nanila | Entries tagged with metablogging

Following on from my last post, here is Google's mapping of my travel itinerary last month.

Four countries might not sound like many from a European perspective, but the fact that the trip to "Spain" was to the Canaries (off the coast of Africa) and the other two are not in Europe gives a better feeling for the amount of ground (air?) covered.

Here are the modes of transport Google thinks I used. That is Too Many Miles of Flying, for a lot of reasons, not least of which is the size of my carbon footprint. My favourite misattribution is the ferry. I did not use a ferry, or indeed any other waterbourne vehicle, at any point last month.

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I'm doing a bit of journal subscription and access tidying. Most of it is pruning what appear to be abandoned journals, but I've cut nearly all non-mutual access apart from known readers. I'm pretty honest in my locked posts these days and don't have the headspace to maintain complex privacy filters. That requires a higher level of trust than I've previously applied for general access.

If you were still lurking on DW and we have had a long-standing connection, the comments on this post are screened so just let me know and I'll restore your access if you want it.

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metablogging

It's now been over a month since I last posted on Dreamwidth, longer on LiveJournal since cross posting stopped being automatic.

I debated over our recent holiday whether to simply continue not posting or to make some kind of formal statement about how I plan to use this journal in future. Personally I prefer it when people don't just disappear. I know that 99% of the time they've just got bored or busy or distracted by a different platform and don't find the journal rewarding enough to continue, and nothing terrible has happened to them. But it's nice to have the reassurance that this is the case, rather than that they've been hit by a bus or something.

So I guess this is me obliquely sidling up to the realisation that despite 21 years of journalling (as of this July), I have neither the time nor the inclination to keep up my commitment to writing and interacting here as intensively as I once did. I can see the signs of this in my recent posting patterns: more short entries, far fewer public posts, failure to post photos because it's just too much effort to muster after a 15 hour day, failure to reply to comments or to other people's posts.

There are external factors too. I got promoted at work. I have a huge workload now that I have a senior administrative role in my department, plus teaching and grant management. I'm co-supervising my first PhD student. The children will be going to different schools in a week's time, effectively doubling our life admin complications. Because of this we've had to acquire a second car after 10 years of getting away with having only one.

I'm sure no one apart from me is surprised, but I hope I'm not the only one who's sad about this. I loved being (what felt to me like) a stalwart part of this community. It's painful to have to let it go. I will post now and again but I won't be reading regularly so if this is important to you and you need to say goodbye because of it, please do. On the other hand, if you're okay with sporadic updates and patchy, enthusiastic interaction then please stay. I'm always happy to pick up with friends and acquaintances after long silences.

I'll keep my Wed-Sat shifts on the daily "Just One Thing" achievement posts for Awesomeers.dreamwidth.org. Do join there if you want a low key way of recording stuff you've done and getting a little cheer for it. That's how I use it.

If you'd like to connect elsewhere, I'm on the following, but don't post much: Instagram (magnetometrist) and Twitter (nanila). I'm most active on and 150+ days into a Duolingo streak so happy to be added there as well: nanila2, the one with a Neko Atsume cat as my userpic.

TL;DR version: Nanila angsts about not journalling regularly, isn't leaving completely, loves you all, stay or go as you like, please add on Duolingo. ❤️

with a hint of Thäis(1) - This Mortal Coil

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I had imagined doing a big roundup post for the 20th anniversary of my LiveJournal, but due to rampant sleepiness on the 11th of July after my solo trip to London, I managed to miss it completely. (It was a mistake not to set a reminder in my calendar.) I still will, but in lieu of the roundup for now, here is a photo post from my final act of the London trip, which was to the eastern half of Highgate Cemetery.

Thanks to my DW/LJ, I know that I finished my photography project to visit all of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in 2012. Someone asked me on my return home this weekend, “Who is buried in Highgate, apart from Karl Marx?” While I can answer that question with a list of names, the honest answer is that I don’t care. I don’t visit these places to hunt for the graves of specific famous people, not even Douglas Adams (sorry, mate. I do know where my towel is though). In fact, because I keep a journal, I have a precisely formulated explanation for my visits.

Maybe it’s obvious from my choice of photographs, but I don’t care much about finding the graves of the notable persons buried in these cemeteries. For me, the attraction of these places comes from the collective obliteration of individual identity. The sense that pain and sorrow have been absorbed and transformed into something that is rather beautiful - the admission, and acceptance, of death. -- Me, April 2012.

I love my journal so much. ♥ ♥ ♥

( Many photos )

This trip has inspired me to repeat the Magnificent Seven project, in reverse order, over the next few months. Next up, then: West Norwood cemetery.

the weather today is tired
with a hint of the golden palominos - the ambitions are
Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1366718.html

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My last goal check-in was almost exactly a month ago. I stopped doing it because I was on holiday but now I reckon the advent of the pandemic has rendered most of the goals irrelevant. For a start, there’s no way for me to go to the gym for the next few months, and no way I’m going to get through this without the liberal application of booze. When examined in the cold light of covid-19, should any of them should be retained?

( Individual assessments behind the cut. )

In summary, the only goal I’ll be keeping is the one about reading more than ten books that are new to me. I don’t expect this to be particularly challenging, given that I have at least ten on my bedside table and I won’t be going anywhere for a while. So, sayonara, weekly goal check-in posts. Maybe I’ll give you a whirl in 2021.

the weather today is resigned
Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1317222.html

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Keiki and Humuhumu running up the hill toward Paxton’s Tower in Carmarthenshire, Wales, whilst pretending to be aeroplanes.

( Goal Check-in 8/52: Mostly fail )

the weather today is tired
with a hint of posh nosh - episode 3
Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1311653.html

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This was the view over the River Tywi at around mid-day on Saturday. We were up on the hill above it for all of ten minutes and were soaked to the skin when we returned to the cottage. You can see the silvery river snaking through the centre left of the photo.

This is (almost) the same view 24 hours later. The river hasn't so much burst its banks as engulfed the entire middle section of the valley in a torrent of brown.

( Goal Check-in 7/52: Mixed success )

the weather today is perturbed
Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1310568.html

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[Telstar lording it up in the sunshine on our ill-kempt lawn.]

As I predicted last week, there was a downturn in success this week. It was mostly due to the need to devote a lot of the latter half of the week to clearing out rooms in the house that will be demolished imminently.

( Goal Check-in 6/52: half and half )

the weather today is shattered
with a hint of minions film
Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1308720.html

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You know that feeling when you go to book a hotel for a short stay in Reykjavik, and you want to one that is downtown and gives you breakfast in the morning, so you book whatever deal Expedia gives you, and then you discover it is round the corner from a museum, which pleases you, and you look closely at the museum on Google maps, and it turns out to be the penis museum? I do.

( Goal Check-in 4/52: mostly success )

Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1306479.html

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This was a busy weekend. Amongst other things, we went for a 6.6 km walk through a bog in Leicestershire (see photo).

( Goal Check-in 3/52: mostly success )

Crossposts: https://nanila.livejournal.com/1305681.html

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Sauntering Vaguely Downward

Into the land of lowered expectations

May 2024 travel

Subscription/access tidy

Meniscus

My LJ’s 20th anniversary: The Magnificent Seven: Highgate Cemetery

Day 47/183: Weekly goal check-in reassessment

Day 29/183: Carmarthenshire photo + Weekly Goal Check-in (8/52)

Day 26/183: Flooding in Carmarthenshire + Weekly Goal Check-in (7/52)

Day 20/183: Caturday + Weekly Goal Check-in (6/52)

Day 12/183: Weekly Goal Check-in (4/52)

Day 9/183: Weekly Goal Check-in (3/52)

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