Almost...But No, Probably Not Even Close

Hey, Friends.

Do you ever wonder how hard it must be to be a celebrity sometimes?  No, really.  It's got to be like being the popular kid in high school only you're under a thousand times more scrutiny. Why yes, this is the nonsense that runs through my mind at times.

Maybe you just want to go out and get coffee, or meet a friend for dinner.  Now someone recognizes you.  And yeah, it's a good problem to have to be popular and get recognized on the street. People obviously like you and your work, which is great. I'm sure you get used to it after a while.  But now do you stop and talk, take a picture or whatever? One or two people, okay, but what if more show up? If you ignore them is it going to be all over the internet that you were an asshole and wouldn't stop to talk to your fans?  What if you're already running late and you really just can't stop at the moment, and now that's the one time some dude parked 3 cars away decides to shoot video and post that you are a jackass?

Why am I pondering problems that, most likely, I will never have to deal with?  Fair question, Friends.  Because it happens to me sometimes, but on a much smaller tinier not even remotely close scale.  Okay, it's really nothing like it, but it's the best comparison I could manage.

For example, I went to get coffee on the way to work yesterday morning.  There's a dude chilling outside the door, and he says, "Hey, Girl!  Do you know what time it is?"  So I tell him it's about 8:30 and wander inside to get my coffee.

I come back out and the dude is still there, but this time he's all, "Hey!  I know you!  You're the Library Lady!"  Yup.  That's me.  So now I guess we are going to have a chat.

Dude: You going to work?

Me: Yeah, but I'm going to the branch.  Not into the city.

Dude:  Oh.  Can you give me $5 for bus fare?

Me: Uh, no.  I've got $1.  You can have that.

Dude:  Thanks!  I'll pay you back, I swear!

Me: Don't even worry about it.  Have a nice day!

Dude:  See ya, Library Lady!

That's paraphrased a bit, but you get the gist.


That shit happens a lot.  I'm used to it now, but it freaked me out at first.  Not going to lie.  Just because I don't necessarily remember them, doesn't mean they don't recognize me.  I'm not going to be rude and ignore someone.  Common courtesy and manners make life easier for everyone, kids.  Also -- just be a decent human being and acknowledge that someone is speaking to you.  And it also reflects on the library, even though we aren't there at the moment.  I don't need to contribute to any feeling of ill will against the library, or have rumors running rampant that I'm a bitch.

It doesn't happen to me all the time.  It's never a concern when I leave the house about who I might run into that day.  I've never been swarmed with people wanting to chat when I just want to grab lunch.

It does make me wonder how much more difficult it must make things if you do have to worry about it on a grander scale.  If I were to blow off the guy outside the door asking for money?  There's very little chance anyone would ever hear about it.  It sure as hell isn't going to be all over the internet in the next few hours, complete with video.

I've got no follow up for that, Friends.  Consider it an example of the flotsam that floats about in my brain.

On a totally unrelated note --

My last post with the attempt at vlogging?  You all seem to like that.  A lot.  That post has been viewed twice as much as anything else I have posted in months.  I'm hoping that's a good thing.  For all I know I could be getting turned into a meme somewhere as we speak.

Since you seemed to enjoy it, Friends, I put together more nonsense that didn't fit in the first video. You can watch it or not -- entirely up to you.

Questions Part II

And, since someone said it would be funny to watch all of my facial expressions and hair shenanigans in fast motion, I tried to do that too.  

It's not great, but I'm seriously impressed with myself for even figuring out how to do this.

This Might Be A Horrible Idea

Hey, Friends.

So, I've gotten a little feedback on our time here together recently...more like suggestions, really. They can actually work together pretty well, so I thought it would be fun to combine them here.  This could be a stroke of genius, or a truly horrible idea.

First, a new reader suggested that it might be a good idea if I did a Getting To Know You type post.  I was less than enthusiastic about it.  I mean, what do you want to know?  A lot of them are the same old questions that have already been done to death on Facebook, or they might be just too damn nosy and I have no intention of answering them online.  There are probably some I wouldn't feel comfortable answering in person either unless I felt really comfortable with you.  Or was drunk.

Around the same time this was suggested, I got a random message on Twitter asking if I wanted to receive a written interview about myself.  It wasn't the first time I've gotten it from various accounts. I assume most people have, as I highly doubt I am cool enough to be on the cutting edge.  My first thought was, "Why in the world would anyone want to interview me?" Maybe it's just me, but I assume when someone is being interviewed it is because they have done a heroic feat, or made some major discovery or innovation, or created art of some description -- something noteworthy has happened that deserves to have attention called to it.  I write a freaking blog in my spare time. Real talk, Friends: we are like the teeniest, tiniest little speck on the internet.  I mean, I think we're pretty awesome, but I'm sure all of the shit-tons of other people who have blogs think they are just as special.

Curiosity being what it is, I clicked on the link to check it out.  Turns out, it's a service.  For $5 they will conduct a written interview of 4-6 questions.  And then I guess you own the interview, or for a bit more money they will post it to their social media websites for you. I assume the allure is in the possibility of expanding your audience on social media. It seems to have gotten pretty good reviews, and has a fast turn around time. I'm not trying to down the service by any means.

Yeah, I didn't do it...well, at least not yet.  I still might.  It is only $5, and I am a little curious as to how the whole process works.  If nothing else it might make for an interesting and/or amusing story to share here.  I'm always thinking of you, Friends!

Here's my major hang up with the idea:

It's a written interview.  Presumably they are going to email me 4-6 questions.  I answer them and email them back.  I assume some sort of editing or revision process happens after that, and then it is done. I have a blog.  I ask myself questions and answer them all of the time.  That seems more like a FAQ then an interview.  I could do essentially the same thing by myself and save the $5.  Beyond that, some of the examples shown have very clear spelling and grammatical errors. I'm not saying that I'm perfect when I write here.  I'm sure there are grammatical errors that I miss, spelling mistakes, typos and the like. If I fuck it up on my blog then I can only blame myself.  If you are selling this as a service? I shouldn't notice the mistakes when I am just quickly scrolling through examples of your work.

The point of all of that was to say that maybe the idea of a Getting To Know You thing wouldn't be such a terrible idea.  It might be pretty boring for you to just read a list of things about me.  I do try not to bore you, although I'm never sure if I am entirely successful with it.

Which brings us to suggestion #2, Friends.  A good friend of mine, whom I'm sure has nothing but my best interests at heart, told me I should start a vlog.  Clearly she either did not see my attempts at making one short video (discover the many ways I failed at that here) or she has repressed her memory of said event.  She was really jazzed about the idea, and her enthusiasm was kind of contagious.

I kicked the idea around for a while.  Do I really want to try another video?  What the hell do I even have to say?  At least with the last one there was a purpose to fulfill.

But wait...what if I took the idea of the Getting To Know You thing, and combined it with the vlog idea?  At least then I wouldn't have to worry about what to say.  It would just be answering questions.

Oh yeah.  We're going there, Friends.

Consider this fair warning.  Stop scrolling now and make a hasty exit if you find the idea of sitting through another video unpleasant and/or possibly painful.  Maybe you are excited about seeing how badly this goes and what kind of an idiot I can make of myself this time.  Grab some popcorn and pull up a chair!  I'm sure it's bound to happen at some point.  Perhaps you just want to learn more about me, or find me amusing and want to see what I am going to say, or just want to be supportive.  Love you for that. 💗 Hell, maybe you're just bored and are looking to kill some time.  Whatever floats your boat.

Hours, people.  It took so many hours to make this.

Did you get to know me better, Friends?  Was it worth all of the time and effort I put into it?  I really hope so. I don't know that it was as deep and insightful as you might have been hoping, but it is what it is. I know I learned several things about myself while watching and editing the footage.

1) I mess with my hair. A LOT.

2) I make a lot of silly faces while thinking and reading.

3) I never realized I bit my lip quite that much.

I also know that you are probably waiting to see the parts where I really screwed up, the failures that did not make the final product.  (There's actually a ton of stuff that didn't make the final product.) For your viewing pleasure, allow me to share some of my mistakes.

Trying to get things set up.  This will not be the location chosen!

Technical difficulties

This one is actually kind of okay.  

Wondering how well this may or may not be going

Hair problems

This was taking too long, and I was getting a bit cranky

That moment when I thought I had accidentally deleted a bunch of stuff

That's all there is, Friends.  Quite frankly, I'm really tired of looking at myself.  Did you like this? Was it even worth the effort?  Let me know if I should bother attempting this again in the future.

In Which We Discover Why I Will Never Be A Vlogger

Hey, Friends.

For the last couple of months I have been writing little blurbs for the Turn Up the Volume Newsletter, a fan-run newsletter for the band Heffron Drive.  This shouldn't be all that surprising since I have written about seeing them in concert twice.  (Don't remember?  New reader and missed it?  You can find those posts here and here.)

For the last issue of the newsletter, I wanted to buy some of the new merchandise to give away to our readers as a way of saying thanks for all of their support. We could run a contest in the newsletter, and I would get the prizes. Everyone was cool with the idea, so we did it.  Huzzah!

Today it was time to pick the winners.  Friends, I'm not really sure what possessed me to make the next decision.  I'm choosing to blame it on an early morning staff meeting and a lack of coffee.

I got the idea in my head that I should make a video of choosing the winner.  No one could argue about the legitimacy of the drawing then.  Everyone will see that the beanies truly exist, they would see the random drawing.  Besides, I figured it couldn't be too hard to make a simple video, right?

Ha!

I rarely even take selfies, so shooting video of myself just doesn't happen.  I should probably also mention that this was, in fact, the first time I have ever attempted to use the webcam on my laptop. How hard can it be?

Pretty damn hard, as it turns out.

Come, Friends!  Let's explore all my failed attempts before finally managing to get a video recorded that would not be a total train wreck.

Trying to figure out where I'm even supposed to be looking

Attempt #1 -- still haven't got the hang of this yet

Attempt #2 -- Still surprised by when the countdown ends and the recording actually begins

Attempt #3 -- Third time's the charm, right?  No.

Attempt #4 -- in which I realize I have no idea what the hell I am going to say

Attempt #6 -- foiled by my own coffee cup

Attempt #7 -- still not sure where I'm going with what I want to say

At this point, Friends, you'll notice a small wardrobe change.  Why?  Because I was getting incredibly frustrated with myself and needed to step away.  Also, my sweater was too hot.

Attempt #8 -- Now I can't even get through a coherent sentence.  Progress in the wrong direction!

Attempt #9 -- Why yes, the beanies contest would be giving away beanies.  Let's try that again without sounding quite so redundant

You would think, after all of the many ways in which I failed, that the finished product would be flawless, right?

Nope.

Apparently I can't even make a video -- less than 2 minutes in length -- with cursing.  Yeah.  Just kind of slipped out.  No way was I starting over again at that point.  

Seriously, pretty much my entire evening had been spent trying to make this damn thing.  I just finished it up and posted it.  I left it up to Melly to decide whether she wanted to post the video or just announce the winners.

Being awesome, she decided to post it!  Want to see the finished product?  I know you do.  

Things I probably should have considered ahead of time:

--Did I think about the lighting before hand? 

Nope. Just decided to do it while sitting on my couch.

--Did I even stop to fix my hair, or gussy myself up ahead of time?

Nope.  I call this look "I've been at work since 8 am, and 12 hours later I'm trying to make a video. Hair and makeup from this morning are going to be good enough."

There you have it, Friends.  I don't think vlogging is something I am going to take up right away.  So much harder than you would think.