Blogging...the horror

So, after looking around to find out more about blogging, I've managed to scare myself. First off, it looks like Blogger itself is just oh-so-passe (and not what the clever kids do). Akin to an AOL emai address, I heard! (eep).

Secondly, there's about 3 million different things you should sign up for to add to your blog to make it better and more interesting and look more cool and attract more people and offer more content and make more money and , and...and...

Thirdly I still don't get trackbacks. I think my mind is on strike today.

Fourthly (um?) do I even have anything worth saying? Is anyone going to care? Why am I doing this? What's the point? So far, I know my hubby enjoys reading it. When I tell him to, anyway.

Fifthly (okay, don't ask) I'm not clever enough with technical things to understand or be able to use Wordpress. So does that mean I can't do a good blog just because I'm not technical? That kind of seems a little unfair. I thought the whole point of blogs was that anyone can do one, because we've all got something to say.

Grrr. Guess I'm having one of those 'is-there-anything-i-can-do-successfully?' days. You know the ones. Where's the wine?!?

Blogging, Lost, Next Top Model.

So today I'm trying to find out more about blogging. Hey, I only just started, give me a break! I'm signing up with all kinds of things left right and center...though I'm not entirely sure what half of them do. I'm also being distracted by The Fuselage, the most wonderful Lost forum I've found (but be warned, Ukers, most people on there are watching Season Two). What a corker last night's episode (17) was, eh!?! Phew. And then when that appeared! Wow. And what he said at the end? Fantastic. Uh, for those of you who haven't seen series 2 yet, come back to this when you have and you'll see what I mean.

The other program I've been really into recently is America's Next Top Model. I discovered it halfway through season two, watched season three avidly, and then somehow missed everything since and forgot about it. Now I find out we're on season six already!?! Pretty quick, but I've managed to get hold of season 4 and catch up. Now it's just five and six to go but I might have to rewatch three anyway - they go to Japan in that one, and as you'll know if you've a) read anything earlier or b) looked at my 43things goals - I like Japan and Japanese stuff.

Hmm, and I've tried, but I still don't get trackbacks.

The Boy

This afternoon The Boy is refusing to even entertain the idea of sleep. He refused to go upstairs without making a big fuss, and he's refusing to lay quietly in his cot. So while he is making a mess next to me (it's okay, I'm in his room) I'm still at 43 things. What I didn't realise straight away, is that it's linked into 43 people, 43 places, and, more worryingly, all-consuming and listsofbests. For me, this is a terrible thing, as it means I will no longer be able to move from my computer. Nope, never again.

Hmm. Do you think a 19 month old should be sitting and reading a beautiful Neil Gaiman / Sandman graphic novel?

I don't. Excuse me.

Aaarrrggh. He's sucked it and it's gone wibbly. I've given him 'The Spring Rabbit' which he seems less pleased with but he can do what he likes to that, I don't mind.

Should I keep the Blogger Navigation bar? I dunno. A lot of people seem to want to take it off of their blogs, but I love it - there's no way I'd read half the blogs I do if I hadn't found them through the 'next blog' button. I mean, I guess it means people leave your blog quicker - but personally I get annoyed if a blog *doesn't* have it. It's a difficult decision to make.

Japanese films, X-Box Games, 43 Things.

This morning I've mostly been...43 things, people, places / X-Box Games Rental / Japanese films

The Boy is not really sleeping during his nap this morning. More kind of...being mostly quiet, and sometimes playing. I am however spending my time browsing the Japanese films on my DVD rental site. How on earth do tyou know where to start, when all you've seen are a few Miyazaki / Ghibli films? I've added a couple of the Samurai / Yazuka films I've heard Johnathan Ross talk about in Japanorama and so on. I'm not sure they'll be our thing but we might as well give them a go, else we'll never know. I know we like the horror films a la 'Ring' so I've added a few more of them. You do have to be in the right mood to be scared witless though. I'd like to see more anime but I just don't know what!

On that note, I've found a wonderful site called anime planet which, if you tell it which anime you like, it tells you what other animes you might like! All submitted by users of the site, and all have a little synopsis with them so you can have a read and see if you might like them. What a fantastic, perfect idea! I now have *lots* on my list to check out. Wooh!

Of course, my other big problem is that my DVD rental people have just started doing games. Including X-Box games. Now, I bought The Hubby an X-Box for his birthday last year, I think it was, so that would mean it's not even a year old. We like RPGs and action adventure type games, and I've done all the 'big name' ones I've heard of - The 2 KOTORs, Fable Lost Chapters, Jade Empire (loved this), and a few others. We've also got Unreal Championship for when we're in those moods and I've got Buffy Chaos Bleeds for that kind of fun. Oh and Morrowind is one of my favourites...you can just play it for years. That's it, though, and we've never known if anything else was worth it. Now though we can rent them? Mmmm. I'm looking at a lot of my day vanishing, aren't I?

I've also been adding to mylist which is a lovely idea. Basically it's a 'life goals' list - ranging from travel the world, get married, have kids, to stop biting your nails, drink more water, or buy a notebook. You add what you want to do, and you can see how many other people want to do it. You can also add the things you've done, and whether you're willing to help others acheive their goals. (Just this morning I offered my requested opinion on a 'should I buy this camera or that camera?' post). I guess I know it's kind of time wastery, but oh how I love time wastery sites where you can add your own things and see other peoples too.

StopIE: Help stop Internet Explorer.

:
The worlds most popular, and worst, internet browser:

There are countless bugs in Internet Explorer, but here they list the main reasons why internet explorer is so bad, and what you should do instead. It may be a small, not very pretty site but BOY is it for a good cause.

Firefox all the way, baby.

Isaac in B&w

Isaac in B&w
Originally uploaded by Claire Fun.

Here's a photograph of my little boy. His name is Isaac, he's 19 months old, and he's really, really cheeky. He's great fun at the moment. He says 'pleeeeease' and 'shooooooees' and 'googoo gock!' and all kinds of exciting things. He likes to run, he likes to screech, he likes to chase the cat, he likes to eat (pasta with pesto is his favourite) and he likes watching Balamory and Boogie Beebies. He likes dancing and singing and he's a Daddy's boy. Plus - he's sooooo cute! I have taken lots and lots of photographs of him.

justin in black and white

justin in black and white
Originally uploaded by Claire Fun.

Here is my hubby Justin for your delectation. He isn't really mean and moody, but he was kind enough to pose for me so I caould make him mean and moody for a photograph. We've been married for coming up to 4 years and were together for just over a year before that, so it's not really a long relationship in that way, which feels strange, because he's my best friend and I can't imagine life without him. We spend every minute we can spend together, together, and we never want to go out without each other. It's good. We are both looking forward to warmer weather and long summer holidays, though we are worried about getting older. I think he's more worried than me.

Starting slowly.

So why this blog? It seems that everywhere else I sign up to on the net has their own blog (well okay, stumble upon and myspace are the only ones I can think of at the moment). You can't blog everywhere! (Well, I guess you can if you're so inclined). My son Isaac had his own blog but he's just not keeping it up! (Uh, the funny here is that Isaac is 19 months old and I was writing it from his perspective. Look, I never said very funny, did I?!?) . I have a photography blog - but what's the point when I've got Flickr? So While looking at some fantastic sites I'd like to share, I thought that's it, I'm ready - one blog to rule them all. (Or something along those lines).

So in case you want to know (and I'll only say this once):

I'm a 28 year old woman living in Kent in the UK. I'm happily married to Justin, we have a gorgeous boy called Isaac, we live in a tiny poky little house in a tiny poky little street. We have an evil cat called Mew. Nearby we have my Mum, sister Cath, her sons Joe (13) and Nathaniel (1 1/2) and Mum's dog Ollie. We also have Justin's Mum Pamela, who despite being a mother - in - law I actually get on well with (and she adores her grandson, which is nice).

I'm a stay at home mum, and I've taken this a little to heart and find it very hard to leave the house by myself. Weekends, when Justin is home, is easy, but for some weird reason I just can't do it in the week. I've just got back into photography after 8 years or so away from it, and about 3 weeks ago I bought a new digital SLR which is really, really sexy. I just need more lenses and converters and so on...

Justin and I are going through a real 'Japanese' phase. Our favourite director is Hayao Miyazaki - we love everyone og his films we see. Last night we saw our film Ghibli-but-not-Miyazaki film (Only Yesterday) and we loved it, so now I know it's not just him we like. We both like Haruki Murikami - he's Justin's favourite author and I'm just getting into him (though usually I'm a fantasy books kinda gal). My favourite food is sushi, which I'd never had until last summer's 'Will Adams Festival' in Gillingham (where I also saw Joji Hirota and the Taiko Drummers, who I loved). I just can't get enough sushi - and I can't get over the fact it's fairly healthy too. I'm overweight, have F cup boobs & therefore a bad back, have high blood pressure, and have just gone for a cholesterol test...sigh. Losing weight would be a good thing to do. Oh and I'm also on a few of those websites where you can 'meet' Japanese people to chat to and have already made a few friends (Hi Takeshi & Michiru!). I would LOVE to learn Japanese though I've heard it's really difficult...

Apart from Japan / Japanese what else? Books. Lots & lots of books. Fashion, kind of (Trinny & Susannah have helped me dress like an adult and get rid of a ll my silly old goth clothes. They did me well for a time but now I'm too old, too fat, and they're impractical with a baby. Now I dress stylishly!). I love shoes and scarves and jewellery and make up - I never have much money for these frivolities but I am also an Avon lady so I can get that cheap (and lots of it is really good stuff!). I love films & TV, and on a related note love Bittorrent. Only the stuff it's legal to Bittorrent of course! (Ahem). I'm into gardening (though less since having Isaac than I used to be) and also into doing up our house and buying nice things for it. I enjoy Ebay, though often spend too much time & money on there. I love animals - foxes are my favourite, but I love dogs a lot and really I do like most animals. I enjoy cutesy silly photos of animals too. I'm a bit off music - everything new sounds like it's been done before - and I used to like it then - but I do still love Nick Cave (who NEVER sounds like anyone else!) and the Polyphonic Spree (who come to think of it are also quite original). I have a soft spot for Pink too, and Scott Walker is my all time favourite.

So - that's me, that's what I like. They'll be more, of course - I can't sum up my life in a few paragraphs - but it's certainly a good starting place. And starting soon I will start adding what I like...