Question of the Month

A Life Examined has the question up this month: What are three pieces of advice you'd give to people starting their own blog?

That's a hard one. Every blogger has their own way of doing things.

1. Comment back to those that comment on your blog. If you have time make a few comments. That's a big part of how you get people coming back.
   
   I have to admit that I sometimes struggle with blog relationships when I comment and comment, and that blogger doesn't comment back very often. It's especially hard if they once did. Did I write something that rubbed them the wrong way? Did I open my mouth up too much about something they wrote? are things that enter my mind. I am who I am. I guess if they are going to judge me over one comment I wrote on their blog, or one post that I wrote on mine that's silly. More than likely it's nothing about me. They are just busy in that thing called life. Don't take things too personally.
    
2. Try and be as true as true can be. There are times where you are going to not see eye to eye with people. There are people that look at things the same way as you. Remember that our differences and likenesses are what makes up this large, yet small world we live in.
    
3. Set schedules for yourself. I participate in Word Full or Wordless Wednesdays. I know a lot of bloggers do, so it's a great time to bounce around, make comments, and hope people come back to comment on my blog.
   
   Side Note: You can come link up on my blog on Tuesday nights even if it isn't a Wordless, or Word Full post. I'm not all about rules. If you're going to come comment on my blog, I'll make an effort to comment back on yours.
   
   With this tip comes some extra advise. Just like you need to set schedules for yourself, you also need to know when to let things go. I used to do a thing called Out of the Box Saturday. It was time where I'd post about a visual artist, band or musician that was out of the box. While I enjoyed it, I also knew that it took time that I was running out of. In order to keep my blog going I had to let go of something. I let go of the weekly post I loved. This helped me to not feel too pressured, and burnt out. I can always go back to my Out of the Box Saturday weekly posts at a later time.

Question of the Month

I'm participating in Question of the Month By Life Examined. The question is, "Are you introverted or extroverted?" 
 
I'm so introverted. 
 
There are times when I want to shut the world off. I'm an art instructor. The days where I'm in the classroom it's hard coming home to 2 crazy loud boys that like to make lots of sound effects, and talk non stop. Oh I do love them. I want to yell out at times, "Shut up already!!!" I don't. I do have to stop them and say, "Ok I need time to think." or "Dad and I have to talk. Can you give us a moment?" 
 
When I was younger I could just play by myself for hours on end. I played dolls, Barbies, cut out my own family out of magazines, read, or played in the sand box. My kids are much more social than I am. Isaak doesn't like to play unless it's with someone else. Mica can play by himself, but he's most certainly a talker and sound effect maker!

Travis likes to go to art openings. You'd think because I'm artsy that I'd like to go to. I do. It's just that the social part of it I could do without. When we go the boys are with us, Travis socializes, and I spend time getting after the boys to not eat so much food, and be careful to not get too close to that pedestal, and so on. Gallery openings are the first Friday of the month. I teach on Fridays, my students are extra chatty on Fridays, so towards the end of the day I feel done. 

I'm not shy really. I can go up, and talk to random people. I can give an hour lecture, and not be nervous. When I was little I couldn't even order food at a fast food place. That's how shy I was. 

If Your Parent or Child Committed a Major Crime, Would You Turn Them In?

Michael at A Life Examined has a question every month. You can blog about your own answer, and link up on his site.
  
The question this month is: If your parent or child committed a major crime, would you turn them in?

It all depends on what the crime is, and the context of that crime. More than likely the answer would have to be yes. I do believe that people can change from good to bad, and bad to good. If someone I love commits a major crime they can change from that. Of course they have earn trust back again.

Looking back on history there have been some pretty ridiculous things that were considered to be a major crimes, and other people didn't see things the same way as the government did. Take Jewish people being shipped off to concentration camps. If I lived in that time in Germany I'd be the one trying to dig a hole in my basement to give them somewhere to go to protect them. Sometimes it's not even the government that we have to fear. Albinos in Africa are being hunted right now for their body parts. Why? Because Witchdoctors believe their bodies have some kind of magical powers. Crazy!

Mica and Isaak have always gotten in trouble for troublesome behavior. When Mica was 5 he had his bedroom door taken off the hinges for slamming the door. He had been warned. This time Isaak's fingers were in it. He longed for privacy. He lost that privilege. His door was gone for 2 months.

Both boys have had to write letters to people in their class that they have done wrong by. Thankfully this has only happened 3 times: Mica fibbed once, he kissed someone in Kindergarten another time, Isaak stepped on someone's scissors, and wouldn't let his foot up. These were all pretty minor things. They get in trouble for small things. Big things should have major consequences.

If one of my kids killed, raped, or murdered someone they should be locked away. That's the only thing that could prevent that from happening again. If they killed someone because it was self defense that problem isn't going to go away, so they may as well face it up front. If they were accused of something they didn't do, again that problem isn't going away, so they should just turn themselves in. 

 

I'd turn anyone I love in if they were a threat to society. Would you?