Long and Deep Instead of Short and Shallow

Yesterday Tim said something in the midst of our conversation that made me decide to officially join Reddit.  

I signed up and started joining various communities. 

I suspected I was joining too many and would be overwhelmed.

I checked the app a few times during the day and sure enough, I was overwhelmed.  With each community, there are usually new posts and with each post, there are comments, and with each comment, there are often comments on the comment.  

This morning I checked Reddit again and after a few minutes, I decided I would probably quit or greatly reduce my time on there.

Reddit was way too overwhelming for me.

I had already figured that out about TikTok.  

Instagram has been my favorite social media for the last several months, but I greatly cut back from that for personal drama/psychological reasons.  I've gone back on it a few times for very short visits and I end up feeling more on the depressed, anxious, lonely side rather than the happy, excited, comforted, invigorated side.  

I've decided that, for me, personally, I am better off with quantity in terms of the length of the individual content rather than quantity in terms of variety of content.  

Instead of spending  a chunk of time looking at many short videos on TikTok, I'd rather read a book, watch a movie or TV show, listen to a podcast, read a blog post, or watch a medium-to-long video on YouTube.    

Now...this could all backfire if I end up subscribing to too many channels, podcasts, etc...AND if I spend too much time reading comments, then it will end up being as overwhelming and potentially as toxic as social media.  

In terms of toxicity.  I don't think any platform is inherently toxic.  It's really about what you personally pay attention to and how you engage with it.  

One thing I am thinking is that being a follower of someone on social media rather than reading their books, listening to their podcasts, watching their longer videos, etc.... 

Well....

It's kind of like watching a lot of movie and TV trailers instead of the actual movies or TV shows.

Recently, I started following yet another two podcasts.

My four podcasts I'm subscribed to. I'm going to try hard NOT to follow anymore.

I learned about Living Autistically via their YouTube channel which I learned about , weeks ago, via Instagram.

And I actually found Disney Time during my visit to Reddit this morning.

So that's one thing social media IS helpful with—connecting us to longer forms of media.  But I think in most cases, we're too busy scrolling, liking, and commenting to have the time to seek out longer forms of media.

When I first started becoming super-interested in autism, I began compulsively following a lot of autistic accounts on Instagram.  It was too many.  And it's just a lot of little pieces. Little pieces that mesh together into one confusing blob.

I've come to realize I'd rather hear/read/see in-depth stories of a few autistic people than memes and quick images from many autistic people.

And the same goes for my other interests like Disney and politics.

I'd rather read a full editorial in the Washington Post rather than the journalist's quick, witty opinions on Twitter (plus all the comments (zingers) in response to their Tweets and the responses to the responses and....it can go on and on and on and on).  

I got a lot out of various infograms and memes about anti-racism.  But I gained a LOT more by spending close to 14 hours listening to the audio book of Beverly Daniel Tatum's Why Are All the Black Kids Siting Together in the Cafeteria?  

I have enjoyed watching random strangers sing and or dance in viral videos, but watching the wedding dance today in the finale of The Mindy Project was much more meaningful, because these are characters that I've followed for six seasons.  

Also in terms of my own content, I think someone who reads my blog or talks to me one on one is going to know me MUCH more than someone who follows me on Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.  

There have been times that I've become more active on social media FOR the intent of promoting/networking...hoping that people will notice me and then come to my blog or novel. But from what I see from Statcounter and Google Analytics, that very rarely happens.  I don't think it's necessarily that I'm so incredibly not-interesting and not-appealing.  I think it's that people are so busy scrolling and struggling to keep up, it's hard to find the time to look at profiles, click on the links, and then actually read/watch/listen to the content. 

Anyway....

For anyone reading this and up for answering a few questions.  Do you prefer longer or shorter content?  If you use social media a lot, how do you keep from being overwhelmed? Whether it's longer or shorter content, are you like me in that you subscribe/follow too many accounts?  Or are you better at keeping things at a manageable level?

If you’re a content creator who pays attention to analytics or sales, have you found that social media brings you a significant percentage of your traffic?  In terms of consuming content, have you ever found a beloved blog, podcast, video channel, etc. by clicking on a link in a profile or a self-promotion post?  Or have you ever had a situation where you were a fan of someone, started following them on social media, and now know them more for their social media persona than their actual creative work?  

 

 

 

Formal Introductions, Spencer, Found Books, and Matilda Brown

1. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

2. Saw Zac (Charlie Clausen) and Ash (George Mason) formally introduce themselves to each other.

That surprised me a bit.

They've both been on the show at least for the first two months of this season, and I know it's been even longer than that. They weren't new to the town when the season began.  

Summer Bay is a very small town, and they both know the same people.  

I don't think it's impossible for two people to live in the same town, hang out in the same places, know some of the same people; but still not have met. 

I guess it just caught me off guard.  

3. Looked at IMDb.  

Charlie Clausen has been on the show since May 2012. 

George Mason is newer. His first episode was in October 2014. 

4. Thought that Spencer (Andrew J. Morley) was rude.

Andy (Tai Hara) is getting assessed as a fitness instructor. Spencer is standing in as his trainee. 

In front of the assessor (Mark Slater), Spencer corrects Andy when he forgets information and upstages him. He makes Andy look bad.  

I don't think Spencer is purposely trying to make a fool out of Andy. I think he's just so eager to show off. He's not mindful of how his actions might effect others.

I'm not a big fan of Spencer.

He's the one who organized a cancer run in honor of Maddie right after she said she's tired of people talking about her cancer so much. He's also the one who publicly humiliated Maddie about being dumped by Oscar.

As for the cancer run, Maddie didn't get angry at Spencer for that. She wasn't too keen on attending the event at first, but in the end, it did her good.  Still, I think it was insensitive of Spencer to put his energy into the cancer run just after hearing Maddie say she was tired of people focusing too much on that aspect of her life.

5. Started watching an episode of Tangle.  

6. Realized, when watching the recap, that Dan Wylie WAS in the episode yesterday—but only his voice.

He left a phone message.

I'm betting in the episode, I watch today, he'll show his face as well.

7.  Looked up the person who does the musical score for Tangle. 

I'm guessing that would include the theme song in the beginning. Or maybe not?  I'm not sure.

But, anyway. The music person is a woman named Bryony Marks.  

She also does/did the music for Please Like Me, Anzac Girls, Angry Boys, Cloudstreet, Summer Heights High, and other things.  

8. Saw that Bryony Marks music is available on Spotify; though there's no Tangle stuff.  

9. Thought Kat Stewart's character in this show is overly similar to her character in Offspring.

In both shows, she plays the annoying sister who can tell if someone's had sex just by looking at them.  

It's definitely a case of type-casting. Though I think some of Stewart's other characters might be different from that.  

10. Saw that Stewart was in a recent comedy movie called Sucker.  Timothy Spall, from Harry Potter, is one of the stars.  

11. Watched the trailer. It's about a Chinese-Australian man.  

Lawrence Leunig co-wrote the film, and the main character's name is Lawrence. It might be semi-autobiographical.  Or it could be like The Mindy Project.  On that, the main character has the same name as the creator, and main star, of the show. But the real Mindy is an actress/writer, and the pretend Mindy is a ob/gyn.  

12. Looked up a girl who looked familar to me in the trailer.

It's Lily Sullivan, and I saw her in Camp, Mental, and an episode of Rake.

13. Saw a plastic bag in the garage.

I decided to peek inside, and found three Australian books.

One of them was Jaclyn Moriarty's The Spell Book of Listen Taylor.

I searched for that a few months ago, because I wanted to reread it.  

I guess I can do that now!

It will be a slow read, because I'm already reading six other books. 

14. Saw Dan Wylie on Tangle.

His character is dating Kat Stewart.

15. Tried to remember if Wylie and Stewart have acted together in anything before.  

16. Started comparing their filmographies.

It's kind of complicated.  I mean it's not easy for me to cross-reference. I'm not talented at that kind of thing.

17. Saw that Wylie and Stewart were both in the first season of Underbelly.  I think Stewart was one of the stars in that season. Wylie appeared in only two episodes, but then he had a larger role in another season.

18. Saw that they both appeared on the TV show It's a Date but on different episodes.

19. Recognized an actor on Tangle. 

I looked on the episode cast list, and saw that it's Ben Schumann.

I saw him in Slide.  

Dan Wylie appeared in an episode of Slide.  

20. Went to the Tropfest website.

Tonight I'm going to watch a 2010 finalist film called "How God Works".

The woman in the little icon photo looks familiar to me. 

I'll see if I end up knowing her from something else.  

21. Started watching the film. 

22. Continued to think the woman in the film looks familiar.

23. Saw that the movie is about a rude woman—kind of heartless.  She reminds me of Tracy on Coronation Street.  

Tracy has her occasional sympathetic moments.. I don't think this will be the case for the woman in this film. It's probably hard to fit sympathetic moments, for a bitch, in a short film.

24. Wondered if the two women in the film are played by the same actress.

They look alike...sort of. And they both look familar to me.

I might be imagining things.  

 25. Finished watching the film.

I liked the beginning.

I didn't like the ending.

26. Saw that the two women WERE played by the same actress.

Her name is Matilda Brown.  

27. Learned from Lord Wiki that Matilda Brown is the daughter of Bryan Brown.

Wow!

28. Saw that Matilda Brown also wrote and directed "How God Works".  

29. Saw that Brown was in two episodes of season one of Offspring.

Maybe that's why I recognize her.  

30. Saw that Matilda Brown is in an upcoming movie called The Death and Life of Otto Bloom.  

It's about a guy who experiences life in reverse.

Is it going to be similar to the Benjamin Button movie? Will Otto Bloom age backwards?  Or does he stay the same age throughout the movie?

31. Saw that Xavier Samuel is playing Otto Bloom.

I don't see a young or old Otto Bloom in the credits, so I'm guessing Bloom stays the same age through out the movie.

32. Went to Matilda Brown's Vimeo page. 

She has a lot of videos, AND she very recently updated the page. Usually, when I go to Vimeo pages, the youngest videos are about a year old.

33. Started watching Brown's comedy show reel.

She has huge eyes. She's like a computer animation character. 

34. Thought that Brown has a mild resemblance to Alyssa Milano.

35. Liked the monologue, in the show reel, about love.

It's quite profound. The theory behind it is that everything centers on love and heartbreak.

It all comes down to that. Or most of it does.

I can buy into that theory.

36. Started to watch the other show reel that Brown recently uploaded.

I guess it's the non-comedy one.  

37. Saw some comedy.

Maybe the comedy show-reel was just extra stuff that Brown forgot to put in this other showreel.

I say this, because this show reel is over seven minutes, and the other one was two minutes. It seems almost like Brown forgot to put stuff in her show reel, so she made a sequel.  

38. Thought more about the love thing.

Maybe the world is divided up into people who center on love and people who center on sex.

The love people are the ones who usually watch regular TV shows and movies.

The sex people are the ones who prefer to watch porn.   

39. Saw that I'm wrong about the show reels.

The long one includes some of the same scenes as the comedy one.

Now I'm thinking the shorter show reel is probably for people who have a shorter attention span and are looking only for comedy stuff.

40. Realized that, in some of the scenes, Brown has an American accent.

I'm sometimes really slow about noticing that kind of thing. I think it's gotten worse lately.

A week or so ago, I was watching Coronation Street and pointed out this guest-star actress to Tim. I thought her acting seemed a bit off. She reminded me of when non-actor celebrities make guest appearances on TV shows.

Anyway, Tim pointed out immediately that the woman had an American accent. I didn't even notice.

What's up with that??!!

41. Saw a drama scene in the showreel...finally.

It's with Brown's father. He's dead, but still there. Matilda Brown is acting dramatically upset about that.

Well, I mean she's upset that he's dead. She's not upset that he's still there.

I don't know why he's still there.

Maybe she's imagining him? Or is he like a ghost-visitation thing. I've seen that a few times on Australian shows—Packed to the Rafters, Offspring, McLeod's daughters, and maybe others I've forgotten about.  

It makes me wonder if Australians have some kind of genetic disposition for seeing dead people.  

42. Figured it might happen on American shows but just not the ones I watch.

43. Saw that Matilda Brown uploads a show reel every year.

That's pretty cool.

Also, she has the dead father series  (Lessons from the Grave) on Vimeo.

I'm kind of tired of watching stuff now, but I'll bookmark it for another day. 

Maybe I'll watch some of it tomorrow.  

44. Bookmarked the short film "Cockatoo" as well.  I saw some scenes in the show reel, and I thought it was quite funny.

45. Had a meal break and realized I have refreshed my video-watching energy.

I'm going to watch an episode of  Lessons from the Grave episodes.

46. Saw that the dad dies of a heart attack...just after learning he has won the lottery.

47. Thought an actor in the show looks familiar.

48. Surprised by the show.

Bryan Brown's character dies.

Then, in the next scene, he's already a ghost communicating with his daughter.

They don't show the initial conversation between the living and dead.

I'm wondering if she was surprised when he first started talking to her.

Well, I imagine she would be. Stupid question, probably.

I guess what I'm really wondering is if she thinks it's really her dad. Or does she think it's a figment of her imagination?  

49.  Felt unsure of whether I like the show or not.

I'll try some more episodes later.

50. Thought about how I also need to watch the rest of The Justice Lease. I really like that show. I don't know why I haven't gotten around to watching more of it.  

51. Bookmarked The Justice Lease so I remember to watch the rest of it.

I have only two more episodes.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

July 27, November 11, Addictions, and Evan Wylde

1. Felt emotionally and spiritually confused.

Because for my reading-of-an-old-post activity today, I ended up with the July 27, 2011 post titled "Tracey, Michelle, Twitchy, and Rabbits". 

This might be one of the biggest coincidence-destiny stories of my life. 

Well, no. Maybe it's not. I'm not sure.

Anyway, what happened on the day is this. I found a blog post mentioning my blog. It was from a blogger named Twitchy. She found my blog via one of her blogging friends—Michelle. Twitchy went to my blog and looked at some of my photos. There she saw her real-life friend Tracey. 

To add weirdness to the story, there's the way I met Michelle. We met at the Darling Harbour playground the first time my family visited Sydney. We liked each other but felt too shy and awkward to exchange numbers. Then a day or two later, we ran into each other again at a totally different playground. It's like we were destined to meet and become friends.

And I remember on July 27, 2011 I felt that it was all destiny—that something in the universe was wanting these four women to be friends. We were brought together for something magical.

I never became friends with Twitchy. 

I hardly talk to Michelle anymore.

I dream often about Tracey and her family, but we rarely talk.

Am I meant to be lifelong friends with these people? Is our bond so strong that we have that type of friendship where we can not talk for years and still call what we have a friendship?

Are we NOT really friends anymore? Did destiny bring us together but for only a short time?

Are we supposed to be friends? Is that what destiny wanted, but I failed because I'm really bad at the whole friendship thing. I'm pretty good at making friends. I'm horrible at keeping them.  

Or maybe it's just random coincidences; and the universe doesn't give a crap. I actually have a hard time believing that, but other people might like that option.

The other idea is that destiny brought us together but not necessarily for friendship. We might be stepping stones for each other on a path towards something else. 

2. Told myself that it might not even be for me. Maybe it's about Michelle and Tracey. Maybe my whole purpose was to bring them together. Or it could be about Twitchy.

I don't know. 

3. Wanted to say I meant my whole purpose in this particular situation. I don't imagine the purpose of my whole existence was to bring Tracey and Michelle together.

4. Hoped my whole Australia obsession, though, wasn't all for the purpose of bringing Tracey and Michelle together. That would be a bit of a let-down. UNLESS...it was hugely important for Tracey to be led to Michelle. Maybe their kids will get married and the offspring is going to save the world. OR maybe the kid is going to start the pandemic that kills off humanity and saves the planet.  

4. Wanted to add that there are other things with the story.

Like dates. July 27 is significant to me in my personal Australia-obsession weird story.

So then I was thinking what about TODAY'S date.  I knew it wasn't July. I'm not that lost in time.  I look down and see it's November 11, which is very significant in Australia history.

5. Tried to remember what happened on November 11. 

I remember The Dismissal, of course.  I also think it's a remembrance day, but I don't think it's specific to Australia. ???  Some famous Australian music star committed suicide. I'm not sure which one, though. Was it Stevie Plunder? But crap. Now I can't remember what music group he's from. If it's The Whitlams, that's pretty dark.

I feel there's something else, though.

6. Googled. 

7. Saw from Lord Wiki that Stevie Plunder is from The Whitlams, but didn't die on November 11. He died in January.

8. Found an article about Australia and November 11. 

First of all, today is Remembrance Day. Well, sort of. It's Remembrance day in the Northern Hemisphere, at least. For Australia, it's already past.  

Ned Kelly was hanged on November 11, about thirty-eight years before the war, that gave us Remembrance Day, happened. 

Ned Kelly is one of the most famous Australians, and so is Gough Whitlam...

 who had his biggest historical event on November 11. 

9. Learned from the article that November 11 is the day that the infamous Aboriginal Protection Act came into play. 

10. Confused about Burke and Willis stuff.

The article says it was November 11 when a rescue team was sent out to search for the remains of Burke and Willis.

Lord Wiki, though, says November 11 is the day that Burke and Willis first came to Cooper Creek.

11. Looked at the Victoria State Library website. They agree with Lord Wiki. Though they say it was Burke that arrived at Cooper Creek. I'm not sure about Willis. 

12. Continued to wonder about the musician who died on November 11.

Or maybe my imagination made that up.  

13. Saw from this website that Yasser Arafat died on November 11. I don't think he has a strong connection to Australia, but I thought that was interesting.  

14. Saw that Belinda Emmett, an Australian actress died on November 11, 2006. I didn't remember who she was at first, but then it came to me. She died from breast cancer. I think she was married to Rove McManus.

Oh! And I think she was on Neighbours, maybe? 

15. Saw that Belinda Emmett was on Home and Away, not Neighbours. She played Rebecca Fisher. I'm guessing that's Donald's daughter.  

16. Did not find any rock stars on November 11. Maybe I confused the Whitlam thing. The Whitlam music group had tragic deaths, and then, because of their band name, I connected The Dismissal date to it all.  

17. Went to prepare our history lesson for today, and saw that we're on the Crash Course History #11.

#11 on November 11.

18. Figured I will spend the day reading way too much into things.

19. Came across the date November 11, 1807 while looking up something from the video.  

It was some kind of Order (rule) thing from Britain—forbidding trade with the French.  

20. Didn't look at the news this morning like I usually do.

I'm afraid there will be something too awful and/or too weird.

Well, and also I'm kind of behind schedule.

I'll look later.

21. Started to watch an episode of The Secret Life of Us, that aired not on July 27 or November 11 but just plain old January 27.  

22. Saw that Simon (David Tredinnick) might actually have a storyline in this episode. It's about his hair. He's getting it done at the hairstylist place.

23. Gained insight from Kelly (Deborah Mailman). She talks about addictions and wonders if maybe they choose us rather than us choosing them. This made me think about my idea of Australia being on my destiny path rather than me simply choosing to be obsessed with Australia.

But is a passion for something, or someone, an addiction? That's what I wondered. 

Then, on the show, Kelly realized her declaration of never being addicted to something was wrong. She's addicted to her current love interest, Frank (Rhys Muldoon). 

Yeah. I guess love is like an addiction. And our passions and obsessions are addictions as well.

I think it's an interesting question. Are our addictions, whether good or bad, chosen by us, or are they chosen by the universe? 

Or God. 

Or the alien overlord.   

24. Recognized an actress on The Secret Life of Us.

I looked on IMDb and saw that her name is Nadine Garner.  What I know her from is City Homicide.

25. Looked at the news.

There's nothing too earth-shattering.

An Aussie flew a jetpack around the Statue of Liberty.  

And a drunk man climbed the Mexico Pavilion at Disney World. 

26. Saw that today is Veteran's Day in the US.

Now I feel really stupid.

I knew it was around this time but thought it was one of those holidays that was observed on Mondays.

So we have Remembrance Day too. We just have a different name for it.

Well, sort of. According to Lord Wiki, Remembrance Day and Armistice Day were observed in the US, Australia, and other countries to commemorate World War I.  Then eventually the US changed their Armistice Day to Veteran's Day with the purpose of honoring all veterans.

27.  Saw that maybe other countries also extend the memorializing to soldiers who died in wars that were not World War I. 

28. Saw bunnies mentioned in our Crash Course biology video today.  This is another thing to connect to the July 27, 2011 post. Because in that, I mention The Runaway Bunny.

Really. Yeah. My brain is connecting all kinds of crazy thing. I'm feeling kind of mental—like that movie with Jim Carrey I never saw.

That's it called?

Something with a number.

29. Found the movie. It's The Number 23.

30. Hoped that I don't end up insane.

31. Thought that the episode of The Secret Life of Us, I've been watching, does a very good job of capturing the feelings of having a crush and waiting for the phone to ring.

Do people these days wait for a phone call, or do they usually wait for a text?

32. Started watching another episode of The Secret Life of Us.

33. Saw the Secret Life of Us having a The-Mindy-Project moment.

One of the running gags on The Mindy Project is it seems like Mindy is doing a voice-over narration. Then it ends up she's actually blabbing on and on to another person.  

On The Secret Life of Us, Kelly (Deborah Mailman) often narrates the episodes. In this one, she goes on a spiel about stages of life. It seems like her typical narration. Then we see she's actually reading her paper to Frank (Rhys Muldoon).

34. Wanted to note that The Secret Life of Us wouldn't have known they were having a The-Mindy-Project moment, because The Mindy Project didn't exist yet.

35. Imagined that Mindy and Kelly would get along very well. They're both very romantic. Though I think Mindy is much more into popular culture. She's also more superficial.

Maybe they wouldn't get along.

Well, at least they could watch romantic movies together.

And they could take turns doing voice-over monologues. 

36. Saw that Nicholas Bell is on this episode.

I like him.

37. Saw that this was Samuel Johnson's last episode.

Finding that out actually made me feel sad.

I guess I was more attached to Evan than I imagined.

38. Thought that the song they played in his gone-scene might have made me extra emotional.

I'm not sure what the song was. It sounds like the instrumental beginning of a song I know.

What's driving me nuts is I can't figure out what the song is. It would help if I knew the lyrics.

39. Felt that the song was in The Walking Dead. But that doesn't seem right to me.

Lyrics words floating in my head: Message, for the, made of.....

See, yeah. That doesn't help much.

40. Remembered another bit: Are you going?

It kind of sounds like Peter, Paul, and Mary. Or maybe the Seekers? Something like that. 

41. Got the idea that if I go insane, it's not going to be about the number-coincidence thing.

I'm going to go insane trying to figure out this song!

42. Figured out the song!!!

It's "The Last Thing on My Mind".  

And The Seekers sing one of the covers. 

I think it is the song they played on The Secret Life of Us, because the lyrics strongly fit the situation of Kelly having to say goodbye to Evan as a roommate.

Are you going away with no word of farewell, 
Will there be not a trace left behind? 
I could have loved you better, didn't mean to be unkind.
 You know that was the last thing on my mind. 
You've got reasons a-plenty for going 
This I know, this I know
 For the weeds have been steadily growing. 
Please don't go, please don't go.

Though Evan did say farewell. And he left a trace or two behind.

43. Read my Michelle, Tracey, Twitchy story while proofreading and now it doesn't seem so odd.

I mean it seems much less exciting to me.

If I think about it, it's probably common to have these types of coincidences.

You find someone on the Internet, and then learn they know someone that you know.

As they say, it's a small world.

Especially when you have the Internet.

44. Felt emotionally and spiritually confused.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Being Neglectful, Being Pushy, Ed Oxenbould, and Sydney

1. Dreamed I was a somewhat awful person.

I'm staying with my Australian friend Tracey. She leaves to go somewhere. I work hard on my blog. Then, when she returns, she tries to help another woman who was left at home with me. This woman is in some kind of horrible pain; and for some reason, I failed to try to help her because I was too busy with my blog.

I don't actually remember hearing her and ignoring her. But when Tracey returned and was trying to help the woman, I felt guilty for not helping.

2. Dreamed that I have an Australian guy with me who is seeking my help in planning a future trip to the U.S.  I'm quite pleased to have an Australian by my side, and I enjoy showing him off...just to my parents, really. (Don't remember anyone else in this dream)

I try to figure out whether the Australian should go to Disneyland or Disney World. I'm also wondering if it would make sense for him to fly into DFW rather than LAX.  

He's planning to go to Atlantic City, and doesn't seem too thrilled about it. I try to tell him it's actually pretty cool, because you can see the Monopoly Streets. (I think, in the dream, Atlantic City was somewhere out west rather than the north-east).

Later I get a video message from him politely demanding that I make him videos promoting the places I think he should go. He wants me to sell him a plan.  I'm not pleased with this. First, I'm disappointed that it seems we'll no longer be working together in person. Second, I don't like the idea of having to try to sell something.  

3. Wondered if I dislike selling things. I don't mean literally for money...but promoting things.

I like sharing things I like, especially on this blog.  I have hopes that I'll lead more people into liking what I like. But I don't like pressuring people to like something.  I also don't like it when other people try to push me into trying something...even when it's not actually directed at me personally.

The other day I quit reading a Disney Blog, because in a restaurant review, the blogger talked about food that people HAVE to try.

I prefer when people say things like, I'm a huge fan of this. Maybe you'll like it too over saying, You have to try this. You'll totally love it! 

I'm also a believer in the fact that some people might dislike what I love, and they might love what I dislike.

4. Wanted to say that I don't usually quit reading a blog as soon as they get pushy about recommendations.

This one annoyed me, though, because, in the intro post, the woman talked about having unique opinions about Disney things. She presented herself as an off-the-beaten path type person—not always liking what's popular. So I felt, in that case, she should be sensitive to the fact that other people might have their own unique opinions about things and might not like what she's recommending.

Also, the items she was pushing were not off the beaten path at all. They're actually quite popular and well-known among Disney Foodies.

5. Thought about the dream—the one where I'm an awful person.

I don't think I'd ignore a person in medical distress to work on my blog.  But I do think I get uptight sometimes about taking a break from my routine.

I'm the type of person who gives myself daily assignments. It's not easy for me to say to myself, well something very important has come up. I need to spend time on that. It won't kill me to lose an hour of homeschooling or not write a blogpost.

Yeah. It won't kill me. But it will make me anxious and stressed.

6. Felt a need to defend myself. Yes, I'm a bit anal. Yes, it would be bad to ignore someone in acute, severe pain, because I'm busy with my blog. I hope I wouldn't do that in real life.

On the other hand, some people go in the opposite direction and exploit their problems (And sometimes other people's!) to take a break. I wouldn't want to be that type of person.

7. Decided I maybe feel guilty for opting out of a family medical thing. I felt stressed out about losing homeschooling hours. Well, I didn't actually opt out. I just didn't say yes. I didn't give a yes or no. I decided to wait until I was asked again, and when I wasn't, I was kind of relieved, and I didn't feel too bad about not being there. But now I feel I should have been there. Because if it was me in the situation, I'd probably want other people to be there for me.

The good news is someone WAS there for the person in need. So the story is more about me being a bad family member than someone in my family being neglected.

8. Started watching an episode of Underbelly.

9. Saw that Ed Oxenbould, the little boy from Puberty Blues, is in this episode.

Oxenbould is also in the recent American movies The Visit and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

In the latter, he's an Australian pretending to be an American who wants to move to Australia.

It reminds me of something I learned yesterday.

We've been watching The Mindy Project. There's a British guy on the show, and I thought he was faking it. I mean I thought the character was pretending to be British in order to impress the girls. But then I found out the actor is actually British.

It made me remember the storyline on Nip/Tuck where there was an American guy pretending to be British. I wanted to find out who the actor was, and I learned he's actually British.  I thought that was pretty funny.

10. Started to watch Rake—season two; episode four.

11. Saw an incident on Rake that fits in well with what I was blabbing on about this morning.

Cleaver Green's (Richard Roxburgh) sort of girlfriend (Robyn Maxwell) has had a death in her family.

Cleaver is informed of the loss and offers to send flowers. He's quite reluctant to actually clear his schedule and be there for her.

I think that's unfortunately kind of like me. Or very much like me.

I'm fairly generous in terms of listening to people via email or text. I'll send gifts, maybe. But I'm lazy when it comes down to getting off my ass and actually being physically there for someone.

12. Looked at the cast for this episode of Rake and thought I saw Ed Oxenbould again. But no. What I saw is BEN Oxenbould. Lord Wiki says Ben is Ed's uncle.

13. Glad to see Barney Meagher (Russell Dykstra) call out his wife Scarlet (Danielle Cormack) on the fact that she's forbidding him to be friends with Cleaver Greene because she slept with Cleaver Greene.

Scarlet is the one who made the mistake.Why should Barney have to be punished for it?

14. Went to Palg1305's Flickr account.

15. Got the idea that the order of the albums changed.

Everything looks different from yesterday.

16. Started to look at Palg1305's Sydney album.

Here's a photo of some construction at Darling Harbour—lots of big cranes.

Flickr says the photo was taken July 2014.

I wonder what was going on over there.

17. Liked the photo of these trees in Manly.

I wonder what kind of trees they are.

Maybe eucalyptus?

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I don't know Eucalyptus trees on sight. I might be able to point out some in a crowd, but my accuracy rate would probably be about 75%.  Or maybe 35%.

The trees in the photo don't make me think of Eucalyptus trees, except for the fact that they're in Australia.  But...I really don't know.

18. Liked this photo.

I wonder what it is. Some kind of boat dock. There's a sign that says, Welcome to Station.

What station?

It's like having a city with a sign that says, Welcome to City!

It's a bit generic.

19. Thought the trees in this picture looked more Eucalyptus to me.

20. Wondered what percentage of trees in Australia are Eucalyptus.

21. Guessed that the tree in this photo is not Eucalyptus. I think it's one of those fig things.

What is it? Moreton Fig?

22. Googled.

Lord Wiki says it's Moreton Bay Fig.

It's native to Australia.

23. Thought of Water Rats when I saw this photo of Watson's Bay—cliffs to fall from and water to drown in.

24. Thought the ocean looked beautifully blue in this other Watson Bay photo.

25. Liked this photo of the Opera House. I don't know why. There are a zillion Sydney Opera House photos out there. But something about this one is special.  It has a 1970's feel to it.

26. Realized I'm making it sound like there is something particularly special about the 1970's.

It's not really that.

Maybe it's that it reminds me of the old movies they'd show us in elementary school—probably filmed in the 1970's.  You know, the one with the wooden boat floating about, or the Red Balloon thing.

27. Googled and learned The Red Balloon was made in the 1950's.

Oops.

Maybe I should say the picture reminds me of movies I SAW in the 1970's. They were probably filmed way before that.

28. Decided the picture probably reminds me of my old dream. I've talked about it here before. I had it sometime in my childhood—and remember close to nothing about it. But it gave me a good weird feeling when I'd think about it.  Then later, as an adult, I saw photos of Sydney Harbour and it reminded me of the dream.

29. Liked Bec's post about trying to fulfill a happiness challenge on a day she's feeling grumpy and snarky.

It's easy to do self-help, positive thinking type stuff when we're in a good mood. But what about when we're in a bad mood or life is shit?

I do disagree with her feeling she failed at her daily random act of kindness act.  She says:
This is probably a cop-out but in my introverted and selfish state today all I pretty much did was smiled at the bus driver and said thank you at the shops and to people who did stuff for me at work. Lame. I feel like I need to make up for it with something spectacular tomorrow.

I think smiling at someone and thanking people is quite lovely. It's small. But small things add up sometimes.

30. Got texts from my sister and niece.

They're at the Taylor Swift concert. Vance Joy is the opening act.

That's cool! Maybe my sister and niece will become Vance Joy fans.

My sister suggested I add him to our karaoke song list. I had to tell her I did and that we already sang his song twice.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online