And then, tonight, for good measure I had my fair share of corned beef and cabbage with plenty of helpings of Irish soda bread. Take that, 20 lb Weight Loss. I'll show you who's boss.
Or not.
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So, what the hell is up with Daylight Saving Time? It seems that extra 60 minutes of precious sunlight has seeped deep into the brains of my children and activated an ancient Reptilian sector that had long lain dormant.
Seriously, what the hell?
Last night, way PAST midnight, they were running around giggling maniacally. Sure, they were happy. But Manoj and I were not. Co-sleeping traditionally defined, means everyone sleeps together and the kids were ruining the gig.
Also, there is no 's" after the "Saving", the word is supposed to singular. I know...I know.... I am an uppity bitch about words. Flog me now (be careful though, I might like it.) Why is it singular? Are we rescuing the earth ONE hour at a time? Huh? I have always wondered. We are not really saving anything - all we did is screw over Morning in a vain attempt to appease persnickety Evening.
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I am over-run with social media and am trying to pare down... down... down. Again. Facebook? I am culling the herd. Twitter? It is not worth my time to follow when it is not reciprocated. I do not expect the likes of Alan Sepinwall, Jennifer Weiner, Finslippy and Shit My Dad Says to follow me back - obviously. For sure, I know how my bread is buttered (speaking of which, where the fuck is my bread? Did one of the kids eat it?) Anyway, those folks are entertaining and dependable for garnering a laugh or two. So, they stay. If a person is boring and does not even bother to follow me back? Click. Buh-bye. After all, it is not like they will notice.
I have been using Friend or Follow. The best part is this "processing message":
(Loading)
If you're popular, this might take awhile.
I have used this site a few times now and believe me, it never, ever takes awhile. Message? Received!
Cleaning out my Google reader is trickier. I am trying to let go of some bloggers who I have read for years, but for some reason or another, I feel it is unhealthy to allow such negativity in my life. But it is more difficult to let go than I thought it would be. I do a fairly good job of keeping out things that make me feel bad - like the "review" blogs or the "perfect mommy" blogs that make me feel bad for not having a pretty, pretty home with streak-free windows and kids (Meagan Francis of Happiest Mom had an excellent, thought-provoking post on this topic the other day. Also, her site should be called Happiest LIFE, because her site is relevant for all of us, regardless if we have children or not. Why are you reading the crap I write here when you could reading quality words over there?)
No, I am not talking about those sorts the Life is Perfect blogs. I am talking about run-of-the-mill identity blogs written by average folks where little things said get under my skin and I walk away wondering if the blogger meant to be insulting or not. At times, Captain Subtext has a tendency to shout at me and furthermore, The Captain often over-reacts.
Obviously, the problem is mine. And yes. I know what I need to do. But it is hard moving on from places you have been reading for years. Click....click......click.
Is it hard for you to unsubscribe from a blog you have been reading for years? Is it only me?
17 comments:
I did stop reading a blog once because all she did was whine about a life I wished I had. I know, I know the grass is always greener, blah, blah, blah. She was whining about normal everyday stuff and I just got sick of it. I didn't use a feed reader at the time and I know she didn't miss me but it made me feel better.
I am constantly adding/removing from my feed reader. The most interesting thing is when I go to add someone I knew I had removed before and couldn't remember why. Heh.
I have removed sites I read forever b/c everyone else was reading them and then it occurred to me I didnt really like the content. HA! I also tend to remove partial feeders for no other reason but that they're partial feeds and that bugs me.
I have a hard time letting go of blogs, too. I usually hang on way past the point the blog was interesting or non-offensive to me. And still, once I stop reading I will sometimes look them up months later to see if anything has changed.
I add things to my feed reader pretty liberally, but unsubscribe less liberally because I'm usually on my phone doing the reading and I can't unsubscribe from my phone.
I just unsubscribed from a big name blog and her Twitter because I got to the point where I was yelling GET A SPINE everytime I read it.
I love hard and then flame out the most on blogs that write lengthy content every single day.
I recently went through a cleansing of my reader as well. I found there were a lot of blogs that I was reading because I had extra time on my hands, not because they were saying anything to me. I had to remove the ones that created a negative feeling in me. Also, the ones that I felt I didn't have anything to comment on. I realize I won't leave a comment every day, on every post, but if a blog doesn't inspire me to speak at ALL? It has to go.
I think sometimes that less is more, especially when it comes to the blog world. I would rather make a group of friends that I can relate to, that read each others blogs, rather than jump on the bandwagon of a blog that everyone reads simply because everyone reads it.
I am frightened by my current reader, because of my job. I have, um, 441 blogs in my reader right now. And that number goes up every day. At this point, I either search for a topic I want a post about or play BlogRoulette and read 10 or so hoping to find a gem in the rough. And my friends, but even they are starting to get parsed to once a week because there is so much to read.
That said, before I got my current job I used to expunge my reader at least once a week. I am a cleaner-outer -- I get the sort of high from getting rid as some people do from obtaining. G always jokes that if I could give away or sell the driveway, I would.
I have a harder time walking away from a novel I can't get through than a blog whose author has annoyed me too much.
I don't read that many blogs and when I feel overwhelmed or someone pisses me off, I just quit reading. Maybe for a day, maybe forever. I have a little guilt, but I have found that it passes. Especially if I bury the guilt under a nice glass of wine or a chocolate martini.
As an aside, I LOVE Jennifer Weiner. Hilarious. Have you read "Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club and the Flaming Tantrum of Death" by Laurie Notaro? If you haven't, you must read it.
Also, I love that you cuss here. I think that things sometimes need to be highlighted by expletives and appreciate that you do so.
My Google Reader is currently very overwhelmed. I subscribe to blogs constantly because I find something useful or I just enjoy their writing. My problem is that I have run out of time to actually read them. I tend to scan down to my friends' blogs, read the "important" ones and let the rest collect until I finally hit "mark all as read." It would be so much easier if I could just hit the "unsubscribe" button instead, but I'm afraid I'll miss something if I do.
I just went through my reader the other day and deleted blogs I only read if I'm bored and there is nothing else to do. I have a hard time unsubscribing from people even when I am just not interested or only subscribed because I felt like I should because everyone else loves it. I also get annoyed with people who blog/twitter constantly and/or giving away prizes. It's fine to do a giveaway occasionally, but I'd much rather they mention it once and let it be.
I don't use a feed reader because I still don't know how. Sometimes I'll stop reading a blog but still travel through for the link list or something.
When I put my blog back up this summer, I'm planning on changing to a more travel oriented blogger. Incidentally, I chose Iceland! Now I'm just hoping I made the list.
MONKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! I've been wondering where you were.
I think it is hard letting blogs go because we start to think of the writers as friends, and it is like letting go of a friend, but sometimes you need to.
I have let go of many many blogs... many of the top named woman really got on my nerves... I don't find their lives interesting and I hate whine... I rather enjoy more cheese :)
Seriously though I enjoy more earthy craft blogs these days. I think blogs where people are creative have more of a positive beat and I enjoy that.
I don't use a feed reader either because I really, really love the experience of going to a blog and seeing the page exactly how the writer intended it to look. Although it's not easy for me to stop reading someone, not having their material automatically fed to me certainly helps. There are certain unnamed bloggers whose pages I check on occasion just to remind myself why I don't read them any more. And that "oh, right, now I remember" feeling is very satisfying. :)
I have deleted blogs that I don't enjoy reading any longer as well as add new ones that I find interesting... I too don't really use a reader because I like the "visit" to see the look of the blog.
Perfect mom's... are there really such things? I have a hard time believing that one.
Thank you so much for the flattering words! I don't use a feed reader at all. I didn't start, because I tend to get stuck in my ways and once something "works" for me I have to be convinced to try something new. By the time I was ready to give feed readers a try, there were simply so many blogs I could potentially follow that I found the whole thing way too overwhelming. I wound up feeling "behind" by thousands of posts and then the obligation set in. Plus, it turns out that a lot of blogs just don't have much of value to say and that becomes only too clear when they're dumped into your reader day after day...
This is actually one of the reasons I like Twitter--when I like a Twitter friend, I use it as a reminder to check in with her blog. I know I won't read every post of every blog I like simply because it's not possible, and I'm really trying not to feel guilty about that. None of us have the time to do that!
It seems like a lot of bloggers have pretty much stopped blogger or have radically reduced their posting frequency, so I trimmed down my already slim Google blog feed and, even so (obviously!), I have trouble staying current. I've never joined (is that the right term?) Facebook or Twitter and I am SO GLAD. Ravelry and Flickr are my time sucks. Worth it, though. Esp. Ravelry. Speaking of--do you still knit?
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