Author: Sue

I have been writing in various forms since I was a child. I write about what is going on in my life, what I enjoy, and the struggles of dealing with chronic illness and mental health issues. I love live music, football (Scotland and Dunfermline Athletic), reading, Formula 1, Stock Cars, and eating lots of vegan crap.

Home!!

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So, I have done a little bit of re-modelling, to help wordpress be more homely. So, rather happy that it seems to all look ok. Well, for me, writing after 2am, sitting in my bed, it looks ok. *shrugs* My thoughts may be different when I am actually awake at a reasonable hour.

I guess I needed to add a little personal touch to proceedings, as this blog reaches second birthday in a few months, and it looked as bland as a boyband. Considering all I did was draw the lettering at work, and spent 5 minutes scanning it into the PC before uploading, it looks good. I think it is one of these things, the stuff you spend no time on at all, looks better than the things you spend AGES on.

I think this blog now looks a lot more organised than it did, because I am NEVER organised, so I never spent anytime on how it looked. Mostly because writing has been the only thing I have had any motivation in, AT ALL, so I never even worked on a banner. Sad times. But right now, I am back to using Photoshop on a daily basis, and am feeling so creative.

It’s such a good feeling after having nothing for so long. I go through phases of productivity, which if you have read this before, then you may have an idea of. And, although I still have periods where I can’t do anything, there are becoming more ‘ups’ than ‘downs’. Which is a relief, considering this is what I want to do with my life.

Other than working for Sky, of course. That was a life ambition. *rolls eyes*

Battling Digital Breakdown!

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AKA, trying to fix a computer, and saving it from a malware which seemed to be the most annoying fake security software EVER!!

What was happening is that there were these pop-ups, coming up on the computer, no matter what it was you were using, and they advised you of an error somewhere, and to do a security scan to fix it. You would click to do the ‘scan’ and it would take you to a page to purchase in a ‘product’ to fight these infections.

All seems above board, right?

Wrong!

The error messages were not the most illegible, and looked slightly different to windows error messages. But that was just the fact that the messages were less rounded than the standard error messages, and little things that most users wouldn’t pick up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, your computer is ‘under the infections threat’. Scary stuff. *rolls eyes* Any without much searching, we soon found out that this is a malicious piece of software that effectively makes up errors. It gets users worried about the risk of their computer, so that they go and spend money on software to fix the problem. This doesn’t happen, and the details you use to pay for things, is given out to ‘third parties’, and leave you at risk of identity theft.

The big issue with this malware is, that your standard security software, will probably overlook the ‘Security Shield’ and think that it is perfectly safe. Although the software can be annoying, in that it pops up every 5 seconds, reporting some kind of fictitious fault. And it is also known for causing problems to the point of crashing your computer, and also rendering anti-virus protection as useless.

Whilst the best advice is to NEVER give your details to something that you do not know of. Because some malware is designed to look pretty damned close to legit anti-virus software. So always check the name that your alerts are under, anything that you have never heard of, delete. Better playing it safe.
I used MalwareByte to try and find Security Shield, after trying to remove it manually failed. Whilst MalwareByte found  Security Shield, and noted it as a risk, when it tried to delete it, Windows, once again failed, and I got the big blue screen of fail. At this point, it seemed like nothing would help, so I decided it was time to do a system repair.

This is an option most new Windows PCs have, where they have a partition in the harddrive which contains the ability to repair the computer, without going into Windows properly. Here, you can do things such as restore your PC to the last time it was updated, or restore straight back to factory settings. So because this malware only became an issue in the last few days, I just restored it back to an update that was made about a month ago.You do it by switching your PC on, and before you get to  the Windows Boot Screen, press f8 over and over again. This bypasses normal start-up, and puts the PC into recovery mode, where you can then restore or repair your computer.

After about 20 minutes, the computer rebooted and was A-OK!! Hooray!!

I, at the moment, have Norton, AVG and Avast! as anti-virus softwares, and I have never had any issues with viruses *touch wood*.

I have 3 on the recommendation that different security software have different flaws. So hopefully having a few, limits that chance of anything getting through the security.

Selective Personality

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So I am sitting in front of the TV tonight, and watching You’ve Got Mail. An overly cheesey ‘chick-flick’ starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Where two people fall in love as they email each other, but they are natural enemies in real life, and hate each other.

It started me thinking about whether people show themselves honestly online. I mean, people have the ability to create this online persona of perfection, why include your flaws in that. Through a site, you can pretend you are they person that you wish you could be. You can filter out all the undesirable rubbish, and make your more favourable traits, be major features of your personality.

But then, is it our immediate surroundings that make use behave in a certain way? Is it only when we are confronted with people and situations, our personalities change into something completely different?

When we are alone, typing responses into a computer, we have time to organise our thoughts. We can respond to questions, without panicking and our brains rushing out some idle, idiotic response. We can spell check, and re-read responses, and carefully tweak them, to get the desired effect.

When actually involved in a conversation with someone, we don’t have the luxury to think of a perfect response, the thought process and the words come out quickly. And, although you may say something accidental, it really does show who a person is more. And you see a person for who they are, online there is always the chance of someone holding themselves back.

So where is a person most honest to themselves, online or IRL? Does it matter? As long as you truthful to yourself and your views, it shouldn’t matter where you encounter people.

Distraction! Distraction! Distraction!

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In a bit to stop dwelling on the fact that I am utter miserable, I am going to delve into something to try and raise the positivity points for a little. At least distract me for a little while, anyway.

*twiddles thumbs*

*scratches head*

Umm… so what do you say when your mind is as blank as my ‘completed’ Standard Grade Chemistry exam? Well, the same as what any other blogger does. Look at news sites, etc and see if you can find a topic that interests you. Failing that you could always post about a Meme that attracts your attention.

What is a Meme? Well, most people associate it with the Viral videos that spread around the internet like wildfire. You know the type, you’ve probably recieved a video via email, on facebook to the point it may even get mentioned in national media. But as far as the blog meme goes, it is more of a theme, or idea that people post, and it spreads to other blogs. A lot of memes centred around blogging, tend to be either GIF (moving images) posts or posting games.

The first meme I probably encountered was over on LiveJournal, which as I have said before, was my first blog, which is 7 years old this year. The homepage has a section called ‘writer’s block’ where members of the site submit questions, and other blogger answer it in a blog post. It is a good motivator, and I have seen myself use the ‘writer’s block’ to write a few times in a week, to help get into the mood for posting. Meme’s are ideal for people looking to get started in blogging, but don’t quite have the processes in place to blog on a daily basis, with different content. Here, the topic is decided, you just have to write about it. This small function of the ‘writer’s block’ is something unique, in that I am yet to see another mainstream blogging service employ such a service.

But if your blogging service of choice does not include something to help encourage posting, there are Meme sites online, where you can pick their topic or task of the day to help you write. The best site I have found for this is The Daily Meme, a site set up to post memes, which help encourage people to write when they are stuck. The Daily Meme, has the site split into days of the week, so that users can pick from a day, and doing it weekly, such as ‘Creative Writing Friday’. Another site which is rather good is The Music Memoirs, which as you can guess, is similar to The Daily Meme, except is based around music, where you create playlists for the season and things.

I have been a user of both sites for a long time, and they have both helped me out of some pretty serious writer’s blocks, so I can heavily recommend them both. And it is no bad thing if you post using a meme, every so often, because a meme tends to allow the writer to show themselves, which is what blogging is about. It also shows, that you are willing to use sources to help you, if you need to.

Also, and probably the most important thing, seeing as I know A LOT of people starting blogs within the last few months, posting a meme on your blog allows it to be slightly more than one dimensional. If all you do is repost other peoples’ Photoshop tutorials, then you aren’t really employing the blog to it’s full purpose. So if you struggle, try a meme, and it’ll help you get to what is at the heart of a good blog. YOU and your opinions.

 

 

Social Media Expert?

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What is it that makes someone an expert at social networking?

It’s a thing that seems to be bounced around by an awful lot of people. They have Twitter and Facebook and think that constitutes them being an expert in all things social media. Well, just because you post 50 tweets since you started on twitter 2 years ago, doesn’t make you any sort of expert.

The thing is, businesses are starting to realise that social media is a perfect was to tout for business for free. Which is great, but if they put it in the wrong hands, it can do more harm than good. Spamming on Facebook may get you followers, but does it really get you more business?

I don’t think it does. If you spread yourself amongst various networks, and employ them well, they can all become interconnected. You can show all different aspects of blog posts, video posts, favourite pieces of the internet and more. By showing likes and dislikes, you can show some kind of personality to a business. Like I mentioned before on the blog about websites, not too long ago, if a business has personality, people are more likely to form an attachment with it.

So the more you employ various social networks to talk to other users, and show who YOU are, people will like what you say, and maybe give you business. But it is called SOCIAL network, doing ‘follow4follow’ is not being social and getting to know people. Social networking is about making friends and getting to know people. People become friends because they like where you’re coming from.

Maybe its just me. I have spent a lot of time learning to use networks such as Myspace, Last.FM, Bebo, Hi5, Flickr, DailyBooth, Twitter, Youtube, Livejournal, Tumblr and more. This is something that I do because I enjoy it. I love the idea of being able to get to know people all over the world. I don’t go on twitter because some I was told to as a designer to get work, it was something I used to as a way to get to know people I spoke to on other sites.

Maybe it’s because I do value websites I use as the people I know through these sites mean a lot to me. It always kind of bothers me, that businesses just use it for promotion. They don’t use the sites correctly, in my view, show no personality and don’t interact with people.

If you are a ‘master of social networking’, I believe that you should show the sites and its users with respect and love. It sounds stupid, but people can pick up when you love something, and if you a enjoy using a service, it will be picked up on by any potential client. If you don’t show care for a FREE website you have an account on, what’s saying that you’ll show care on any paid projects.

Universally Speaking

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I was sitting thinking, the other day about the blog post I did a few days ago, where I was talking about relationships. And despite me being rather cynical about love, you can’t deny that it is something that bypasses language and other barriers. Gestures of love and kindness are something that is not restricted to the English language. And that, is rather romantic in itself, thinking that love rises above the barriers our modern world has created.

So, even if we go more primal, and think about the concept of finding a mate. This is something which goes beyond humankind, a great variety of creatures mate for life. Wolves, coyotes, beavers, Golden Eagles and Ospreys are just a few creatures which mate for life. This isn’t them living together and playing happy families, a lot of the time it is just that they are programmed to be social with the opposite sex, and assist in the raising of young. It is mechanical, something which is where a persons need to be in a relationship comes from.  It’s the biological urge to have a place where you have a family of people around you, as a network of support, because ultimately that is why animals like Wolves live in packs.

The network that people have has changed over the centuries. No longer are people together simply as mates, and build a network around their mate. They have networks of colleagues, of friends, of people other than the traditional parents, and various family members. So, as our world takes more steps away from nature, so do our network of relationships. So rather than the basic, man meets woman, they have sex, have children, that’s their lives, people have jobs, ambitions and are not so focused on finding a partner. Especially when you see that it used to be that girls where paired with a suitor by the time they were 16.

I guess amidst all my rambling, what I am trying to say is that the human race isn’t unique in having urges to show fondness towards others. A lot of our behaviour comes from our past as more basic creatures, it’s just third party causes, such as money and technology, has distorted what should be the most natural thing that a person should experience.

You can’t talk about love, without your mind going to the polar opposite, which is hate. Hate, in most aspects is thought of as ‘revenge’. Why? Well, again it comes down to the basic families and networks that people have created over time, be it religion, work, or anything. If anything threatens our network, people resort to their primal instinct of  trying to defend it. Which then brings intolerance, as people get overly sensitive, and well…you get a whole of bother.

But, fights and duels happen all the time in the wild, as creatures try to protect what is theres’.  It’s just the ‘more sophisticated’ humans, use guns and destroy everything, to the point it becomes mindless. But it all stems from urges and behaviours that are built-in to our nature, something that makes us no different from any other person, or any other creature on earth.

 

Sex On The Radio

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^^Good Charlotte’s new video for their song Sex On The Radio. I heard some things about the video before it was released, but having see it, I can tell you I think it’s one of my favourite videos.

The idea is, that the band are all in ‘disguise’ and they record people in LA listening to the song, and film their reactions. Its a really funny idea. It’s refreshing to see a band show people’s opinions so freely, to the point that they show people saying that the song is rubbish. Not a lot of bands would put that in a promotional video.

Anyway, this marks 14 days before I see Good Charlotte in Glasgow. *Squee* So as a warning, the fangirl posting may become more frequent.

Relationship Status?

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Has always been the one thing, whether asked on a form or by person in front of me, which irritates me. Why would such a simple topic irritate me? Well, because I feel it puts this mass importance on whether you are in a relationship or not. Why is there so many terms for those who have found a partner, and those without are dubbed ‘Singletons’.

The land of the Singleton is supposed to be an empty, lonely one, where the poor person (almost labelled as a victim) cries themselves to sleep everynight because they are so alone. Now, there may be some people like that, but I assure you that most people who are single tend to focus on something else in their life. They don’t focus on relationships, because why focus all your attention on something that isn’t there? There’s no point, as it will just drive one crazy.

And the ‘dispair’ that a lot of single people feel, come from the fact that those around them seem to openly seem to show off that they have managed to keep their talons locked into someone for long enough, they are now considered as their partner. They talk about the dinner dates, the flowers, the movie nights on the couch…the list is endless. But I am sure most people reading this will see some kind of familiarity with the situations.

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be happy, just don’t being vomit inducing. And there is something really sweet about knowing someone so well, as a friend, that the relationship goes to another level, and you understand each other completely.  But a lot of the people I know in relationships spend their days moaning about how their other half is terrible. Why, if love is such a beautiful thing, do so many people seem to mourn it? Because, that’s what it appears to be. Being sad because the person they choose to be with, doesn’t have all the qualities they want in a lover.

There is a solution to these, sometimes unreachable, goals that people set for their partner to achieve. The truth is, you can never expect anyone to try and live to what you thing is ideal. A good thing to do, is to think of all the qualities you like in a partner, and write them down. That list of ‘wants’ is what you need to achieve yourself. People pick out qualities they find desirable, mostly because it is a type of envy, that this person holds a quality you don’t. So, if you take those qualities out of the equation, it becomes easier to get along with people. It’s almost like moving the unreachable goalposts closer, so that it becomes easier for people to meet your expectations.

But getting two people to co-habit with each other is hard. No-one is 100% compatible, so a little give and take is necessary.

*shrugs*

But what do I know. I barely remember my last relationship.

Anono-Hate

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Maybe it’s because I have been lucky in the past, but recently, for the first time ever, I have been getting anonymous hate on various social networks. Now, I know I shouldn’t be bothered by it, but I don’t see the point. Isn’t there enough hate in the world, without people giving it to people they don’t even know? I think it’s the fact that people have the time to hate on people they don’t even know, that annoys me. Why would you waste  your time doing this?

The main culprits are Formspring, YouTube and Tumblr, where people sent you hate for no reason. Some show their name, some are anonymous, and to be honest, it’s not that that bothers me. It’s the fact that people are will to pass judgement on people they don’t know. Maybe it’s just because I’m the kind of person who wouldn’t do that. I mean, as much as I spend a lot of time online, I refuse to spend it hating people I don’t know. But I am like IRL too, I mean, I won’t hate on someone who has treated me nice.

Taking that stance, you’d think that it wouldn’t bother me, but sometimes it does. When you are trying to express yourself, and do things that you genuinely have difficulty doing, and someone just shoots you down without a thought, it hurts. It doesn’t matter whether you know the person or not.

For instance, I have always had issues with how I look. It sounds awful angsty of me, but I do. I have never felt confident about doing anything in public, because I felt embarassed at how I looked. A few people, from various internet communites I take part in, advised me to start a YouTube channel and do a video blog. I did this, and it helped bring my confidence up a lot. And if I’m honest, it helped me learn to speak a little clearer too. Which is all good. Then you get a message from someone saying that they wasted minutes of their lives watching me, and I should die. It was a shock the first time it happened, but it started happening on every video, so I got used to it.

This did me good, because I had to tell myself that these people didn’t know me. I mean, only someone stupid would watch a video labelled ‘Vlog’, and moan because it was someone talking to a camera. *shrugs* I don’t mind if someone wants to comment negatively, and tell me what is wrong, but bitchy hate which is straight out of High School, on the other hand.  But, I did manage to get over the pointless hate, and I still posted what I wanted, and I continued to see my own self-confidence improve.

The next step, was to go on Dailybooth, and take a picture of myself a day, to kinda force me to accept the way I look, which I still hate. Which is cool, I opened up an account a few days ago, and although I still don’t like looking at the pictures, I do anyway. Dailybooth, is a site where you take a picture everyday, and it kind of becomes a photoblog, of sorts. Its a nice idea and it works well, considering I am still new at it. But, as with YouTube, I have already (after 5 days) got hate about me being ugly. Which is nice. Considering I am doing the whole DailyBooth thing because I am trying to get my confidence up about my looks.  I got a bit angry about it, to be honest. Although, I did go to the hater’s profile, and find that he had been getting hate, so he was just relaying that hate to someone else, so I did feel a little better about it.

I dunno, I just don’t understand the whole hate thing, I mean isn’t the world bad enough, without people adding to the misery. Ok, misery is maybe a bit strong, but you know what I mean.

Visit me on Youtube and DailyBooth

Busy bee!!

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Found out what seems to effect my productivity.

It’s my ability to lie in till noon every day of the week. :/

I happened upon this discovery, when I forced myself to get up in time for breakfast. Queue sarcy comments from the parents, wondering why I was up so early. But, I got up, had food, and then did some housework. Yes, I actually did something other than sitting playing the xbox or watch videos on YouTube.

On a note, cleaning up lead to this wonderful creation being used again.

Well, I think it’s wonderful anyway. Has to be one of my favourite things in my room, because it relaxes me so much.  I waste a lot of time away, just watching it. I guess simple minds, and all that jazz.