V Day

 

On Valentines Day you’ll find loads of people in your social media feed shoving their relationships in your face, while others will share inspirational posts telling you that it’s absolutely okay to be single and that “the most important relationship you can have is with yourself”.

As a long term single person, I’d like to tell all those who share the latter posts that they’re not helpful. In fact, we would prefer to see scores of photos of people loved up with their partners, than have well meaning people tell us that it’s fine if we’re not coupled up and that there is still someone out there for us. It doesn’t make us feel good, it just makes us feel even more like there’s something wrong with us. Even those of us who are pretty comfortable with our single status feel like this. Tell us that there’s nothing wrong with not being in an relationship or not being interested in having one (because it’s true). Don’t tell us to focus on loving ourselves instead. And most of all, do not tell us that someone is out there waiting for us, because we know that there isn’t.

I swore I wouldn't post about I'm A Celebrity... but here we are.

 I don’t totally blame Nigel Farage’s fans for getting him into the last four of I’m A Celebrity. People are free to vote for whoever they want, and if that’s who they want to vote for, then so be it.

I do, however, blame the people who said that they would boycott the programme because of his appearance on the show. Surely by now, you’d have learned that announcing that you won’t watch a popular show because a somewhat controversial figure is in it often helps rather than hinders that person’s chances in the competition. I mean, Matt Hancock came third last year, what does that tell you? Did you really believe that Farage would be one of the first to leave? ITV have paid far too much money for him to allow him to get out of there early.

ITV have wanted to get Farage on the show for years. They knew full well what they were doing when they asked him to take part, and what having him on it would do for the show. The funniest thing about it is all the Farage supporters thinking that him managing to stay in longer than the likes of Fred Sirieix and Marvin Humes is upsetting everyone at “lefty, woke” ITV when they are most likely laughing all the way to the bank.  Nigel gets £1.5 million for being on it.  ITV get their money’s worth from his presence while making tons from his fans voting for him, of which a percentage will be going to mental health charities. Everyone, as they say, is a winner, but Sam or Tony for King of the Jungle, ok? 

AI made this post (well, some of it)

Last night I was playing with an AI story generator, trying to see what it could possibly come up with from my random ideas. Among the things I got the generator to write a story about, was one about a blogger who is dealing with Writers Block and below, in bold, is what it came up with:

As I sat staring at my blank computer screen, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over me. It had been weeks since I last wrote anything remotely decent on my blog, and the pressure to produce new content was starting to mount. My readers were beginning to lose interest, and my analytics were reflecting that. The once-thriving comments section had grown eerily silent, replaced by an unsettling silence that seemed to echo through the void of cyberspace.

I had always prided myself on my ability to churn out engaging content with ease, but now even the simplest of topics felt like a daunting task. Every time I attempted to write, I found myself stuck in a cycle of self-doubt and frustration, unable to string together more than a few coherent sentences. It was as if I had lost my voice, my creative spark extinguished by some unknown force.

In desperation, I began to scour the internet for solutions, hoping to find some magic formula or secret technique that would reignite my passion for writing. But no matter how many articles I read or tutorials I watched, nothing seemed to work. The more I tried, the more blocked I became. It was as if I had hit a wall, a writer's block of epic proportions that threatened to consume me whole.

One day, while scrolling through social media, I stumbled upon a post from a fellow blogger who claimed to have overcome her own struggles with writer's block. Intrigued, I clicked on the link to her website, eager to learn her secrets. As I read through her article, something she said struck a chord deep within me. She spoke of the importance of taking breaks,  stepping away from the keyboard and allowing oneself to recharge.

At first, I was sceptical. How could taking a break possibly solve my problems? But desperate for any solution, I decided to give it a try. I closed my laptop and left my office, venturing outside into the crisp autumn air. As I walked through the park, I allowed myself to simply exist, without the burden of words or deadlines weighing me down. And it was then, surrounded by nature's beauty, that inspiration finally struck.

When I returned to my laptop, the words flowed effortlessly onto the page, as if they had been waiting patiently for me all along. My writer's block had vanished, replaced by a renewed sense of purpose and creativity. From that day forward, I made sure to take regular breaks, knowing that sometimes the best thing a writer can do is step away from their craft and allow themselves to refill their well of imagination.

I have to say, that the above isn't a bad attempt at all from the old AI, even if Grammarly did pick up a couple of grammatical errors (they were minor things, to be fair). Does it make me want to get AI to write all my blog posts and anything else I might want to write for me? Not really, but I can see how people might want to use it for that purpose.

(The story was made with  AI Story Generator )

October is here (that came around quick, didn’t it?)

 It has become customary for me over the years to play “One Night in October” by Little Comets on the first night of the month and throughout the month. Why? Because it is an absolute banger. Plus it would be pretty weird for me these days to not blast it on Spotify or even share it on social media once during the month. I’ve temporarily deleted Instagram from my phone, so I’m sharing it on the blog instead.

Happy October, readers.

September Sun

 The other day I decided to go outside and do some writing. I never thought I would choose to do that in September, but we were having an “Indian Summer” (or “Mexican Summer” as my mum once called it). I’m not complaining, we’ve had a wet summer so it’s good that we are getting some bonus sunshine. I’m just not looking forward to when it starts getting dark early and the days get colder. You can eff the talk of “Spooky Season”, you can stick your Pumpkin Spiced Lattes where the sun doesn’t shine too. Keep any mention of Christmas to yourselves until after Bonfire Night, especially you lot who want to stick your Christmas tree up in October. Please let us enjoy all the nice days we have left before the SAD hits and I’m tired and want to hibernate all the time.

Trying to let go of my phone.

 I have admitted to myself that I am a smartphone addict (or more specifically, addicted to the internet and certain apps on my phone). I  have tried to reduce my phone time a few times over the past couple of years, to varying degrees of success. On one occasion I had managed to get my screen time down to almost half of what it was – only to nearly double it a week later. My most successful move was probably finally abandoning Twitter/X/whatever Elongated Muskrat wants to call it now. That reminds me, I still haven’t deactivated it yet, but it’s private so nobody outside of those who are still following me can see the mostly pointless rubbish I was spewing out on there.

These days I am more of a scroller than a poster. When I do interact on the social media accounts I still use it's usually to like a post. On rare occasions I might comment, on even rarer occasions I might do an Instagram story. On the one hand, it’s a good thing that I’m thinking a bit more about what I share on the internet. Do people really want to know what I’ve had for lunch or what I think about the contestants on The Chase? I don’t think so. On the other hand, it is not a great idea to be endlessly scrolling. You end up losing track of time and falling down rabbit holes that you wouldn’t fall into if you actually had a reason for logging onto the internet in the first place. 

Let’s be honest, 95 percent of the time we pick up our phone because we’re bored and it’s easier to spend time watching dog and cat videos than it is doing something constructive. You know it’s become a problem when you reach for your phone whenever you need something to do. When you struggle to get to sleep because you spent a good part of the evening looking at a screen, you find that your shoulders or arm aches after sitting in the same position hunched over your phone, you’ve got a bit of “texting thumb”,  or looking at social media often leaves you feeling crap it may well be time to consider cutting down a bit.

Some thoughts on the Coronation

 

I’m not really a Royalist, but over the years, I’ve probably had more respect for certain individual members of the Royal Family than any of the Prime Ministers who have governed our country. I am pretty ambivalent towards the institution of the monarchy. I’m also not sold on the idea of having an elected head of state, but that’s a discussion for another time. I will probably watch the Coronation on Saturday, as it's a moment in history, but I won't be bothered if I miss it.

 I won’t be joining in the celebrations, however, I’m tempted to get a Coronation edition Colin the Caterpillar cake, just because. I also won’t be taking up the invite to pledge allegiance to King Charles, because it would be a bit weird doing so in front of my television (this coming from the person who is often known to shout the answers at the telly whenever The Chase is on). He isn’t going to know or care that any of us at home have anyway. I will however, thank him for the extra bank holiday we get this month, because we don’t get as many as other countries get so we make the most of the bonus days on the rare occasions that they happen.

I won’t lie, I am beginning to find a lot of the hype around the big day a bit tiresome, as are all the many pro and anti-monarchy hot takes that are circling around social media. Part of me can’t wait for it all to be over so I don’t have to see it on the news or in my timeline again for a long while, but until then I suppose I have a good excuse to cut back on my screen time.