Jenny is back again, like a persistant ant infestation!
Poor journal. Locked in the coal shed with only woodlice and the occasional foolhardy sparrow to eat, then dragged out into the harsh light with high promises of regular updates and a return to its days in the sun, then cast back into the darkness to stare at a locked door.
But I do think about it, I do want to update. I’m always waiting for something - Oh, I’ll just finish NaNo, I’ll just finish this course, I’ll just get settled here or there and then I’ll update every week.
I’ve had this email, you see, saying my paid account is expiring, so it’s crunch time. Now, if I’m going to have an el-jay that is ever updated, I’d rather it be a paid one, because I have this insurmountable weakness for icons. If I’m going to use it only to scratch the slash itch when it takes me by lurking around lower_tadfield and sausagefestival, I may as well put this poor wretched creature out of its misery. So I need to decide if I am realistically ever going to update, because twice in as many years doesn't justify it.
I therefore put the question to you: is livejournal dead?
I know a lot of the people on my friends list have not posted for as long or longer than me, and others still have taken me off because there’s nothing but rotting meat to look at here. Who still checks livejournal? It might still be worth updating if people are lurking and looking for something to read.
You’ll forgive me not going too far back in my friends list to see who is making regular updates, because the entire thing is taken up with mission101 posts, presumably because it’s the start of a new year and people are feeling listy.
Sometimes I think I might get a whole new journal and start again, Lydia style, because this one has seen too much moaning and moping and feeling wretched and I am always totally embarrassed by everything I write after about three months, but then I think, aw, it has also seen some of my more hilarious and endearing follies, like the death shots. At other times I think of getting a new blog somewhere else, or even a website, but I seem to have been sadly lacking the agency up to now.
Anyways, what have I been doing with myself, you clamour? In the short twelve-month since I last updated, I have been rigorously occupied ripping my life up by the roots and leaving a dramatic circle of devastation, only to set it down two fields over in the same barren soil, so it’s, you know, been a bit of a time, as usual.
As regards the magnificent mission101 list, though I have clearly failed item 1 (Update Livejournal once a week), I am doing perfectly well with others.
These have been done or are ongoing ones with which I am up to date.
2. Practice drawing (one picture min per week). - I have done a fuck-ton of drawing, though not quite one per week, but I forgive myself.
3. Write everyday (unless I’m hugely drunk or something).
5. Find a new job/pack this one in. - I don’t know if the fact that I am temping gain counts as finding a new job, but the fact remains I completely handed in my resignation at Stepping Hill.
9. Submit 20 poems for publication. - I’ve done about two, could be better.
10. Submit 10 stories for publication. Again, about two, but I’ve been quite prolific in their production.
15. Do another NaNoWriMo - Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m amazing:
It only took me about twenty days as well.
21.Make a list of gratitudes/Reasons to be Cheerful and refer to this frequently. - Soppy stuff, but I do a little nightly list of things that were not dreadful that day. This marks a concerted effort on my part to amend my attitude.
24. Find regular volunteering gig. - I found it, then I lost it again. This still counts.
27. Make cards IN ADVANCE of people’s birthdays! - Been doing very well on this one.
33. Get a photo of me that is not completely loathsome - Sort of
37. Get totally up to date with all Terry Practchett books. - Nearly there.
40. Make money outside my day job. - I did this once by being an extra, and I also sold a heap of things on Ebay, but I’m aiming for more consistency in this area.
44. Learn about meditation and try and do it without falling asleep. - I went to a workshop and everything, and now I’m a fairly regular meditaitor...meditationist?
49. Get back in touch with lovely people who I have been remiss enough not to see for ages. - I have been amazing at this, you will not believe the people I’ve got back in touch with!
54.Go zorbing.
55. Visit 10 ruins I have not been to before. - In progress
56. See a show/play/gig at least once a month. - A lot of the main Jenny bands seem to have been hanging around Germany for some annoying reason, but I have seen some amazing plays this year.
77. Do 20 things that scare me. - This might have been a bit silly, because it’s not really quantifiable what counts as really scary, but I can safely say I’ve done at least seven pretty terrible bits of terror over the year.
78. Cut down on smokables (get down to once a week, if that).
79. Stop completely for 1 month on 2 occasions. - The first time I did this I had to try really hard and tick the days off on a calendar, the second time I just moved in with people who didn’t like smoking and so this has resulted in about four months of virtue, which I’m not sure I completely like now I’m experiencing it…
I might have completed other points too, but this depends on definitions - does Northern Ireland count as ‘another country’ (It takes longer to get between Manchester and Stockport on the bus than it took me to get to Ireland and I didn’t have to change money, but on the other hand there was definitely things like the ocean and the Isle of Man on the way), and does appearing for two seconds in some dreadful sitcom count as appearing on film?
Other points are going to have to be seriously revised as they were either too vague or have proved to be really not as good an idea as they appeared at first.
And otherwise, I’m just looking into the practicality of renewing my journal and pulling my finger out, so to speak. I hope you are all hale and hearty and that we shall do interacting sort of things more in the future.
But I do think about it, I do want to update. I’m always waiting for something - Oh, I’ll just finish NaNo, I’ll just finish this course, I’ll just get settled here or there and then I’ll update every week.
I’ve had this email, you see, saying my paid account is expiring, so it’s crunch time. Now, if I’m going to have an el-jay that is ever updated, I’d rather it be a paid one, because I have this insurmountable weakness for icons. If I’m going to use it only to scratch the slash itch when it takes me by lurking around lower_tadfield and sausagefestival, I may as well put this poor wretched creature out of its misery. So I need to decide if I am realistically ever going to update, because twice in as many years doesn't justify it.
I therefore put the question to you: is livejournal dead?
I know a lot of the people on my friends list have not posted for as long or longer than me, and others still have taken me off because there’s nothing but rotting meat to look at here. Who still checks livejournal? It might still be worth updating if people are lurking and looking for something to read.
You’ll forgive me not going too far back in my friends list to see who is making regular updates, because the entire thing is taken up with mission101 posts, presumably because it’s the start of a new year and people are feeling listy.
Sometimes I think I might get a whole new journal and start again, Lydia style, because this one has seen too much moaning and moping and feeling wretched and I am always totally embarrassed by everything I write after about three months, but then I think, aw, it has also seen some of my more hilarious and endearing follies, like the death shots. At other times I think of getting a new blog somewhere else, or even a website, but I seem to have been sadly lacking the agency up to now.
Anyways, what have I been doing with myself, you clamour? In the short twelve-month since I last updated, I have been rigorously occupied ripping my life up by the roots and leaving a dramatic circle of devastation, only to set it down two fields over in the same barren soil, so it’s, you know, been a bit of a time, as usual.
As regards the magnificent mission101 list, though I have clearly failed item 1 (Update Livejournal once a week), I am doing perfectly well with others.
These have been done or are ongoing ones with which I am up to date.
2. Practice drawing (one picture min per week). - I have done a fuck-ton of drawing, though not quite one per week, but I forgive myself.
3. Write everyday (unless I’m hugely drunk or something).
5. Find a new job/pack this one in. - I don’t know if the fact that I am temping gain counts as finding a new job, but the fact remains I completely handed in my resignation at Stepping Hill.
9. Submit 20 poems for publication. - I’ve done about two, could be better.
10. Submit 10 stories for publication. Again, about two, but I’ve been quite prolific in their production.
15. Do another NaNoWriMo - Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m amazing:
It only took me about twenty days as well.
21.Make a list of gratitudes/Reasons to be Cheerful and refer to this frequently. - Soppy stuff, but I do a little nightly list of things that were not dreadful that day. This marks a concerted effort on my part to amend my attitude.
24. Find regular volunteering gig. - I found it, then I lost it again. This still counts.
27. Make cards IN ADVANCE of people’s birthdays! - Been doing very well on this one.
33. Get a photo of me that is not completely loathsome - Sort of
37. Get totally up to date with all Terry Practchett books. - Nearly there.
40. Make money outside my day job. - I did this once by being an extra, and I also sold a heap of things on Ebay, but I’m aiming for more consistency in this area.
44. Learn about meditation and try and do it without falling asleep. - I went to a workshop and everything, and now I’m a fairly regular meditaitor...meditationist?
49. Get back in touch with lovely people who I have been remiss enough not to see for ages. - I have been amazing at this, you will not believe the people I’ve got back in touch with!
54.Go zorbing.
55. Visit 10 ruins I have not been to before. - In progress
56. See a show/play/gig at least once a month. - A lot of the main Jenny bands seem to have been hanging around Germany for some annoying reason, but I have seen some amazing plays this year.
77. Do 20 things that scare me. - This might have been a bit silly, because it’s not really quantifiable what counts as really scary, but I can safely say I’ve done at least seven pretty terrible bits of terror over the year.
78. Cut down on smokables (get down to once a week, if that).
79. Stop completely for 1 month on 2 occasions. - The first time I did this I had to try really hard and tick the days off on a calendar, the second time I just moved in with people who didn’t like smoking and so this has resulted in about four months of virtue, which I’m not sure I completely like now I’m experiencing it…
I might have completed other points too, but this depends on definitions - does Northern Ireland count as ‘another country’ (It takes longer to get between Manchester and Stockport on the bus than it took me to get to Ireland and I didn’t have to change money, but on the other hand there was definitely things like the ocean and the Isle of Man on the way), and does appearing for two seconds in some dreadful sitcom count as appearing on film?
Other points are going to have to be seriously revised as they were either too vague or have proved to be really not as good an idea as they appeared at first.
And otherwise, I’m just looking into the practicality of renewing my journal and pulling my finger out, so to speak. I hope you are all hale and hearty and that we shall do interacting sort of things more in the future.