Posted in the Daily Post: Face
Photography /Poetry /Humour
Friendly Faces (The Daily Post)
“The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart” St. Jerome
Little Lady
The Little Lady has a new toy
She is very proud of her new joy
Shouting out loud Ahoy!
When she prances around in a coy
Posted in the Daily Post: Face
Photography /Poetry /Humour
Friendly Faces (The Daily Post)
“The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart” St. Jerome
My Face
Faces, faces everywhere
Watching, staring,
Like they don’t care
Eyes wide
Like a scared child
Sometimes friendly
Sometimes wild…
Or, was just my own face neglected
In the mirror reflected?
Posted in the Throwback Thursday weekly series
Poetry, photography, tales and things that nature!
“Connecting people – The artist formerly known as Nokia”
Some Social Media Bullshit
You don’t have to like it, but have to be in there: The social media of the world wide web. After all, who wants to be a complete social outcast!
Here are a few examples of what can be used for keeping in touch with family, friends and even your favourite movie stars!
* Assbook: Like opinions, everyone has more than one
* Angstagram: I post photos of myself and my eating habits, therefore I am
* Bitter: You would be too if no one is following you, right?
* Benchpress: For every self aware blabber, but more artistic ;P
* Tiedup: A must for professionals, endorse endorse endorse until you drop!
* You-boob: You did something stupid, maybe flashed a body part usually hidden, it got on video and uploaded on the internet and now you are the star of your own show!
A typical modern person’s day
@In the morning
The alarm clock is going off, it’s time to get up.
What is the first thing you do?
#Pick up your phone from the night stand and:
A) Check your social media apps
B) Check your email
@Driving in the car to your place of work.
Listening to the radio and the DJ is urging you to snap a photo and upload it to their site:
#uploadfunnypic
A) You are snapping selfies and almost bumping into the car that stopped in front of you. (The other driver possibly doing the same thing as you).
B) You are twatting your social media buddies of what you just did.
@Lunch time everyone with their phones in their respective hands. Not one word is spoken to anyone ‘live’, but they all are:
A) Chatting (and oh yes, there are actually office use approved ones too: Yank!)
B) Updating statuses on various social media apps.
C) Uploading photos of what they ate (of course, a must for every self aware social medialite).
D) Someone shared a funny video and twatted the link to everyone else around the table.
E) Everyone watching the video.
F) Everyone twatting feedback to each other.
@Coffee break everyone is:
A) Uploading photos of coffee and doughnuts they will consume.
B) Chatting with the people around the coffee table.
Back home from the office.
@Dinner table the family is sharing a meal and their respective day:
A-F apply here too.
@Midnight, bedtime:
A) Time to recap today’s event in your “blab”.
B) Latest friend updates to be checked (so not to miss any important things such as what your friends ate or what they were watching on TV, etc.)
C) Twatting everyone
#g’night!
Sometimes though, you have to be more low tech. For example in the situation, where your respective spouse is not quite on the same level of enlightenment regarding the social conventions of the social media as you are. Then you have to resort to archaic methods like the SMS.
Wishing your spouse
#sweet dreams xoxo
Lesson learnt:
Getting anything done; 3% is talent, 97% is staying off the internet.
Posted in Achievements, Anniversary
“Don’t procrastinate. If you want to blog, then blog.” Fritz Chery
One Year Blog Anniversary: Rantings of a Third Kind
“Dear Reader,
A blog about everything and nothing.
Fiction, fact, poetry, odes, homages, photography.
Humour, yet some serious thoughts.
And it’s all done in the best possible taste!
Enjoy!
Gun Roswell”
It is one year since I wrote those words as I started the blog: Rantings Of A Third Kind. A thousand and one hundred and forty three posts later I am happily celebrating my one year anniversary for this blog.
Thank you all my followers and readers for the continued support and interest in “everything and nothing” as the blog tag line suggests. “It’s all done in the best possible taste” and hoping to continue along the same line!
Keep calm and keep reading Rantings!
In honour of today and the anniversary, I am reposting my first ever blog post:
Let the rantings begin!/A quick trip to the supermarket
‘Connecting people – The artist formerly known as Nokia’
Some Social Media Bullshit
You don’t have to like it, but have to be in there: The social media of the world wide web. After all, who wants to be a complete social outcast!
Here are a few examples of what can be used for keeping in touch with family, friends and even your favourite movie stars!
* Assbook: Like opinions, everyone has more than one
* Angstagram: I post photos of myself and my eating habits, therefore I am
* Bitter: You would be too if no one is following you, right?
* Benchpress: For every self aware blabber, but more artistic ;P
* Tiedup: A must for professionals, endorse endorse endorse until you drop!
* You-boob: You did something stupid, maybe flashed a body part usually hidden, it got on video and uploaded on the internet and now you are the star of your own show!
A typical modern person’s day
@In the morning
The alarm clock is going off, it’s time to get up.
What is the first thing you do?
#Pick up your phone from the night stand and:
A) Check your social media apps
B) Check your email
@Driving in the car to your place of work.
Listening to the radio and the DJ is urging you to snap a photo and upload it to their site:
#uploadfunnypic
A) You are snapping selfies and almost bumping into the car that stopped in front of you. (The other driver possibly doing the same thing as you).
B) You are twatting your social media buddies of what you just did.
@Lunch time everyone with their phones in their respective hands. Not one word is spoken to anyone ‘live’, but they all are:
A) Chatting (and oh yes, there are actually office use approved ones too: Yank!)
B) Updating statuses on various social media apps.
C) Uploading photos of what they ate (of course, a must for every self aware social medialite).
D) Someone shared a funny video and twatted the link to everyone else around the table.
E) Everyone watching the video.
F) Everyone twatting feedback to each other.
@Coffee break everyone is:
A) Uploading photos of coffee and doughnuts they will consume.
B) Chatting with the people around the coffee table.
Back home from the office.
@Dinner table the family is sharing a meal and their respective day:
A-F apply here too.
@Midnight, bedtime:
A) Time to recap today’s event in your “blab”.
B) Latest friend updates to be checked (so not to miss any important things such as what your friends ate or what they were watching on TV, etc.)
C) Twatting everyone
#g’night!
Sometimes though, you have to be more low tech. For example in the situation, where your respective spouse is not quite on the same level of enlightenment regarding the social conventions of the social media as you are. Then you have to resort to archaic methods like the SMS.
Wishing your spouse
#sweet dreams xoxo
Lesson learnt:
Getting anything done; 3% is talent, 97% is staying off the internet.
Blogging 201, Branding and Growth: Day Two: Audit Your Brand
Some of us have purely personal sites to discuss the day-to-day, while others use our blogs as a springboard for other projects. No matter which describes you — or whether you’re a bit of both — you’re not just a blogger: you’re a brand.
You may never be Coca-Cola or Apple, but you can still use good branding to grow your blog.
Today’s assignment: audit your brand — look at all the ways you communicate information about your blog to make sure they’re consistent and focused — and make one update to reinforce it.
“I always do a mental audit at the end of the week to make sure I’m balancing time between my career and my personal life” Jill Wagner
Audit Your Brand
A blog about everything and nothing.
Fiction, fact, poetry, odes, homages, photography.
Humour, yet some serious thoughts.
And it’s all done in the best possible taste!
You can never go wrong with black background, white font and with a touch of gray, especially when photos are concerned. And since my blog is mostly about the photographs and the stories, then the outlook is excellent!
My current theme, The Visual Theme, serves well for both the written word and the images. The font and colours came with the theme and the simplicity pleases my eye at least for now. I have gotten a few compliments as well, so I know I am on the right track.
Rantings of a Third Kind, with the slug “Blog about everything and nothing and it’s all done in the best possible taste!” pretty much describes the nature of the blog, the writer and the contents. I do not really rant about things, but I like to keep that option open for the future;) I also have visions of adding more content like videos, short and longer stories, serials and photo stories to the site. A travel blog is in planning. Therefore I prefer not to tie the knot with any specific genre, format or subject.
My user name is my name, well, with a twist of course 😉
I also registered the domain for the site “rantingsofathirdkind.com” but am yet to implement the name change for the blog. I also have a domain for my user name “gunroswell.com” with an introductory page set up for the same.
I have used widgets to create more visibility for searches and links. Also keeping a calendar of the posts on the main page. In addition, advertising the community I follow.
I have accounts in Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, LiveJournal and Pinterest. This to advertise my postings to a wider audience outside the WordPress world. I have quite a few hits on Google alone and if you Google my name, site or use any of the tags for example from the fandom/homage posts, you can be certain my links will pop up on the top in a search!
For photographs, I also share them on Instagram, Flickr and the 500px community.
Tag line:
Rantings Of A Third Kind
Blog about everything and nothing and it’s all done in the best possible taste!
Contact and email:
A separate page for the contact form: https://atomic-temporary-83380856.wpcomstaging.com/contact/
Email address: gun@gunroswell.com
Blogging 201, Branding and Growth, Day One: Set Three Goals
“Blogging isn’t about publishing as much as you can. It’s about publishing as smart as you can.” Jon Morrow
Blogging 201, Branding and Growth, Day One: Set Three Goals, Part Two
Day One: Set Three Goals
Why do you blog? For notoriety? To get a book contract? To self-publish? To establish yourself as a leader in your field? To gain followers? To connect with others? To clarify your own thoughts?
All of the above, but then again, none of the above. Confused? Good! That means I got your attention 😉
Why did I ever start a blog you ask? Well, there really is a very simple explanation to that. In the prehistoric blogging ages, you know those, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth… Ok, so maybe not that far back. Let’s go back some ten years, before the times of today’s so called social media and blogging. People actually wrote and published on the internet, but those days it was more personal and tight knitt groups who wrote and followed each others’ writings. I used to be one of those people.
In the here and now, everything is easy and you can post your thoughts, life and pretty much anything your heart desires and there are others who either a) read and enjoy what you have to offer or b) read and hate it. Simple as that.
Still not convinced?
Well, I like to write so, there. Simple truth, now written “out loud”.
Guess a book deal, a script deal or similar wouldn’t hurt either 😉
If your blog exceeded your wildest dreams, what would that look like? Would you have a different design? How many followers would you have? How much traffic? What sort of community would participate? How often would you post?
I would actually pay good money for someone with similar vision and time to revamp my site. With the limited time I have for this “night job” which I like to call my blogging, I barely have time to write and snap photos, never mind the outlook of the pages. The knowhow is there, the time is not. I rather spend the precious time I have for writing and leave the admin to someone else.
As my blog states, everything and nothing for anyone and no one, so the net is cast wide and as far as dreams go, well, I would like the world to enjoy my offerings, both written and visual. I would prefer to post eight hours a day, have it as a full time job. The good deyeties know I have enough material to last a few lifetimes. However, the reality is, after some full ten hours on the paying job, my night shift on the blog takes only second priority before sleeping and eating of course 😉 However, that being said, I am currently posting every day at least a poem, photo and a theme per day. I am also taking part in quite a few challenges and of course, Blogging U courses!
So to summarize (or to make a promise):
1) Never miss a day of blogging
2) Keep in touch with the community
3) Try on new things (for the blog) ;P
Keep Calm and Keep On Blogging Everyone!
Blogging 201, Branding and Growth, Day One: Set Three Goals
“Don’t procrastinate. If you want to blog, then blog.” Fritz Chery
Blogging 201, Branding and Growth, Day One: Set Three Goals
Day One: Set Three Goals:
Welcome to Blogging 201: Branding and Growth! We’re excited about what we’re going to cover over the next two weeks, and we’re glad you’re joining us for the ride.
Today we want you to do a bit of thinking about your blog, so you can focus the next two weeks effectively.
Today’s assignment: consider what you want to accomplish with your blog. Write down three concrete goals.
Why are we doing this?
* Because writing down goals forces you to think carefully about what success means to you — “success” is different for everyone.
* Because having goals helps you focus. If something you’re doing isn’t helping you achieve your goals, ditch it.
Here are some questions to mull over to help you uncover/refine what’s most important to you about your blog:
Why do you blog? For notoriety? To get a book contract? To self-publish? To establish yourself as a leader in your field? To gain followers? To connect with others? To clarify your own thoughts?
If your blog exceeded your wildest dreams, what would that look like? Would you have a different design? How many followers would you have? How much traffic? What sort of community would participate? How often would you post?
Answering these questions helps you create a vision for your blog. Next, translate that vision into three specific goals. You can articulate your goals however you’re most comfortable, but we recommend making them simple, concrete, and time-based to create laser-like focus, like:
* Gain 20% more followers by January 15st.
* Increase average daily hits 30% by the middle of 2016.
* Publish three times each week during December and January.
* Spend one hour each week visiting my followers’ blogs, reading, and commenting from now until February 1st.
* Establish a new weekly feature on my blog by January 1st. (Throwback Thursdays, Wordless Wednesdays, Soup Sundays), and publish that feature each week through 2016.
* Create an editorial calendar for the next 90 days by December 31st.
* Gain 100 new Twitter followers by February 15th.
* Publish posts from three guests over the next three months.
* For bonus points, write a post detailing your blog’s goals and publish it. Making your goals public ups your accountability. Your readers will cheer you on, and might even find ways to help you achieve your goals.
Create a private page on your blog to keep track of your goals, or just write them on a post-it note — whatever works for you.
Stuck on what to pick for your goals? Not sure what’s actually reasonable? Head to The Commons to bounce ideas around with fellow challenge participants. You know the old saying: 1000 heads are better than one!
Blogging 201, Day Ten: HTML Columns, Tables, and Post Styling
Once you have some basic familiarity with HTML, you can use the HTML Editor to add code that overrides the Visual Editor’s defaults — handy for poets, creative writers, and anyone who has a very specific idea of how they want their posts to look.
Today’s takeaway: we’ll understand how to use HTML to manipulate a post’s formatting — making columns, adding (or removing) spacing, creating unusual indentation, and more.
The Visual Editor does a pretty good job of formatting content in a neat, reader-friendly way. But what if you have a particular vision for your post, and it doesn’t give you enough flexibility? HTML to the rescue.
” I don’t want to go viral, I want to set hearts on fire. ― Coco J. Ginger”
Blogging 201, Day Ten: HTML Columns, Tables, and Post Styling
Head to the Commons to learn:
* How to use preformatting to space text exactly as you’d like
* How to control line breaks and indentation
* How to create columns
* How to add tables
Action time! Open a draft post, and create either a column or table from scratch using HTML. (You can trash the post when you’re done.)
My effort for the day:
Day Ten, Part Two
Keep calm and keep on blogging!
Blogging 201, Day Ten: HTML Columns, Tables, and Post Styling, Part Two, Test Page
” I don’t want to go viral, I want to set hearts on fire. ― Coco J. Ginger”
Blogging 201, Day Ten: HTML Columns, Tables, and Post Styling
Test Page for Blogging 201, Day Ten
This is journey, to the great unknown.
To the seedy underbelly of the HTML code.
Trying to create an extra column to the post
Is it difficult or not? No one knows!
Today’s testing results:
Keep calm and keep on blogging!
Rantings Of A Third Kind 