking Cue was one happy camper.
Totally happy… No Tears. Not even one…
It was a trouble free evening. Not even a peep at bed time.
I love that.
And I love it even more that I’m now being touted around their [very nice] neighbourhood that I’m the babysitting equivalent of flavour of the month… and before the week was out I’d picked up a new job for Sunday around the corner and between the Ah So family referrals and the agency I’m laughing all the way to Asheville, NC.
*The Big Bad I Said No was a character in a BBC Kids Show called Stoppit and Tidy UP. It only ran one season and it must have been round ’88 when I was living over there. Narrated by Terry Wogan it was delightful… so delightful I’ve ordered the DVD… I know, tragic…
Favourite Photo Thursday
Well, I do at least have time to upload a photo… This was taken at Camera Club a couple of months ago at the Rozelle Antique markets…
The prospect of Smurfs as antiques is not a little disturbing…