March 2023 Books

I seem to have read a lot of books in March though it has been a good but frustrating month. So this might be the end of my reading Agatha Christie books. There is only one more book of Christie's that I wanted to read and then who knows. Here are the books I read in March.

01 - Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries by Agatha Christie > link 1, link 2

The memory tourist: some blogging retrospection

unpopular, 2023

To celebrate 17 years of blogging, here's the final post. Perhaps you think 17 years is a long time to be blogging but actually I counted the first 10 years as practice because it took me that long to be comfortable doing it. I still think I'm a newbie since I'm too lazy to learn some of the newer things.
    Thank you to those who stuck with me all these years (and through various blogs) and hopefully will continue to support me. Your visits and comments keeps me from quitting blogging although I'm sure there are other reasons but I just can't remember now. But it really is mostly you, lovely readers, because without readers, I would be talking to myself which would be fine but honestly, I just think blogging is more enjoyable if there are people talking to each other even through commenting. Thank you, lovely readers. (Title of this post is in reference to having briefly changed my blog name to The memory tourist a while ago.)
    Here are some things I took note of as a blogger and as a reader of blogs:

All the blogs I have loved before

To celebrate 17 years of blogging, here's post two. I thought I list all the blogs I had actively posted in, even those blogs that didn't last very long but they're still part of my blogging history. I enjoyed every one of my blogs even if sometimes I neglected them. I don't know if this is all correct as I sort them from my files. Almost all of them were at Blogger but l've noted the ones that aren't. Here are all the blogs I have had in my 17 years of blogging.

0.5 - Walking with wings (2006) - According to my files, I started a web page that is sort of a blog at yahoo 360 (I think that's the name though I seemed not have written anything about it). I posted some photography, wallpaper (for your computer) and not much else. I don't even think I had any readers.

01 - A pity I'm an Aquarius (2006-2008) - My first official blog which I started at Wordpress and then moved to Bloggger. I posted everything from personal tidbits to every meme I can find to participate in. This was named after a song title.

Honest Taglines for My Blog (2023 Edition)

It will be 17 years of blogging for me in April/May/June (couldn't pin down the exact month since I changed accounts but it's one of those months) so I thought to celebrate it with a few posts. This is the first one.
    I used to not have a tagline because I couldn't settle on one but I did make lists of them. Here are some taglines that I never used with some new ones.

01 - blogging without coffee since 2006

02 - making lists and other lazy things when I'm not too lazy

03 - pretending to work while pretending to blog

04 - newly redesigned to be 97.7% less productive than ever before

05 - have blog, will only semi-post


06 - complaining from a respectable distance

07 - the secret society for introverts and other shy species



08 - pretending to blog like a professional since 2006


09 - posting things that I am not ashamed to share, at least, not right away


10 - tiny joys and other tangible things



Note: I started blogging in 2006 and I don't drink coffee. Unpopular since 2006 is one of those taglines that I sort of used for these anniversary posts. I used to take a lot of rain photos and have the word 'rain' in most of my blog names so this explains why I often use umbrellas/rain in my artworks and any graphics I used on my blogs.

Types of stories I dislike reading

This week's Top Ten Tuesday's is Books on My Spring 2023 To-Read List. I don't make any kind of reading list so here are types of stories or genres I dislike reading but I'm not saying I wouldn't read them but I won't go looking for them. Books often bring unexpected surprises so I never rule out not reading a book but definitely not #1 or 2 because I just can't handle them. For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - Horror — I really, really cannot read about zombies or vampires/body harm or anything that is classified as horror. I know horror isn't just zombies or vampires but they are the ones that somehow got framed to be the spokespersons. I just think reading anything horror just leads to nightmares but it's probably because I'm a scaredy cat. I see nothing wrong with not wanting to be scared to death.

02 - Romance with Smut/Erotica  — Just nope.

03 - Anything set during war time — You know there will be death and grief when there's war and I don't mind reading them but I don't know, sometimes it seems a bit too depressing to me. But I'm not saying I won't read such books because I had, I just don't know if I want to read books that are certain to bring in the gloom.

04 - Spy/Undercover — I don't quite know why I dislike this type of books but somehow I just do. I suppose it's all the lying they have to do or perhaps all the fake relationships they have to make or perhaps there is no reason. Can a person just dislike something for no reason?

05 - Fairies/Fae — It's very odd but like spy/undercover stories, I just don't like these type of stories. But somehow if it's a fairy godmother, I like them but they don't count as fairies, right?

06 - Orphans who are thieves - I actually don't read a lot of stories with orphans who are thieves but I read a lot of synopsis with this idea and I'm sick of it. The idea that orphans become thieves is just not true.

07 - Teenage romances — I guess I'm too old to read about teenagers and their angst but somehow it's the romances that always annoys me more. I'm not saying I can't believe in teenagers having deep, romantic love but why do they (authors, I guess) make it so hard to believe in the relationship? I guess the ones I dislike the most is hundred-year-old men dating 16-year-old girls. The fact that these hundred-year-old men acted like teenagers is annoying as heck because if they can't mature after a hundred years, then there is serious problem, isn't there?

08 - Music-related — I love music, I just seem to be bored with talks about making music or music-related things. It's really odd and I don't know why that is. Although, I probably would enjoy reading a biography or autobiography of a musician's life but I don't know why that is.

09 - Authors or famous people as characters in fiction books — I just don't really want to read Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters or any of those classic authors or inventors or famous people as fictionalize characters doing fictionalize things and living lives they shouldn't be living unless it's a middle grade book. Somehow children version of famous people seems more appealing than adult versions.

10 - Politics — Anything to do with politics, I just get bored by it. Even political thrillers to me aren't really the types of book I like reading. I have noticed there are political/spy stories which I guess is a natural combination but that's definitely books I wouldn't choose to read.

What types of books do you dislike reading?

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2023

I decided to join in the chaos that is the A to Z challenge this year. I don't know why I'm so unsure about it this time since I always end up doing it so blame it on the wacky weather or daylight saving time which always wrecks my sleep and causes a few unwanted mishaps.
    For those who don't know, the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is where you post every day except Sundays and this takes place in April although this year, the last day of April ends on a Sunday. The choice of what to post is up to you. Whether you go with a theme or not is also up to you. Also, you do have to follow the alphabet. For example, on April 1st, you post something starting with A, on April 2nd, something starting with B and so on.
    This time I'm not going to play the list game. There are two lists that participants get on - the theme reveal list and the master list. Since I'm not going to sign onto any list, I'm declaring myself an unofficial participant.  (I miss the days where you just leave your link instead of so many info.)
    This week we are to announce our theme if we have one. I have no theme. I will tell you what I'll post - some short fiction and random stuff that may or may not amuse people. In other words, I just go with whatever my brain comes up with - that's the real challenge of the A to Z challenge, to me anyway. I'm rather indecisive sometimes. Even if I have finished writing/editing/making an image for a post, I would decide not to use that and write a new post. I have a fickle mind. It's why I've never done the challenge with a theme because I wouldn't be able to follow it. Check out my previous A-Z posts here to see what I usually post. Good luck to those participating. Go here to find out more about the A to Z challenge.

Seven Things: Some Ramblings

01 - Blogger's autosave's silliness — I have a heck of a time formatting one of my L.M. Montgomery post (This one here). I usually only make small text edits in Blogger's post editior otherwise headaches. When I use undo (command z on a mac), it sometimes works and other times, it removes all the text and images and leaves a blank page and then Blogger autosaves it before I had time to close the window which is really the only way to stop autosaving a post but somehow I never was quick enough. This happens a lot which means I have to redo the entire post or forget about it. But I've learned to save a html version as a word doc when I make long posts or posts with a lot of images. This saves me some headaches.
    I really don't understand why we don't have the option not to autosave especially if a robot cannot tell a blank page from a page full of content. (And Blogger continues to randomly pick published comments and mark them as spam for no reason, even for comments I have replied to so that my reply comment just hangs there talking to no one.)

02 - There are cats among us — From time to time, cats wandered through our backyards. There's only a low fence between yards and nothing else so the cats can easily go from yard to yard. The cats are so agile that they can walk on the top of the fence, leap from place to place and causally eat people's garden or even litter on them. Then there were those fights between them that sounded really nasty - cat squeals and screams galore. I wouldn't want to try to break them up or I'll lose an eye. They gather together now and then and I swear they are making plans to take over the humans. Occasionally in the middle of the night, I can hear them whining like babies or are they signaling their leaders it's time to take over the world?

03 - When a blog becomes a website — The other day I noticed a blog that I known previously had redo their blog or what they called rebranding. Lots of bloggers has become a brand in themselves and have websites but they keep a blog also which I appreciate but I just hate it when a blog becomes a website and then they lose the blog format altogether. Instead of a blog, they have menu options aka links that you can browse/check out but all the blog posts are categorized and tucked away so the only choice is to select a menu option. And they continue to post like a blog which makes no sense to me. I don't know how branding works but losing the blog format is just not the way I would do it.
    I guess I just don't see how I can read a website on a daily bases when I can't find their recent posts nor can you link to any particular page to see the latest post. So yes, maybe they highlight their latest post (on the front of the website) but how can you tell when you don't see dates? I guess I'm too use to blogs to want to deal with websites. I'll check them out once in a while but don't count me as a faithful reader if you insist on keeping your website like a website. And all this we did this, we did that is just weird when you're only one person behind the website or do rebranding means you talk in we's or get yourself a team to work on the website?

04 - Charts are not my friend — I'm not a fan of chart making. No school ever taught you how to make charts, at least, the ones I attended. In art school, charts are not a priority either. I had to make a chart from a batch of numbers the other day. It's the most annoying and panic-filled thing I ever do for work. There's really no way to make charts exciting looking unless you use a lot of illustrations/graphics but charts with a lot of illustrations/graphics doesn't always work especially when it's a serious subject matter and some things cannot be represented with an image. I guess I find chart making a bit out of my league because it involves numbers and sometimes math and I'm not into make precision graphics where everything has to be set a certain size, length, width or that everything had to be perfectly aligned. It's too much like being back to school, I guess.

05 - The April A-Z Challenge 2023 is coming — I might or might not do the A-Z Challenge this year. It just didn't seem as fun as it use to be. For this challenge, I essentially write a post a day because I don't prepare like most people. This March 12, is reveal theme day but I never do themes. Although the A-Z team theme this year is resilience. I like the idea but I keep thinking they really should try to promote the challenge as something fun and not something serious but that's me.

Not the official badge

   
     I did enjoy making my own badge. The four colors (yellow, green, blue, orange) are supposed to represent the four seasons, sort of representing things that are constant or resilient but now I don't think it works but I like the colors. I could redo this but I don't have the patience for that now. If you're a participant, you are free to use my badge if you like.
    Would it be rude of me to say the header at the the A-Z blog is looking a bit too unpleasing? I wouldn't say this header cause some visual assaults but it certainly could do better. The text is too large and since it's all in caps, it means the text is screaming a bit too loudly and having the text almost all the same size, means it's a bit challenging for viewers because they don't know what to read first. Plus the text treatment with the gold colors and the way they are askew shouts casino/Las Vegas which I'm sure that's not what they are going for. Plus the tree in the background to represent resilience is too lost to get that point across. (I'm a snob when it comes to such design matters. When there is a chance to create better looking graphics, why not do it?) Go here if you want to know more about the A-Z challenge.

06 - Behind in technology —I am behind in technology since I haven't brought a new computer in years and my computer can only be updated up to a certain point as it's too old for the newest operating system. It used to be I do a lot of updating and upgrading but now I just don't care to use the latest anything. If it's working, why change? One reason that makes sense would be security. Older software is vulnerable to all sorts of attacks but I rarely had any problems but I probably should update because the longer I wait, the harder the change and the more expensive it gets. Not that it makes a difference since whenever you upgrade, it cost money anyway no matter what since you have to not only upgrade hardware, there's also software.
    I like a new computer but why did Apple have to keep removing all the useful things from their computers? (I have only ever use a Mac so I can't even think of switching to windows or other operating systems.) I'm still annoyed when they removed the cd/dvd drive and many other features that was useful in said security and even computer system health. It's the little things that really adds up.  I guess their motto is: Take away things little by little until we get so annoyed that we accept whatever they want us to accept or else live in the stone ages. Yep, that's what's call progress.

07 - Reading taste — I don't know why but my reading taste seem to have changed. I am not reading fantasy as I usually do. I've been reading nothing but murder mysteries. I still want to read fantasy, science fiction, adventure, etc but I guess I'm just not in mood for them these days. I'm also not finding new books that interest me. It's almost as if the universe is telling me I should read less.

Do you have anything on your mind? Share them in the comments.

New Art & 200th Post

the sea queen, 2023

It seems now I only create one or two pieces art a year which is better than nothing I guess. I just finished this piece which took a long time. I had a previous version (see below) that I had drew from maybe 10 or more years ago but I never got around to really finishing it. I do like the original version, I just didn't quite had the right mind to get it the way I wanted so I had an excuse (not that I need one) to redo it and this is the result. I would have finished sooner except whenever I look at it, I find something I want to change or fix so I thought it's a good time to stop now. I call her the sea queen and she probably have a few long first names to go with her.

the sea queen, original drawing

The shell-like bits to her left (I have no clue how to describe this) is supposed to allow her to listen to her people or so I imagined. And the rest, well, she's a queen so she needs to dress the part, right? The patterns on all the shells and the decorative pieces on her head are decided as I drew and I don't know why they are looking the way they are. I just went with the flow. (click on the images for larger views)

comparing original drawing (bottom portion) with final version (top portion)

the sea queen, closeup

Happy note: This is the 200th post for this little blog of mine. It's something to take note of as I have a habit of moving to new urls so I guess this means I'm staying here for awhile. Maybe changing urls is a bad habit but I think it's part of my blogging process now. I don't know if I'll move again and start a new blog but it's certain it will most likely look exactly like this with one column and minimum stuff. That's what I find very comforting about having a blog - you can make it look exactly like before and yet, still a little changed. Happy 200th! Here's to 200 more posts.

February 2023 Books & Misc

Nothing much happened in February that is worth mentioning but I read books and really, books are the only good things these days. Still reading Agatha Christie books but mostly because I couldn't find other books interesting enough to read.  Here are the books I read in February plus other stuff.

Books I read

01 - The Alpine Path by L. M. Montgomery > link
This was very short (at 34 pages, less if you don't include the biography), essays that sort of offer a little insight into the author's mind and life. Then there is a mini biography which I wish I hadn't read. I didn't want to know how Montgomery nor that it might be suicide which you can either believe it or not since there is different opinions which I read elsewhere I can't remember. I think I prefer not to know the how at all.