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This image is by catnapping, who gave me permission to post it. I hope she won't mind that I played with it a bit. Her work brings me pleasure all year long.
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Today's Holidailies post is at Blogging Blog: Gifts for Bloggers
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Today's Holidailies post is at Abide: A Bad Spell
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No, I'm not sticking my tongue out at you. Really.
But I do love that Wild Thing.
Yesterday was the first day of Holidailies, and we were invited to introduce ourselves. Those of you who have been reading Watermark for awhile know me, probably, better than I know myself; but how to introduce myself, and Watermark, to new readers? I could send you to my rather quirky About Page, but you might feel a bit overwhelmed. I've no idea whether my regular readers ever check that out. Do you?
I took this opportunity to play a bit with fd's flickr toys and Picnik to make the above wintry self-portrait. This is one of the reasons I blog: for the fun of it; to play with words and images and ideas.
I am an introvert | poet | snapshotter | blogger. I've been blogging for nearly four years now (with the odd brief or extended break) during which Watermark has collected a surprising number of patient and loyal readers. They (you) are also surprisingly diverse. (Want to know more about Watermark's readers? Check out -- and join! -- the Introduce Youself post.)
Some adore the sidebar, with its widgets and gadgets and pointers elsewhere; some find it unnecessarily cluttered and distracting. Some, who come for my more serious writing, find the cats and quizzes trivial; others come for only those. Some love the look of it; some rarely see it, as they get my posts by subscription or email (check the top of the sidebar if you'd like to join them) and come visit only when they want to comment or I request feedback on a design change.
So maybe Watermark is a bit like Montana weather: Don't like it? Wait a minute; it will change. If you aren't taken with today's post, try again tomorrow.
It's tempting to say that I am like that, too -- changeable and varied and surprising; moody and capricious and fickle. But actually, I'm not. I am, in fact, rather steady and predictable.
This exercise reminds me that one is not always what one seems to be on the internet -- or in 3D life. I am, however, quite transparent here, and tend to forget that others may not be. I'm as surprised when, on occasion, someone doubts me, as I am to discover that I should have doubted them.
But that's another post altogether. In the meantime, here I am. And I'm also, sometimes, at Abide | Resources & Reflections on Living with Chronic Illness; and Blogging Blog | Tips, Tools & Toys for the Personal Blogger.
Edited to add:
One Time Opportunity Is there something you'd like to know about me? Ask, and I'll answer. I won't necessarily tell the truth, but if the answer is fictional, I'll tell you so.
Woo Hoo! I actually managed to do this. And I can't possibly express how satisfied I feel.
This was a totally different experience than last year. Last year, I actually attempted a novel; this time I began a memoir. And it is just a beginning. I know this is a project I'll be working on for quite a long time. It's some combination of 'real' writing, and therapeutic writing -- which I've resisted for months, but obviously needed to do.
You may continue to see excerpts posted here, now and then, as I go back through it and find bits that might interest you.
And yup, I managed this, too. I don't feel quite so exhilarated about this one, but I am pleased, and I think it was useful. Some of you know that I was not writing, or blogging, for several months; this exercise reminded me how much practice matters.
I had, somehow, lost the knack, and the delight, of blogging. That's back now, I think. I'm loving it again.
Good thing, too, since it's time for Holidailies. Last year I forgot about this until it was too late to register, but I was right on it this year. So you can look forward (you do look forward, don't you?) to another month of daily posts.
So, hey -- see ya soon!
Before making any new promises, let's take another look at last year's resolutions ( with more current photos), shall we?
- I will quit eating catshit
- I will try to be less cute, so that the other critters get equal attention
- I won't try to climb on Sharon's head
Still does the first; judge for yourself on the second; minor improvement on the third.
- I will be less neurotic, so that I don't have to be so brave
- I will remember that I am not the boss of the cats
- I will keep playing tug-a-war, which I just discovered, with Henry
Actually, some progress on the first! Not so much on the other two, though.
- I will risk coming downstairs when we have company
- I will stop playing with cat turds on the staircase
- I will spend more time on the lap, and less on the shoulder
That second one is hopeless, I fear. But she is less shy!
- I will, for another year, not bite anyone
- I will be less of a bully
- I will be kinder to my teddy bear
Wow. Spike has not bitten anyone! Spike has mellowed! (We'll just forget about teddy for the moment...)
Squirrel(s) sort of committed:
- I will share more with my siblings and cousins
- I will not chew the ottoman
- I will stop teasing the neighborhood dogs
Ah, well. It was silly to think I had any influence over them, anyway. Although I have enjoyed watching a pair of them . . . um . . . act like it's spring, in the lilac tree, today.
And what about the human?
Well you should ask.
My New Year Resolution in January 2005 was to quit smoking:
I did great. For 1 1/2 years. Then, in the fall, I began smoking with a neighbor, and quickly got up to four cigarettes a day. Sometimes three, occasionally five.
Now it's been almost two weeks without a smoke; the neighbor is out of town. I'm going nuts. I swear my mind is muddier without nicotine.
Really.
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