Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Just practising...

I wanted to see if I could make a link read like the name of the site it was going to instead of just the URL..
So here goes..
This is a favourite design blog of mine. The author is Alicia Murphy.. well actually by now she might well be Alicia something else, since she is on her honeymoon.
Her site is called.. and here's the link  A Typical Type A
She has done some great makeovers on her modest house in Adelaide and I really like her style..
So hopefully once this is posted the link will work.. wish me luck
Jo x

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

First in a long time..

I haven't been updating this blog at all over the last few weeks.. having been quite carried away by the other blog I'm doing about making over the house, which I'm enjoying some success with.
However now I'm feeling a bit more comfortable with the whole posting process so I'm going to try to put an idea or two here weekly at least.. although the best laid plans and all that..

The sheer scale of the blogasphere is truly overwhelming I confess... it seems everyone has one.
I suppose its no more unusual than everyone keeping a diary.. it's just that diaries are personal..
How many indignant teenagers and disgruntled girlfriends have cried..'but that's my diary.. how dare you read it, it's private'..!!!?
Now it seems there is NO privacy..
But what I find surprising is that for most is seems to have been a CHOICE.. not a reluctant loss. Every Tom Dick and Harry [including me evidently ;o)] writes a blog it seems... many writing stuff so personal that's it's uncomfortable to read..
I have a sister who seems to think its OK.. desirable even to share very private information about herself with anybody who will listen.
Waiters in restaurants.. friends of friends she has never met before, taxi drivers.. everyone. To my sensibilities this tendency is utterly inappropriate.. and I [and my other siblings] have long joked that if she didn't look like a female version of my dad, we would swear that she was adopted.
But perhaps she is the one ahead of the curve..
She spouts drivel she's heard on Oprah and other shows like it. She admires celebrities and aspires to mix in their circles.. and her children, well two of them, are the same...
And, I now discover, so are millions of bloggers.
Now.. since I KNOW that none of this comes from our upbringing.. it begs the question "why".??
I'm not naive I know that inside all of us is a desire to have our opinion count.. and to get the respect of those around us.. and strangers too.. that's fair enough.
But this isn't that.. she's not discussing current events, or art, or philosophising on the meaning of life or even imparting information that would be of some use to somebody. She's wittering on.. to people who don't care.. with really very personal details about her health and personal life.
I confess I don't get it...
Even as I sit here writing I understand the irony that it appears I'm doing the exact same thing.. and I am indeed passing an opinion. But I'm am NOT divulging intimate details.. I'm interested in starting a conversation, and that's what's different.
I don't pretend know why this trend to expose oneself to the world has evolved so suddenly.. of course international access to the views of others via the internet has played a huge part. But just because we CAN tell anyone and everyone who will listen the most intimate details of our private life.. Should We ?..
Personally I don't think so..  but I suppose it's a matter of personal opinion.
I will tell you now though...  that I won't be.
Jo x