"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence." — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
hello  |  artworks  |  writing  |  reading  |  bookmarks  |  home

January 27, 2023

Seven Things: Just some thoughts

cup
01 - I brought this lovely calendar by Botanikum (link here). Though the calendar starts on a Monday when I'm so used to it starting on a Sunday so I might get confused using the calendar. I seem to keep buying floral wall calendars. I used to get those page-a-day desk calendars but since they stopped putting out the floral version, I decided the heck with desk calendars and anyway, wall calendar are nicer but only if you're able to get a decently large one. For some odd reason, most wall calendar are pretty small unless you get the foldable 12x12 version which I dislike.
floral calender, january 2023
Botanikum calender January page
02 - I spent 90 dollars on an app that should remove adware but after it did its job, I still see the same gross looking ads. I don't know why I see these gross ads. I clean my browser's cache a million times. I update the browser a million times as well. I got the stupid app to remove adware but nothing works. Wordpress blogs (the free version) is where I see those gross ads the most. I actually think ads are useful and sometimes allows me to do some window shopping but I just don't get these gross-out ads. So now I got an ad blocker named AdBlock which is an extension for Firefox. It seems to work but I'm still testing it. Here's a post from Mozilla that helped me decided on this particular ad blocker - link here.

03 - I like to complain about things and then forget about it. I think it's the best way to deal with bad things. Dwelling on them is useless and keeps your mind on it too long that you might end up hating the world. So I say, complain and then forget about it.

04 - I have been re-reading (sometimes skim-reading) L. M. Montgomery books for next month's We Love L. M. Montgomery Week (Feb. 20-24) hosted by Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy. I have decided on writing two posts for this event. You can find more about We Love L. M. Montgomery Week here.
We Love L. M. Montgomery Week (Feb. 20-24)

05 - Two of the best emails I got this month is from two newsletter people (what's the word opposite of subscriber?) telling me I haven't been reading their newsletters and they are starting a new list and they will delete my email from their list unless I say otherwise. This is great news to me. I am the type that are too lazy to unsubscribe from emails I don't read, I just ignore them so it's nice to be removed from a list without doing anything.
     I think all companies should do this also with web accounts because who have the patience trying to remove themselves from a company's website when they never ever have a delete account button (and if they had one, you had to search for it)? But it's easier to unsubscribe from email newsletters than it is to delete an account from a website. I know I have tried. One company told me their computers would all go berserk if I had my account deleted which is hilarious and kind of scary because if every company runs their computers this way, then aren't we all screwed? Are there companies with their computers exploding or shutting down at every moment because I'm certain somewhere someone wants or is going to delete an account.

06 - Some silly author is telling people not to show books they have dnf (did not finish) and that people shouldn't say they didn't like a book and they shouldn't say something bad about a book. To that I say, what the heck? Is this person saying having opinions and expressing them is wrong? If you put your book out there, it is meant to be judged and if you think just because you worked hard on a book means people can't trash it, then what planet are you living on? Just keep your book to yourself then you will never ever have people saying anything bad about your book.

07 - I still do not have email subscription for my blog. Would people be interested if I send them an email when I have new posts? I don't have many readers so I can email people with a short snippets of posts and links. Probably not a lot of emails as I don't post often. Is this a good idea, bad idea?

Got anything you want to share? Feel free to say them in the comments.

21 comments:

  1. My incoherent thoughts on what you said:
    - 2. AdBlock has saved my sanity for years. It just works! I use several browsers, and I can't make AdBlock work in one of those, which for me is a real P.I.T.A (I have another one called uBlock Origin there, but AdBlock is just better). I do not understand people without adblockers - how can they stand using the internet?
    - 5. I think people knowing that I do not read their e-mails are scary. How can they know? I unsubscribe immediately of they tell me this - even if I like their mails and just did not manage to read them for a couple of weeks. I feel spied upon.
    - 6 When you publish a book it's not yours any longer and you have to put up with people not finishing it, bashing it, or loving it.
    - 4. Which books by L.M. Montgomery did you read? I am mostly interested in books, not in authours - I know it's a quirk of mine, but I really really seldom know the name of the author - or I mix them up. My first thought was the four storey mistake - but I think now it's not her who wrote this one or it's sequels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charlotte: 02 - I don't mind ads so it's why I never use ad blockers, not until now.

      05 - It's strange, they seem to know I haven't been opening those emails, I don't know how but they know. But these are just newsletter so it doesn't mean much.

      06 - It's quite true. When a book is put out there, authors should just let it go.

      04 - I often don't remember the author either but I remember Montgomery because I have her books in paper format. No, I don't think Montgomery wrote any books titled four storey mistakes. A few of Montgomery's books are the Anne of Green Gables series, The Blue Castle, The Story Girl, Emily of New Moon.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Christine: Oh yes, it's a very nice calendar.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  3. I don't think that blogger's subscribe by email option works any more. Those blogs (mostly WP) where I do subscribe that way are very slow to show new posts - often days late.
    The author who doesn't want any criticism? I wonder what they have to hide. Or perhaps they think that they and their work are perfect.
    I am with Charlotte (MotherOwl) on companies/people realising that I don't read their newsletters. That is a form of spying and I would unsubscribe quickly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elephant's Child: No, Blogger's subscribe by email doesn't work, it's why people have to look for options.

      Those newsletter people, I don't think it's spying. I think the machines just noted when an email is opened or not. And anyway, my email is being deleted so there's no problem there.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete

  4. The Calendar looks beautiful, I love the designs of the flowers.

    I agree with you about the DNF-ing thing. I know that as an author (even an unpublished one), that people will like or dislike your book, so it doesn't make sense to demand for their readers not to show it. If anything any attention is better than no attention on books. This reminds me of author dramas I've seen people cover online, I wonder if someone has talked about that author.

    Also complaining and forgetting I agree about too. I tend to go on long rants, and then calm down about the thing and forget it later. (Assuming that it was a thing that happened to me, and not for example a book or movie I dislike, if it is that then I write a review of it or an essay/paper).

    I enjoyed reading your post,
    -Quinley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quinley: I picked that calendar because it's beautifully designed. And I love flowers.

      I agreed that any attention is better than none. I've seen those author dramas, what they call, 'authors behaving badly,' which I think should be call 'humans behaving badly' because it gives other authors a bad rep.

      It's no fun to get work up on things but we can't always keep calm so it's good to let your rant out.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  5. I like larger calendars too. I need to be able to see them lol.

    The berserk computers thing is kinda fun. :) I can just picture it. So-and-so left the subscription and all the computers are spitting sparks or something...

    I've thought about getting email subscription too. People have told me I should. I never subscribe by email though so I don't really offer it either? I don't need a ton of emails.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Greg: Well, yes, us older folks need them large.

      That computer thing, I still remember it even as it happened a while back. I don't why they think people would believe it but who knows, maybe it was true for that particular company...

      Some readers do prefer to get email notice when a blogger has new posts which I think I need something for those readers. But I also don't subscribe blogs by email as I think it's unnecessary because I don't need to know when a blogger has posted right away.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  6. When I was a girl, I was absolutely in love with L.M. Montgomery's book "Anne of Green Gables." Not only was it a book where the central protagonist and hero was a girl (rare 55 years ago) but it was also written by a Canadian and set in Canada (also rare back in those days.) I never read any of the other "Anne" books though. I lost interest in Anne once her affections switched from Diana to Gilbert, LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debra She Who Seeks: I suppose if I read Anne as a child, I might be put off as you did. And indeed the later books had Anne focusing more on Gilbert.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  7. The calendar is very pretty. I want to re read all the L.M. Montgomery books one day too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WendyW: I picked the calendar purely for its beauty.

      I hope you get to read all the Montgomery books. I think they are the kind of books that just aren't written anymore, kind of old fashioned and delightful.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  8. What a nice post. Thanks.
    Lovely calendar.
    I agree, some ads are terrible and we should be able to say that we don't want them. They know so much about us know by our browsing, that should be easy.
    And I totally agree with you. If I don't like a book, I say so. Doesn't mean others won't but why should I lie? Or just ignore it. I have come to an age where I know myself better and rarely choose a book I won't like, though I am a member of two book clubs, so it happens. And I review all of my books. All of them, whether I like them or not. So, if someone writes a book and I don't like it, they have to live with my meaning. Sometimes it's just a personal choice and then I say so but sometimes the writing is so bad, maybe that person shouldn't be an author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marianne: I don't mind ads, I just want them to be reasonable easy to look at without feeling disgusted by the image.

      I guess that some authors, well, we should call them people, aren't very good with accepting criticism. Good or bad, people have opinions.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
  9. Our calendar weeks always start with a Monday - I didn't know they worked differently overseas...

    90 dollars and the app doesn't work?!? You should probably leave a bad review for their product somewhere (or better get a refund if possible...).

    "I like to complain about things and then forget about it."
    Very wise...except I can't seem to. I obsess a lot over things that I can't change - not healthy, but that's how I'm wired...

    "I haven't been reading their newsletters and they are starting a new list and they will delete my email from their list unless I say otherwise."
    Wait, what? I'm sure it was just a call for attention, because otherwise I would be very worried...how on earth can they tell if one reads them or not? This is next-level sci-fi matter LOL.

    "Are there companies with their computers exploding or shutting down at every moment because I'm certain somewhere someone wants or is going to delete an account."
    😂

    "Some silly author is telling people not to show books they have dnf (did not finish) and that people shouldn't say they didn't like a book and they shouldn't say something bad about a book."
    *facepalm* Then again, there has been an author complaining about a 4.5 stars review a few months ago...so nothing surprises me anymore...

    I'm following you via GFC, so I don't need the email subscription, but I follow quite a number of people via email (mainly WP bloggers), and I don't mind the format...I use MailerLite for mine, and so far it's worked fine...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roberta R.: For some reason, calendars in the U.S. always starts on a Sunday. I'm sure there's some good explanation for this. Probably.

      The app does remove adware but there are file-less adwares (which I only found out later) so the app can't remove what isn't there so it did do its job.

      I agreed with you that there are some things that complaining about it doesn't help. But you still should get it out of your system somehow. The thing is not to keep it to yourself.

      The exact message from the newsletter people is something like this: "The service we're using automatically notes email accounts that don't seem to be opening messages that I (the owner of the newsletter) sent out." So you can say it's all machines and nothing really sci-fi about it.

      I'm still amused by that account deleting thing even when it happened a while back. Do other people believe it?

      Authors are humans too but maybe that silly author's people should have stopped them from posting such things. This is why social media is a terrible thing because people just post things and then either apologize for it or make it a bigger deal than necessary.

      GFC is 'google friend connect' right, what is known now as the Followers gadget? Do you know you can add people via GFC through your Blogger dashboard? If go to your Blogger dashboard under 'Reading List' and then click on 'Manage' and then click 'Add' (the orange button at the top right corner), you can add any blogs (even Wordpress and other types of blogs) and you'll get their latest posts just like other blogspot blogs? This only works if a blog has feeds which almost all blogs has. But there is a limit of how many blogs you can follow, probably over 200. It's quite useful for those Blogger who don't want to subscribe blogs by email.

      I couldn't decide on a subscription service for my blog so I never used one but I should get one for those readers who likes to subscribe by email. I've never subscribe to any blogs so I don't know what's that's like.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete
    2. "Do you know you can add people via GFC through your Blogger dashboard?"
      Yep! I do use it for sites that don't have GFC or email subscription, or for Tumblr blogs.

      Delete
  10. Which L.M. Montgomery books did you read? I always did love the Emily of New Moon books, but I never finished Anne of Green Gables series. I really ought to someday. I am watching an old tv series made of the Emily books now, it's just okay, but it really makes me want to re-read them!

    I totally agree on your point #6. If all I write is stellar reviews about books, give them all five stars, those stars don't mean anything at all in my opinion. I think it's just as useful to tell other readers why I gave up on a book, so they can have an idea if it's worth them picking up at all!

    I do have email subscription enabled on my blog. It was kind of automatic on my last version of the blog, and I debated carrying it over when I rebuilt my site- and was surprised when I checked, to see how many people actually use it! Two more people have actually signed up since I rebuilt the blog. It's not very many subscribers, but I think it's worth having the option if it means another person is actually out there interested to read my words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeane: I read most of the Anne of Green Gables books, The Emily of New Moon books, Magic for Marigold and some of the standalones. I have come across of the Emily and Anne adaptations but I haven't watched any of them aside from the Megan Follows movies.

      Giving five stars to every book is a bit silly because people have opinions.

      I'm still deciding on the email subscription. I know some people do like getting an alert when someone had posted. I sort of like it too but I decided to browse at my own time.

      Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.

      Delete

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."
- Kurt Vonnegut