Singular Scene

So Singular in Each Particular

Tweet Tweetly Tweet (Name That Song)

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So, Twitter?  What’s the big fuss about???

I hear you blogosphere… I asked myself the same question in the early stages of owning a Twitter account… Can I just say, that was in Feb 07?  I’ve had an account that long making me a bit of an early-ish adopter maybe… but not early appreciator… (tis a werd?) I actually really only started using it properly this month.

So, what is it? 

Twitter is micro-blogging tool for keeping up with people in real-time. It’s based on the simple question "What are you doing now?" and it works like this.

  • I create a Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com
  • I invite friends to follow me on Twitter
  • I choose people to follow on Twitter
  • Whenever the spirit moves me, I tell Twitter what I’m doing, thinking etc in 140 characters or less and Twitter tells all my followers.
  • Whenever the people I’m following update with a new ‘Tweet’ I get the message in any of my chosen tools for keeping up to date (more about that further down the page).

Twitter can inform for me in a gazillion ways.  It can SMS my posse with my my update (depends on how they’ve got Twitter set up) and I can get SMS from any of my posse.  I haven’t got into this side of it because I can’t figure out if it costs me money…

It can be added into my Facebook account and be used to look after my status updates.  THIS is the primary reason I started getting in to Twitter.  I LOVE Facebook status updates – and being able to update Facebook, without being IN Facebook seemed a very good idea… especially as Facebook is blocked at work for most of the day…

Having Twitter meant that I could update the blog with status updates!  Whee… little tiny bits of ‘what am I doing’ at Singular Scene without having to make a new post.  I know… a little bit tragic… but fun nonetheless… the technique of doing this involves getting the ‘add twitter to your website’ code from my twitter account and pasting it into my blog templates.  It also required a bit of css coding to make it look like the rest of the blog… I’ll post more on that over at the Web Princess Blog… (remind me to tell you about the Web Princess Blog…)

I also have a Firefox add-in (seriously, get Firefox) called TwitterFox that sits in the status bar at the bottom of my browser which keeps a counter of current Tweets I can check out at any time and on which I can click to add a Tweet of my own and given that, when you know how much time I spend in front of my computer you’ll understand why I don’t really need to update Twitter from my phone…

Basically, it’s another form of blogging that’s a bit less word intensive and a bit more immediate.  It has proven useful for one particular man as it helped keep him out of an Egyptian jail! recently.  The rest of the time it keeps your friends and relations up to date with the inanities and enormities of your existence with very little effort required on your part.

And on that point alone it could be a curse or a blessing… So tell me, do you Twitter?

Ecumental

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What happens when an Anglican, an Orthodox, a Baptist and a Pentecostal all sit down for lunch? Almost 3 hours of conversation and laughter!!!

Ba-dum Tish!

Ian, Yay, Semele and I, met up for a somewhat annual Anzac Day (ish) wibmeet at the Wok Bar today.

It really is lovely to sit at a restaurant on the deck with the sea breeze keeping the air fresh on such a lovely autumn afternoon, even lovelier to do so in such good company! No shortage of things to talk about and at least one outlandish topic of conversation, this pretty normal for us. This time around it was the suggestion of a new ministry, an Orthodox/Pentecostal fellowship headed up by Ian, I think I’ll be called in for Pentecostalising such a congregation… could be fun…

We finished of our lunch (3 pad thais – pads thai? and a Vietnamese beef salad – followed by fried icecream for 2 and death by chocolate and warm iced chocolate for others) with fortune cookies… I believe the others will post the contents of theirs… mine was … “Be on alert for a new opportunity” It sounds very like a prophecy I had once (oops, that Pentecostalism just slipped out… ) I’ll let you know if anything comes of it!!

All in all it’s been a fabulous week/weekend with one thing and another… still, I’m looking forward to the day off tomorrow and a the chance to relax a little… it’s been full speed ahead for quite some time!

To Cap and Gown it all Off…

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Heark back if you will to January 2006.  I put to the blogosphere the prospect of my going back to do a couple of years of part-time study in order to upgrade my Adv Dip in Christian Ministry to a Bachelor of Theology.  Today marked the end of that particular journey.  Man, 2 years never went so fast…

I’m  pretty satisfied with my results, 2 credits, 4 distinctions and 2 high distinctions with an average of 80%, and I’m really pleased to have achieved the work required and say I’ve done my degree but I have to confess I thought I’d be more excited…

 

thegraduate.jpgOk, maybe I look pretty excited… 

I can’t put my finger on it… but I can see myself sitting in the Grand Hall of The University of Sydney today surrounded by gorgeous sandstone and stained glass wearing the traditional garb alongside my fellow graduands listening to soaring organ music and a beautiful choir and it all just seemed a bit daft really… a case of people taking themselves waaaay too seriously.  I mean, have you really looked at the guys up on the podium?  Don’t they make you want to laugh out loud?  Or wouldn’t it be really funny to deflate a whooppee cushion at a really quiet moment just to make the place giggle (after the collective gasp of horror…)!?

The Grand Hall, University of Sydney

Maybe I’m just too egalitarian to think that a degree puts one person ahead of another…  Maybe I’m less interested in the outcome than the process of learning… and maybe my ambivalence is making you wonder why I bothered in the first place.

I bothered at all because a) because I could, b) because if I didn’t I would have gone out of my tree LONG ago out of sheer boredom, c) because having now got a degree I’m eligible to pass on some that knowledge to others as a tutor and d) because I can go on to further study in some other areas I’m interested in, and maybe even at such exalted palaces as The University of Sydney rather than a Divinity College.

I’m under a bit of pressure from PIA to do my Masters.  I scoff at the prospect most of the time but I’m actually not opposed to the idea… however, should I actually decide to do it…  I won’t be doing Theological Study – I’ve given God enough grief…

…and I don’t want to push him over the edge to a heart attack…

 

Out of The Office

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It’s the biggest week of my working year… sorry… blog posting likely to be limited this week (yeah, I hear you… sorry, last week wasn’t much better… call it the run up to the biggest week of the year…).

Have a great week.  See you after 1.  Conference. 2. Anzac Day. 3. Graduation. 4. Wibmeet. 5. All of the above…