The Z Master

An artist's portrait of The Z Master.

The Z Master (formerly known as The Master of Laziness, The Zen Napper and possibly, The World Record Holder for taking the longest naps, 4 days and five hours) was all already to answer all your life questions but a sudden urge to nap overtook him. Everything is postponed until farther notice. In the meantime, he left us with these wise words, "Never ignore the urge to nap. It is a way to cleanse your soul and something else I forgot but you can figure it out yourself." There you go, the Z Master has spoken. Good nap to you.

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Note: This is the last post for the A-Z Challenge but there will be a reflection post after this in which I'll say a little bit about this year's experience.

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Fiction: The Yesterday Portal

Photo by Ray Bilcliff

Fiction: The Yesterday Portal
The Portal was an archway of long-ago ruins framed by a vivid forest. Its circular shape was mirrored in the clear water. It was just as Jane's literature professor had described - heavenly and peaceful. If she wasn't here for a specific reason, she might have stopped and tried to enjoy being there.
    Slowly, she rowed through the archway. In a flash she was back in the same boat looking at the same archway. Everything looked the same as a moment ago. Was she mistaken? She tried once more and rowed through the archway only to be back in the same place.
    Had her professor not said the portal took you back one year? Was he in such a delirium state in his last days that he got it wrong? At first, she had thought he was telling her one of his fanciful stories when he spoke of the portal. A gateway to go back in time? It was a fantasy and yet, it was just what she wanted.
    Jane stood up and looked around her - the water, the trees, the sky - they looked slightly different and yet, almost the same. She peered down at her clothes. White shirt, gray pants with gray boots but a moment ago, her shirt had been pink and her pants was white and she was wearing the same gray boots. At that moment, she had a realization. Yesterday, she came here but then hesitated and returned to the hotel without going through the archway. 
    She dropped down on the wooden thwart. The boat rocked from side to side while the paddles made a splash in the water. Above, a few rays of light shone down between the clouds. She spent almost a month riding hot air balloons, boats, trains, horses, vehicles and endured all sort of discomfort and intolerable people just to get here and it was all for nothing. She took off a boot and threw it through the archway. It disappeared mid-air. Tears filled her eyes. She laughed. Her voice echoed all around her. Above, a few birds flew passed but it soon became as silent as before. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
    I must destroy this thing, she thought. Her time here may be a waste but she was not going to let another follow her path. She glanced down at her socked foot. First, she must get her boot back. She rowed through the archway and was instantly back on the other side. Both her boots were on her feet.
    She looked up at the archway. It appeared old and plain, a structure of leftover stones weathered by time and storms. If she was still teaching history, she might have studied the structure, took photos and gave a lesson to her students but this place wasn't worth studying. She searched through the sack left by the boatman and took out a rusted wrench almost as long as her arm.

X Words Followed By Sentences

In which I try to use X words and turned them into very short stories and maybe continue my semi-murderous writing streak.

01 - Xenomancy   
Meaning: divination using strangers
Sentence: The psychic studies the woman: brown eyes, large and wide, lips, thin and frowning, nose, long and lean. "I know you too well to use my xenomancy on you but if you want to know the future, the immediate future, death is what to expect," she says. Then she laughs manically and drops dead onto the floor.

02 - Xanthippe
Meaning: ill-tempered woman
Sentence: The xanthippe scowls at the large, bearded man sitting on the barstool cradling a glass of yellow liquid. Making a fist, she throws a punch at the man and lets out a few profanities but her hand goes right through his face. In the many years, she have been following him, lashing at him and basically screaming her lungs out, she have never managed to lessen her anger. Just once, she would like to break his large nose for turning her into a ghost.

03 - Xenagogue   
Meaning: guide; someone who conducts strangers
Sentence: The psychic nursed his cold glass of beer at the bar. His days as a xenagogue was over. Not a single client believed him enough to follow his advice. They all thought he had been lying but he could never lie ever since he was cursed to speak only the truth. In the end, he gave their money back but he knew a few of them won't live long enough to re-spend it.

04 - Xenomorphic   
Meaning: having a form not its own
Sentence: From time to time, being xenomorphic have its use. But pitifully for Sam, she could only transform into a wooden doll or a piece of wooden furniture, neither one is useful when people are trying to kill her.

05 - Xenodochial
Meaning: hospitable; kindly to strangers
Sentence: Nobody is xenodochial in Threadbare Town and yet, the population grows every year even as neighbors face new neighbors and keep having screaming matches on their front lawns. But Mayor Leonard doesn't like having strangers living in his town. He is going to change that by committing the one thing the town had never experienced in the 100 years that it existed: a murder.

Can you use one or all of these X words in a sentence or two?

(X words are found here.)

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Words From Another Word

What words can you make with the letters in weatherproofing? If you don't know what I mean, here's an example. With the word wordsmith, I can make the word dots. The bolded letters formed dots: wordsmith

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Very Short Reads

Here are some of my favorite very short reads, all under 300 pages.

01 - The girl who sailed the stars (aka The Girl, the Cat & the Navigator) by Matilda Woods with illustrations by Anuska Allepuz > link
Page count: 272
What's it about: stars, magical creatures, the sea, travel
Favorite passage: "Oona stared up at the lonely moon. She knew what she had to do. Forget feeling the North in the tips of her toes. She was going to feel it all around. She wasn't going south, no matter what anyone said. She was going to go north, just like she'd always dreamed.
    It was a big decision: four whole months at sea. It would be dangerous and wet. It would be cold and windy. And maybe she would fall overboard and drown. But it would, without a doubt, be an adventure, and she had always wanted to go on one of them."

02 - The Marvelous Magic of Miss Mabel by Natasha Lowe > link
Page count: 288
What's it about: magic, family, witch school, inventions
Favorite passage: "...Don't you get the shivers just looking at all that space, wondering what's up there? I want to invent a broomstick to fly to the moon."

03 - The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson > link
Page count: 231
What's it about: magic kingdoms, magic, hags/witches, princes, family
Favorite passage: "It wasn't him they'd come to see; he'd been an idiot. When he'd seen them standing there he'd had such a feeling of...homecoming, as though at last the years of drudgery were over. It was like that dream he had sometimes - the dream with the sea in it, and soft green turf and someone whose face he couldn't see clearly, but who he knew wanted him."

04 - The ordinary princess by M.M. Kaye > link
Page count: 112
What's it about: princesses, maids, kings, self-love, true love
Favorite passage: “...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world.”

05 - Poison by Bridget Zinn > link
Page count: 280
What's it about: princesses, friendship, murder, potions, love, magic
Favorite passage: "It was the most ridiculous thing in the world: Kyra, would-be assassin and master potioner, had resorted to hunting down her prey — her best friend the princess — with a piglet."

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Unicorn Philosophy

Book mockup template from Covervault

Just a bunch of fake self-help unicorn books with one that is real. Can you guess which book is real? Hint: It's not #1.

01 - Unicorn Philosophy: Find Your Rainbow And Shut Up Your Inner Critic by Trudy Fine, Universe Times Bestselling Author of The Blind Tourist: Touring The Galaxy With A God-Like Being

02 - Horns to Hooves: A Wordless Guide To Unicorn Whispering by Quiet 'Buddha' Monkey

03 - A Unicorn in a World of Donkeys: A Guide to Life for All the Exceptional, Excellent Misfits Out There by Mia Michaels

04 - Blue Is Just A Color: How To Survive In A White Unicorn's World When You're Blue by Nicole Snail

05 - The Unicorn Way: Simple Steps to Living A Magical Life With Possible Side View To Some Boring Stuff by Ina Heartbeat

06 - The Rainbow Diet: 8 Secrets to Become A Badass Unicorn Without Trying Too Hard by Allis Bliss

07 - Unicorns & Volcanos: How Not To Blow Stuff Up Just Because You Have Access To Volcanos and Unicorn Magic by April Gale

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Tweets From An Alien

Aggie Twist@alienearthlingcitizen
New alien-earthling citizen, former ruler of Planet Twist
Likes: spicy onion rings with lots of ketchup, the color pink & beings who are kind
Dislikes: sushi, bullies & rude beings

01 - I need more spicy onion rings, less questions about why I like onion rings.

02 - I like having conversations with humans. They always say the dumb things I hope I'll never say.

03 - Yes, I am also amazed I know how to tweet in English (Add eyeroll here).

04 - Whenever people asked if my antennas can pick up outer space signals, I strongly resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

05 - Whenever someone said they admired my skin, they always asked if it was a tanning accident. I always answered yes.

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Fiction: Seven A.M.

Seven A.M., Edward Hopper, 1948

Fiction: Seven A.M.
She opens her eyes to the white ceiling. For a few minutes, she just lies there. Then she makes her way to the bathroom. In a few moments, she walks down the short flight of metal stairs and into the store. Her steps echo faintly in the silence. Through the window panes, dull light spills onto the wooden floor. She sits down on the chair behind the counter and places her hot cup of coffee on the glass top.
    Outside, the morning breeze barely moves the thick trees. The streets are empty. As she tries to decide whether to start going through the new inventory or go through the books, thunder claps and rain pounds down but the sound is slightly muffled.    
    The bell on the door rings as it opens. She looks up at the clock. The clock's hands has stopped at the seven and twelve. Too early for customers. Has she forgot to lock the door again? In this small town, it wouldn't have mattered but she is still quite aware she is a stranger here even after all these months. She sighs.
    The tall figure shrouded in the semi-darkness closes the door and makes its way toward her. She reaches behind her and flips on the switch. One by one, the lights above comes on.
    The tall man stops just a few feet before her and pulls back the hood of his raincoat. Raindrops drip onto the floor.
    "You're going to clean that up right?" It's her store but that doesn't mean she has to clean every mess someone makes when they come in.
    The man laughs. "Only if you think I should." He smiles and then widens his mouth. "I know I'm a bit early but your clock is wrong. It's 6:55, not 7:00. I'm here because it's your time to go."
    "Go where?" She raises an eyebrow at him.
    He points upward. "I wouldn't call it heaven but some people might."
    "You mean—"
    "Yep, you're dead. But you don't have to take my word for it. Go up the stairs again and look into your room. I'll wait here." The man sits down by the window where a low platform creates a seating area.

Ramblings on Reading

sailor mermaid reading

01 - There is an expression I read in a review, 'rage-delete,' that I thought it makes perfect sense for ebook readers. I might have rage-deleted a couple of ebooks off my kindle but it's not as rage-filled or as quick as it sounds. With a kindle, you have the option of removing a download (that is, a book) and it will remove the book off your kindle right away. The other option is permanently delete the book but it doesn't delete the book right away, it stops to asks you if you really want to delete it. Permanently delete means it will be deleted from your amazon cloud account so if you want to read that book again, you'll have to repurchase it. With library books, you use the return to public library option but it still asks you if you're certain about it.

02 - I used to hoard books even though I'm not reading them. I thought I would read them some day, like maybe several years from the day I brought them. So did I read them? A few I did but most I gave up. Instead of physical books piling on a desk, I now have ebooks filling up my kindle which is kind of sad because now I can't shift piles of books from place to place (and maybe flip through them), instead, I just stroll down the screen and ignore books.

03 - I no longer like signed books. I used to have a few signed books but I gave them up. I barely know the authors so having them signed a book, even a favorite book, seems a bit meaningless. Is a book worth more if it's signed? I suppose now that authors (and famous people) are being revealed to be not-so-great people, it sort of makes owning signed books a sad affair but none of it makes a difference to me. I really just don't care to own signed books.

04 - I enjoy book rants and negative reviews more than glowing/positive reviews. I just find them more entertaining and most of the long ones are thorough and precise. There are books that I simply do not want to read (and know I won't like them) but I figure since I can't enjoy reading them, I should be able to enjoy other people's rants about them. I think readers should get together and spread the joy of making fun of books together.

05 - I sort of hate that books that are standalones are now book series. Yes, all books can have sequels and prequels because stories don't really end but once a book is completed or once a story has ended, I just don't see any reason to reboot or restart the story. I mostly do not read these new sequels/prequels because they will never be as good as the original standalone but maybe they are for newer audience. I don't know. I'm not against visiting familiar characters and places but I'm against writing unnecessary books. So who is to say what's necessary or unnecessary? The publisher? The author? The reader? Who knows. I just think some of these new additions kind of ruins the original.

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Some Choice Questions

Just some choice questions for you today. Answer one or answer all questions.
01 - Would you rather have a twin exactly like you or a twin the opposite of you?
02 - Would you rather never use the internet or never use electricity?
03 - Would you rather read a really long paper book or a very short ebook?
04 - Would you rather eat cold pizza every morning or hot chili every night?
05 - Would you rather have 7 seconds of memory or remember every single thing?

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Paperback Favorites

I usually read paperbacks even when given a choice of hardcovers. Anyway, here are some of my favorite paperbacks in alphabetical order.

01 - Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte > link
What's it about: home, teaching, growing up, faith
Favorite Passage: "All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut. Whether this be the case with my history or not, I am hardly competent to judge; I sometimes think it might prove useful to some, and entertaining to others, but the world may judge for itself; shielded by my own obscurity, and by the lapse of years, and a few fictitious names, I do not fear to venture, and will candidly lay before the public what I would not disclose to the most intimate friend."

02 - The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery > link
What's it about: marriage, love, life, belonging
Favorite Passage: "You see — I've never had any real life", she said. "I've just — breathed."

03 - Gathering the Water by Robert Edric > link
What's it about: water, grief, home, future
Favorite Passage: "Starting anew, I began to discern the light and the landmarks of the possible future. There was a time in between, of course — a period of confusion in which life went on and I acted out my part within it — but it was never starting anew, never a rebirth, merely a succession of lesser endings, during which I severed my ties one after another — my family, my work, my connection to Helen's family, to her sister, to my colleagues, and finally upon reaching the shapeless centre of that darkness, my hopes and expectations for the future."

04 - Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver > link
What's it about: ghost, grief, home, magic
Favorite Passage: “The Other Side was a busy place — as busy, if not busier, than the Living Side. They ran parallel, the two words, like two mirrors sitting face-to-face, but normally Po was only dimly aware of the Living Side. It was a swirl of colors to the ghost's left; a sudden explosion of sounds to its right; a dim impression of warmth and movement.”

05 - Postcards from a Dead Girl by Kirk Farber > link
What's it about: postcards, grief, travels, neurotic dreams
Favorite Passage: "The postcard is everything, but looks like nothing. An inconsequential sheet of pressed pulp decorated with a few drops of ink, it barely exists in the physical realm. But this one has got hold of something inside me that feels like forever. I follow the looping lines that make up Zoe's penmanship, the soaring arcs and inky swirls. I try to understand the true implications of her words, the hidden message behind the surface one. What a ridiculous phrase: wish you were here."

06 - Snow hunters by Paul Yoon > link
What's it about: reborn, orphans, home, family
Favorite Passage: "He thought of these years as another life within the one he had. As though it were a thing he was able to carry. A small box. A handkerchief. A stone. He did not understand how a life could vanish. How that was even possible. How it could close in an instant before you could reach inside one last time, touch someone's hand one last time. How there would come a day when no one would wonder about the life he had before this one."

07 - Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell > link
What's it about: family, marriage, gossips, relationships, love
Favorite Passage: "I daresay it seems foolish; perhaps all our earthly trials will appear foolish to us after a while; perhaps they seem so now to angels. But we are ourselves, you know, and this is now, not some time to come, a long, long way off. And we are not angels to be comforted by seeing the ends for which everything is sent."

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One Sentence Story

Office at night, Edward Hopper, 1940

Fiction: One Day
One day, she might pick up the typewriter off her desk, strikes him over the head and asks if he still wants her to work overtime even though all he makes her do is take folders in and out of the filing cabinet.

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Fiction: Night Stroll

Starry Night Over the Rhône, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Fiction: Night Stroll
The two strolled away from the edge of the river after they had, longingly, soaked in the night stars into their dreamy eyes. It was the perfect evening for moving in silence. So said the man beside the woman. They had always gotten along but tonight, they understood each with a few glances, as if they had always been a pair.
    Their gazes met again. They both smiled. She put her hand through his arm. He pressed the back of her hand gently. The warmth of her skin made everything he did before this moment the past, the things he shall forget.
    Yes, thought the man, it was a perfect evening. Still, his mind strayed to the man at the bottom of the river, the man he had pushed in without even a second thought. Was it right of him to do such things just to keep this woman's heart? He smiled again at the woman by his side. Even though he might regret everything the next evening they go strolling, tonight was his and it was his perfect dream.

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What's Your Motto?

Photo by Ray Bilcliff

Pick the first initial of your first name or last name, your favorite alphabet or just pick any letter to get your motto. Please note: The accuracy and usefulness of these mottos is about 0.00000000001% out of 100%. We are not responsible for any ill-advised things you might do if you use any of these as a guide for your life. Please use your motto responsibly.

A — A bad attitude is sometimes needed to get rid of stupid people.
B — Be who you want to be as long as you don't want to be a serial killer.
C — If you can't decide between two roads, check what shoes you're wearing.
D — Don't be angry at the world, just the one who makes you mad.
E — Eat those cookies or whatever else you want unless they will kill you.
F — Failure is your unconscious telling you not to do that stupid thing again.
G — Good things comes to those who ordered them.
H — There's always time for a holiday.
I — Ignore any advice given by a guy with a stain on his shirt.
J — Don't judge people by their looks, some assholes appear like angels.
K — Keep your eyes open unless you're sleeping.
L — Being lazy doesn't mean you're not doing something.
M — A little madness doesn't hurt.
N — Never mistake an alligator for a fish.
O — If opportunity isn't knocking, you're probably standing outside.
P — If plan A through Z fails, use numbers.
Q — Always ask stupid questions, you'll never know if you might get some surprising answers.
R — Rest every day so that you have the energy to make more dumb decisions.
S — Never stop someone from talking you into searching for rainbows.
T — Everything is transient except the annoying neighbors who refused to move.
U — Life is full of ups and downs with some trying to escape sideways.
V — Life may be a voyage but that doesn't mean you have to go anywhere.
W — Whine if you want to.
X — Life is like spending your days looking for words starting with X that doesn't make sense no matter how you use them.
Y — It is better to live one day as a dog than one hundred days as a yak.
Z — Life is a zoo and you're the janitor trying to clean up the mess.

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My Library

The beast's library

If I own my own library, like an entire house for books, these would be the books I would have:
01 - All of L.M. Montgomery books and maybe her short stories
02 - All of Charlotte, Emily, Anne Bronte's books
03 - The Harry Potter series in the original UK writing
04 - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
05 - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
06 - All the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
07 - All the Jane Austen books
08 - Some Charles Dickens books
09 - All of Elizabeth Gaskell books
10 - Some Roald Dahl books illustrated by Quentin Blake
11 - Some translated fictions from around the world
12 - Some Frances Hodgson Burnett books
13 - All the Hans Christian Andersen fairytales
14 - All the Brothers Grimm fairytales
15 - Some Jules Verne books
16 - A few nonfiction/biographies/memoirs/art books
17 - And about a thousand favorite books

What types of books would you put in your library?

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Keep Calm & Blog On

Just some blogging habits I have kind of developed over the years. Whether these are good or bad habits, who knows but they seem to work.

01 - Don't use a phone to blog/read blogs — I just never got into that habit of using my phone for blogging and I don't think that will ever change. I prefer a computer and I prefer typing on a full size keyboard.

02 - Spellcheck everything, even my comments — Yes, I spellcheck my comments because I'm a bad speller. I write my comments in a word app which makes it easier to spellcheck. Of course spellcheck cannot tell me when I'm missing a word. It seems I often leave out 'not' in my comments which I sometimes thought I have typed it out then I re-read my comments that is already posted and it isn't there.

03 - Correct posts after they are posted — Sometimes I see a misspelled word or the wording is wrong or if the post format is askew somehow, I would correct it. Maybe I am incapable to resist correcting mistakes or maybe I have a problem.

04 - Don't schedule my posts — I did tried this a few times but it doesn't always post at the right scheduled time. I don't know why Blogger uses military time in the post editor. I'm too used to the 12-hour time to adjust to the 24-hour time.

05 - Take a week to decide on a post — I usually take a couple of days to work on a post and then maybe a couple more days to decide if I want to post it. For this A-Z challenge, I only get a few hours for each posts which is probably why I do #3 a lot this month.

06 - Reply to comments on my blog but slowly — I always reply to comments that are left on my blog but it takes me a while to remember to do this. I do prefer having the comment box below the post instead of a pop-out box which doesn't have the reply option.

07 - Make lists in mostly 7's — Seven is my favorite number so often, my lists are in 7's but sometimes they are in 3, 5, or 10's but mostly in 7's. Is this weird?

If you're a blogger, do you have any blogging habits?

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Easy Jeopardy!

The category is 'random things you probably already know.' You must phrase your answer in the form of a question. Answers are over here. (In case you don't know, Jeopardy! is a tv game show where clues are given and you respond with the question. For more, go here.)

Here are the clues:

01 - You spend a lot of time on it and probably regret a lot of things you said or even read but you don't regret shouting at it to go faster.

02 - Animal that cannot hop backward and has a pouch on her belly where she carries her offspring.

03 - The 10th letter of the alphabet.

04 - This has four legs and do a lot of resting.

05 - Mystical creature with four legs and a spiraled horn in the middle of the forehead.

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Fiction: Intermission

Intermission by Edward Hopper, 1963

Fiction: Intermission
She might have left with him. Leaving her life's work might have been worth it. Yet, here, she sits. The lights go on and illuminate the scratchy floor of the stage, the worn, orange curtains and down here, the deteriorated fabric of the seats and the scuffed floor. All around her, folks vacate their seats. Intermission has begun.
    Usually she goes backstage and checks on the staff and have a cup of coffee or give herself a moment alone. But she remains seated.
    The lighthouse enters her mind. She has only seen pictures of it. Tall, quiet, a strong tower above the frozen water. The investigator sent her pictures. As there aren't many windows in the living quarters, there are only a few closeups of a figure standing outside the lighthouse. He appears to look the same - tall with a slightly bended back and a tired face. The investigator's report stated he never left the lighthouse and there have been only three visitors but none stayed long.
    It is just like him to be somewhere with hardly anyone close by. He have always said one person is enough company for him. She might have been that one person. She might have lived in that frozen landscape with him. A life away from the theater, away from the bright lights and loud applauses. And yet, here she sits. In this broken-down theater, hoping the audience will like the show enough to come back for a repeat performance so they can afford to pay the actors and the staff.
    Having shuffled about all day trying to get the show ready, her feet are aching. She stretches out her legs and leans back in the seat. The rough, worn fabric envelopes her like a familiar hug. Her life have always been here - beneath the stage, on the stage, or behind the stage. She has never regretted staying. Regrets are for other people. Never her. No, not her. Regrets are for other people.

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Honest Confessions From a Longtime Blogger

This April (or perhaps June, I sort of lost track which is the actual month I started blogging) I've been blogging for 16 years. So here are some honest confessions (and maybe some random ramblings) about blogging.

01 - I use Google's Blogger which I think it's a good platform for me as it lets me do whatever I want with my blog template. I have a temporary sidebar with the A-Z links but I usually prefer a one-column blog as I find sidebar items a distraction and also, it's hard to keep a sidebar from looking cluttered. (Don't be surprised my sidebar is gone by the end of the month.)
    Blogger is far, far from perfect. I think any platform you use, there will be issues but that's to be expected as nothing is perfect. The downside of using Blogger all these years is now I have no clue how to use Wordpress if I switched over which will probably never happen. Blogger is free so who knows maybe one day, it won't be. As with everything, it won't stay the same.

02 - I still sort of think of myself as a newbie because I still have no idea what to post every time I signed into my blog. Yes, I have ideas but it usually takes me a week to decide if I want to post an idea. I'm hesitant a lot even for posts I have written and created art for and even formatted the post in Blogger. It's probably why I have large gaps in between posts. I should be able to decide on a post after all these years but I don't. (This A-Z challenge is a real challenge because I only have a few hours each day, sometimes only two, to decide on an idea, write it, format it and post it.) 

03 - Like other people, I want to preserve some of my web presence but I pretty much deleted all my previous blogs because I find them not worth persevering. (Although my last blog is still up over here.) I see a lot of bloggers and web users keeping their old blogs or websites around so people can browse them but let's be honest, no one visits those old blogs or websites unless it's by accident or if you suddenly thought that person might just start updating (which is a lot of wishful thinking.) I think of these old blogs and websites as museums - you visit them once and then stop because there are no new exhibits. But sometimes it really is nice to visit old blogs and recheck what is there. 

04 - Blogging to me is in normal speed when compare with social media. I prefer to be slow because then I can take the time to really enjoy everything I read and write and look at. I don't necessarily have to hurry along and move on to the next thing. I certainly don't have to rush to put a post together so I can get it out faster (unless I'm doing the A-Z challenge). Not to say you don't take the time with social media, only that, I just get the feeling there are no slow time with social media.

05 - I still enjoy blogging. I get a little thrill whenever I release a post into the blogosphere. There is some fear and some oh-it's-probably-a-bad-idea feeling mix in but it's a thrill nonetheless. I suppose you can think of a blog post as something like a art piece that you want the world to give some sort of reaction to. You know it's nice to be accepted and liked even if it came from a stranger from the other side of the world whom you've probably never heard of or met but for the few seconds, you sort of met them and feel some connection with them even though it might just be your imagination but I like to think there is something there for that brief moment in time. I guess it's weird to ask strangers for opinions, comments, when you're not certain who they are or what they're thinking. I like to think we're all friends here supporting each other with kind words because if we think badly of people when we don't know them, then this world isn't all that fun to be in.

Are you a longtime blogger? If so, what do you think of blogging now?

For more about Blogging from A to Z Challenge, click on the image above or go here.