The unexpected minus side is that now I’m faced with a surprising amount of super-pretentious blogs. I don’t know why this is, but personal blogs often seem to offer an unforeseen and unpredictable side of people you knew offline first. Some really lovely people seem to suddenly develop a blogging style that makes me give up after the first sentence. It’s like wading through treacle – you can understand what they’re saying, but it’s a lot of effort to get there and little reward when you do.

I’ve always been a fan of simple free-typing when it comes to blogging. I type out almost exactly what’s in my head, and I only really make changes in terms of word order. I’m guessing this is fairly obvious because my good friend Tom once mentioned that my blog reads like a stream of consciousness… I’m not suggesting that everyone does that, but there’s no need to swallow a thesaurus either. Or agonise over every sentence. You wouldn’t write like that in your diary (remember when blogs were like diaries?!), so there’s no need to go all-out to impress. I guess people have different views on that, but it’s not an essay for an academic journal. Just be yourself.

Although part of me is amused by these blogs, part of me is sad. Because I’m nosey, and because I know a lot of these people have more to give; instead, they’re just hiding behind a ton of complicated words with very little meaning. I know that quite a bit of what I post can easily be interpreted as banal (yes, there’s a ‘b’ at the front) – here’s a picture of my dog, this is what I did at the weekend, etc. That’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m sure there’s a great niche for people who want to ramble metaphorically about the universe. I just ramble about whatever comes to mind. It’s a way to clear my thoughts and my head, and record my life to amuse my older and wiser self in years to come.

The people who do get it right (based on my personal appreciation, not on my own writing) make up for it though. I’ve come across some really interesting blogs to follow from friends who’ve carved out their own little niches in areas I’d never even thought about. I’m a bit jealous, because I’m still trying to figure out where to go with my own blog. But I’m also happy that in 2010, there are new bloggers who can jump straight in with tone and content that match what the community has been about for the past seven or eight years.

Do you have any offline friends who blog? What do you think of their blogs? Which blogging style(s) do you prefer?

Related posts:

1. Advertising
2. Longggg Entry
3. Mad Weekend

One of my new year’s resolutions was to lose weight. I’ve lost some, but I’ve maintained that since the early part of the year. I’m about 14 pounds heavier than I usually am, and that’s annoying me. One of my uni friends started a diet, gave up, and is now on the ‘fat acceptance’ bandwagon. Whilst I agree on many principles, such as looks not being important, why should you try to change because society thinks you should, etc., I can’t see myself ever subscribing to that point of view. Moderation is the key, and lifestyle change the only way to accomplish that. When I was a kid I was extremely overweight (at 11 years old I weighed more than I do now). I couldn’t buy clothes from high street shops, and all the clothes I could buy were extremely ugly compared to what my friends were wearing. Between about 16 and 18, I lost a lot of weight, and because it was over a gradual period of time, it’s had no negative effects on my body. As well as being so happy that I could go into a shop and buy something I liked from the front/middle of the rail rather than the back, I loved having more energy, not having people stare at me, and feeling more confident. For many years after, I still thought of myself as a fat person, and that’s what I’d see when I looked in the mirror, despite everything else.

I’m much happier with my body than I used to be, and whilst I could still do with losing some pounds because of my height, my size is pretty average and has stayed that way for the past 5 or so years. The answer is a lifestyle change you can maintain. It’s not a crazy diet, it’s not depriving yourself, it’s not becoming obsessive. It’s eating lots of fresh, healthy food, eating for your body and not your brain, and being active. Many of the things we crave or want to eat, like sugary and processed foods, are something our brain is telling us to eat and will have very little nutritional value for the body. Most (fat) people eat because they enjoy eating. They don’t eat to fuel their body with what it needs. And that was the single most important lesson I learned. When I get into the mindset of, ‘What’s the point in eating that? It’s just a waste of time’, then I’m eating all the right things and I crave ‘bad’ foods less and less. When I went on my detox in 2007, anything processed that I ate would give me horrendous stomach cramps. Whilst my brain ‘enjoyed’ eating less, I was eating all the right things for my body and the weight just flew off, to the extent that I was worried about how I’d stop losing weight. All my friends commented – without prompting! – that I looked great and really glowing.

The only problem is that detoxing is extremely strict, and extremely anti-social. Forget about eating out or going for a drink unless you’ve comfortable with going to a bar or pub and ordering water (which I’m not, if that’s the only thing I’m drinking). Still, I’m going to make a meal plan today and try to start another detox either today or tomorrow.

What’s your approach to eating, dieting and weight loss? Have you ever had problems with your weight?

Related posts:

1. Back from the Med
2. Om nom nom
3. Bang bang

Last weekend we took the cats to the vet for annual injections. I locked the cat flap and shut the room to their room the night before so they wouldn’t disappear. First thing in the morning I went down and fed them. The room looked like a bomb had hit it. They’d managed to knock a massive box of cat food into their water bowls (no idea how since it was firmly lodged on a bookshelf), spilling water everywhere and soaking the box through. I think they may have been fighting a bit since they aren’t used to being shut in an enclosed space.

I went back to my room, went downstairs again about half an hour later – to find that they’d all disappeared. Somehow they’d managed to unlock the cat flap and escape. Sigh I panicked, because we had to leave for the vet about fifteen minutes after that. But luckily we got two out of three back in time – luckily the weather was quite crappy and they didn’t want to wander far from home. Chief had to be taken to the vet separately on Tuesday though. But it might have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as three cats at once (especially ones as intelligent as these) are quite a handful.

They got on fine at the vets – Halo has to have suncream on his ears (who knew cats with white ears can develop sun burn and skin cancer fairly easily?), and Sin might have problems with his teeth in the future, but for now they’re just fine.

Saturday I went out for a meal with Joe, and Sunday was spent doing various household chores (thrilling), although we did cook a nice Sunday lunch and I made a chocolate and strawberry tart for dessert. Lovely wih some Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food frozen yoghurt, if not very healthy!

Monday evening I went to the dentist, and have to go back next week for an appointment with the hygienist. I could have been looking after my teeth better, so I’ve invested in a Braun toothbrush (£80 on Amazon, £160 RRP!) which sounds great. Also investing in Listerine, although I have read that it’s bad for you to use over a long period of time – who knows? I’m spending a lot of money on stuff at the moment; 2010 is definitely my year of spending. I still have my eye on a few things from Amazon, memory cards for my camera, a new computer – possibly an iMac – for my parents, lots of stuff for the cats and a new garden. I should be saving money for my holiday though (28 days to go, yay!).

Tuesday evening I spent with Rich, and we played quite a bit of Dominion. I won one game out of about three or four, probably because it’s a strategy game and my strategies as quite short term rather than long-term I like the game, but I don’t think I’m getting any better at it!

I was tempted to blog the other day but just wasn’t inspired. I even tried searching the net for blog ideas- they were mostly rubbish, and either extremely tongue in cheek or completely useless. On the plus side, it’s given me a good idea for a subpage! Or maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places – where do you look for blog inspiration?

I’m still as tired as ever – yawning constantly etc – but I’ve found that if I get home and make myself busy doing stuff rather than just lying on the sofa, then I seem to be able to muster up enough energy to keep going. The days are absolutely flying by, partly to do with the fact that I enjoy my job so much, but also because this year is shaping up to be a great year in general. I know I’m not going to achieve everything I want to do, but it’s been pretty successful so far

Related posts:

1. Bah.
2. Crazy Cat Lady
3. Mad Weekend

[I'm sure there's a link between music and design as well - it must activate the same chemicals or synapses or something. Designers are never asked 'Do you listen to music whilst you work?'; rather 'What music do you listen to whilst you work?' In my mind, it's like watching TV and eating at the same time - more enjoyable than doing either thing separately!]

Bloggers generally divide into two categories – those who focus on videos and/or images, and those who focus on words. Of course there are people slap bang in the middle, but I’m definitely a text person. I especially tend to avoid videos starring bloggers (sorry), partly because of time issues, but also because I like the mystery. Part of blogging is an illusion and I like to keep it that way – I read your words with my own accent, which is more comfortable for me. Personally I’d feel quite self-conscious video blogging myself, but more than that I see it as unnecessary. It’s time-consuming (and I have very little time), and it’s not easy to revisit. Maybe in ten years’ time I’ll wish I had more video of myself, but it seems unlikely!

I’ve never been a big fan of video on the Internet (with the exception of funny YouTube things), because things like tutorials and interviews and how tos are generally extremely cringeworthy. I also hate having to wait for videos to buffer, having to replay bits that I didn’t catch due to accent or technical issues, and not being able to scan bits quickly as I would with text. Interestingly, my manager asked me if I’d do some video tutorials for the company blog, but as it’s for work I view it differently, though my personal views remain the same. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to watch them back!

I think we’re in a generation now that expects videos and visuals. For the people that joined the Internet only a few years ago, it was a natural progression from TV, whereas when I first got obsessed visuals were still developing and I can’t even remember watching any video on the web really. With smartphones and Google and Apple though, I’m sure much more TV and maybe even films will become web-based in the future.

Are you an image person or a text person? Do you like watching home-made videos online?

Related posts:

1. The Joys of Procrastination
2. New Year’s Eve
3. Spreading the Internet love