Over the past couple of days I have come to a rather alarming understanding: Facebook and Twitter have eaten the internet. It's true, though; every word of it is true.

For instance, I fully suspect the main reason I haven't been posting here as much is not, in fact, because of laziness but is rather due to the fact that whatever I would have posted already appeared piecemeal on Twitter throughout the day.

Then again, it could be due to laziness.

Or the fact that I still do not have proper internet at home, due to Netspace fail. Seriously, last time it took them two days to re-connect us. This time they claim they actually need to come out to the house to make sure we're not lying about having a telephone line or something, just like Telstra before them. I'm on the verge of sending them detailed photos of said telephone lines, complete with handy labels so they can't miss a thing.

On the other hand, it could just be that their internet technicians are crying out for human contact. Or at least a nice cuppa and a biscuit.

Regardless, at this point, I won't have proper internet until the 13th, which is almost a month after they promised us internet within two weeks. I AM GOING CRAZY HERE.

Anyway, to return to my point: stealage of internet by Twitter and Facebook.

I have my LJ posts set to ship to Facebook automatically. It seemed like the thing to do. Mostly, they just wandered off there and passed by without comment, except on rare occasions. Now I get almost as many comments on Facebook as I actually do on LJ.

Everything just seems to filter through Facebook or Twitter. Once upon a time, I used to get breaking news on my flist; now it's through Twitter that I find out that water minister Tim Holding hasn't ironically perished at the hands of snow.

Why the transition, though? Why have we gone from blogging to micro-blogging? Why have we been drawn in to wasting our time on quizzes or, even worse, farming, on Facebook? Personally, I think it's because it's more immediate. You can have Twitter and Facebook in your pocket with your phone - you can always be up to date with what's going on, no matter how mundane.

Am I right? Horribly wrong? I guess I'm just fascinated to know what inspires these changes. Why have you been drawn in, against your will or not?

A few things occurred to me earlier this morning.

1. LiveJournal is blocked at work.
2. Dreamwidth is not.
3. Dreamwidth allows you to cross-post to LJ.

And thus, a use for my DW account was born! Assuming this works and isn't thwarted in some way by my devious work deviously deviating my devious plan of deviousness.

Other things that likewise occurred to me this morning (listed in random order of importance): IT'S FRIDAY; I don't like it when people just sit there and watch me; semi-colons (when used well) are beautiful things; my hair looks kinda cute; a crumpet with peanut butter truly is the breakfast of champions... or at least, people with good taste and a toaster.

A final thing that occurred to me recently is that I'd like my journal to be neater or more consistent or cohesive or better co-ordinated with its curtains or something. A quick glance over my most recent entries reveals that they've been about vlogging, LorF, vlogging, a bit more LorF and then some extra vlogging added in at no extra cost. Which, I'll grant you, is consistent, if nothing else.

But I'd like to expand it into other concepts such as, oh, I don't know, writing?

(Speaking of which: I've actually been engaging in said activity of stringing words together into sentences! Amazing, but true. At this rate, I'll have achieved at least ten percent of my GYWO target by the end of the year...)

I'm due to write an essay on breaking the rules of grammar for getyourwordsout this month, which will inevitably spill over into this journal. So it's entirely possible my next few entries will actually be about this whole writing process.

And breaking the rules thereof.

Which will inevitably involve running with scissors at some point.

However. I'd like to know what my flist would like to see. Would you like a chance to discuss writing in my journal? Would you like me to write informative pieces about it? Would you like to read more rants wherein I am driven to such insanity by writing/writers block/characters misbehaving/things going spectacularly wrong/etc. that I end up typing my entry by bashing my head repeatedly against the keyboard?

And if you read writers' blogs on a regular basis, what are your favourite elements of them? What keeps you reading? (And are there any you'd recommend to me?)

Ah well, the bell has tolled: back to work for me.

It's writing week!  Yes,you had no idea this was the case, did you?  It's all true, though.  It's writing week and we are discussing firsts.  All of your firsts, from your first first to your last first.  To date.

I must admit, I'm a huge fan of writing week.  It's not surprising, really.  After all, it means I get to ramble on about writing and I may have mentioned once or twice how much I like doing this.  The only problem with rambling on about writing is that I'm excessively capable at it.  This makes it very difficult to fit my thoughts into the space of four minutes, but I managed somehow.  And as a bonus (coming, as they do, at no extra cost), I even included sun-flare and video saved at the wrong resolution!  It's not my fault; it played in perfect widescreen on my computer.  How was I to know YouTube wouldn't approve?  The good news is that I have learnt how to appease said website and my next video will be absolutely perfect, resolution-wise.  As opposed to this week's squishedness and last week's tininess.

So I believe a small, anticipatory yay is in order: YAY.

But to return to the firsts.  This week, we fivedotnerds are discussing our writing firsts.  When did you write your first story?  What was your first publication?  And so on.  I decided to talk about some slightly different firsts in my video, as you will see for yourselves. :D



And as a bonus, LJ-only feature, I'll list another couple of firsts here.

The first character to take over a story without permission was Chaque.  She was meant to be a nothing character with a couple of backstory-advancing lines.  Then she "dropped a reluctant curtsey" and suddenly she had a personality, attitude... and an overwhelming desire to steal the story.  Which she did.  Quite successfully.  She's single-minded, slightly psychotic and has a tendency to burn things... and I love her.

Although, it's a little worrying to have her in my head sometimes.  You never know what may inexplicably go up in smoke when you're not looking.

The first time I ever won a prize in a writing competition was when I was in year eleven.  It was third prize and it was worth thirty dollars and I can't even tell you how excited I was when I opened the envelope with the certificate and prize inside.

The first character to wake me up at unwelcome times of the night with story ideas that MUST BE WRITTEN DOWN NOW was Jane.  That girl had serious issues with letting me sleep at times.  Lucky for her it's impossible to dislike her... even when you're crawling out of bed at 2am to type up notes so she'll shut up and LET ME SLEEP, dammit.

What are your writing firsts?  What are the most significant things that have happened to you as a writer?  Tell me all about it.  :)

There appears to be balance in all things. For every kitten, there are no fewer than one hundred, hideous spiders, at least one of which will be lurking under your pillow. For every beautiful sunrise, there's a rainstorm just as you step off the bus.

Mine go a little like this...

We're paying a little less rent lately. Which is good... except that the reason behind it is that the landlord is trying to sell. So yes, a year after having to move because our previous landlord sold, we're now looking at having to find a new place for exactly the same reason. I'm beginning to feel a little cursed.

Our landlord has appeared to be reasonably easy-going and hasn't created any troubles for us, or delayed repairs (unlike previous landlords). Which is good... except he's an idiot. He's trying to sell the house with no backyard and no garage, since that space is going to be taken over by a new, double-storey townhouse, construction of which will start very soon. And when I say no backyard, I mean no backyard; the back of the house will be practically against the fence of the subdivided property. Plus, the new owners will be living next door to a construction site for the next few months. Who wouldn't want that?

The balance thing works the other way, though. For instance, I have no time for anything lately. Which is bad... except that it means I'm doing so much new stuff and learning new things and getting to know new people.

Or take the fact that I had to stuff around with a dodgy video camera and return it in exchange for a different. Which is bad (well, it's more irritating, really)... except I now have a video camera that works and that actually shoots in proper widescreen.

And then there's stuff that's just plain old straight-out good: the fact that I'll be on holidays in just over a week; the fact that I'm going to be spending a weekend with friends I haven't seen for ages in... just over a week, too; the fact that I'll be visiting the parents and consuming eggs of chocolate the week after.

So, take heart, my lovely flisters: for every piano that falls on your head, there'll be a compensating random singing montage as you walk down the street.

Because I needed a new addiction. I needed something to distract me from writing. I needed another obsession.

Personally, I blame surferartchick. After all, she was the one who said, "Hey, Katie, come vlog with us! It'll be fun! You don't really need your soul, do you? No? That's handy."

I'm paraphrasing a little, but I'm pretty sure that's what she said.

Once upon a time, I thought YouTube was for AMVs and for watching subbed anime that you couldn't get anywhere else. Sometimes, on special occasions, it was for looking at old ads with friends and laughing at them. Laughing at the ads, that is, not my friends.

Although I do laugh at them... and they laugh at me in turn.

But no - YouTube is actually a place full of interesting, fun-type people who make videos and vlogs and are intoxicatingly entertaining at times. It's a bit like LJ, except you get to hear and see people instead of getting to know them through their written words. And I'm not saying I prefer one over the other, but the whole vlog thing is still a novelty to me. It's shiny and I love it.

And it's infecting me. Lately, when I'm contemplating ideas for future LJ posts, a little voice at the back of my mind will be gleefully pointing out what good vlogs these ideas would make. And I'm a sucker for it, because I love mixing media. So don't be surprised if some of my posts in the future are actually videos.

Hey, is it horribly obvious and unsubtle segue time? You know what, I believe it is. Here we go...

Speaking of videos, here's my fivedotnerds video for this week:



This one includes a bonus short (short short) film at the end, which involves me acting like unto an idiot, supported in my efforts by my cat, who was seriously trying to steal the entire show. You know you want to see me acting like an idiot. Everyone needs a good laugh every now and then. :D

It's raining.

It's hailing.

I have the central heating on.

And may I just remind everyone that, here in the antipodes, we are currently expecting Summer to be happening out there.  Well, late Spring.  But still.  Where is my sun?  Where is my heat?  Why did I buy all those cute dresses to wear to work if it's going to HAIL??

Ah, so many questions that cannot be answered.

Other questions that cannot really be answered: Where have I been since the third of August?  Well... it can be answered, but it would most likely be full of angst verging on emo, possibly descending into very, very dodgy poetry and ending with a bonus rant about the complete dearth of orange juice and crumpets in the house.  And that all adds up to something completely unsatisfying, so let's skip it and go straight to ( some random photos instead. )

And in other news, I would like to assure crazedturkey that her identical twin is alive and well and working somewhere at Forest Hill Chase.

Ah, there goes the hail again...

I was hit by a minor revelation the other day.  This left me somewhat concussed and possibly a little bruised... but mostly enlightened.  And the revelation goes a little like this:

I’m not shy; I’m lazy.

Well, I say “minor revelation”, but that’s probably understating it somewhat, especially when you consider I’ve thought I was shy my entire life.

On other hand, I’ve known about the laziness for quite a long time.  I just never thought to connect the two.  Probably because of the whole laziness thing...

I wish it weren't true, in many ways.  It’s incredibly easy to be lazy... and it’s equally easy to overcome it.  Shyness, not so much.  But now that I know it’s more laziness than anything, I feel beholden to do something about it.  Which really goes against the heavily-entrenched laziness grain.

And yet... I’m still doing it.  Why yesterday, I met up with the good bathmat and met two whole new people, the thought of which would have sent me running hastily in the opposite direction not so long ago.  And while I wasn’t as scintillating as I might have hoped, I didn’t make an utter idiot out of myself and even managed some conversation along the way.  So score one for me in my war against a sedentary life.

And tonight, I managed to spend much longer than I realised writing emails to three people - something I’ve been putting off for no good reason for ages.

After this, I even remembered to sign into msn... although due to the unexpected lateness, there doesn’t appear to be anyone around.  Of course this would be the case when I’m trying to be sociable...

I still feel a little lost, though, so I’m very much open to any and all advice on how to break out of one’s shell and stop being so damn shy and/or lazy.  Tricks?  Tips?  I’ll take them all, thanks.