This post is long overdue.

Why I blog

1. I don’t. As you can see, I don’t update often. And it’s a direct violation of #1 rule of blogging: Update as much as possible. Blog often. I know all of this, and yet, I don’t have a writing schedule and I don’t take it too seriously, which results in frequent blog abandonment. Sometimes I forget to blog, and sometimes I feel I don’t have anything interesting to share.

2. I like owning a personal website. That’s how it all started, after all. I opened my first website around 2003, back in the days when blogging wasn’t popular. And I used to hate blogs and blogging, because I didn’t understand the appeal. Many people used blogs as their personal diaries, and I was never into sharing private details online. And I never enjoyed reading other people’s diaries.

But blogs soon became much more. People used them to raise issues, state their opinions and make their voices heard. This made blog reading much more exciting, but writing a quality blog proved itself to be more difficult.

My blog is tricky to define. I see it as a general (non-themed) blog, one of those you see on many personal websites. But on the other hand, it’s far from being a diary or a collection of personal reflections. This makes it, I guess, difficult to find the audience. And yet, I do have visitors- more than I had in previous years. Which brings us to:

3. Visitors. I don’t blog to get hits, but it is refreshing to see there are more visitors lately. This positive trend started about the time I decided to do something about this blog and write about subjects more people might find interesting. The site is far from being popular but for the first time, there are returning visitors and people who actually notice if I don’t update often (thanks for reminding me, Natasha and Zek!)

On the other hand, this requires a certain responsibility. Responsibility to update often and give your readers what they want (in terms of blog posts/articles). I am still learning how to be responsible when it comes to blogging.

4. Practicing my English. This one is self-explanatory. But no matter what, I don’t think my English will ever be decent enough so I could write- really write- serious stuff, such as essays or stories. It’s not a surprise but it makes me pissed.

5. Meeting new people all over the world. Not the same as “visitors” , but closely related. I can’t afford to travel (and I hope it will change!), so at the moment Internet is the only way to meet people from all over the world.

So, these are my reasons.

Dear readers,

I am sorry for not updating in a while. It happens. I was a) busy and b) suddenly sick of the Internet. Yes, yours truly was actually losing interest in the Internet. I suspect it was temporary, but still…

It happens, I guess. I completely lost an inspiration for blogging- and those senior readers know it happens to me from time to time. I don’t like to blog randomly, without any idea or structure within a post, so when I’m not inspired to write something coherent, I don’t write at all. I guess it’s the same for other bloggers, but those smart out there always have an idea for at least 3 posts in advance, so they can always use those ideas. Others simply don’t care about writing randomly. Or not updating often.

All in all, I’m here. Sorry for my late replies to your comments/emails/blog posts. Hope to be more regular these days!

And now, something really cute:

What to do when you want to post really random stuff? Join Tumblr. Seriously.

And that’s exactly what I did. See my page: Jefflion Randomness

I was completely unaware of Tumblr until a few days ago. Another bogging platform? No thanks.

But then again, I realized it is a handy little thing if you wish to post small, random things that simply do not fit into your main website. Random pictures, or short news you found somewhere. So I took it as a cross between regular blogging and Twitter.

The best thing about Tumblr is the fact you can reblog anything you like without much effort. Needless to say, I tried it and it’s useful for collecting interesting stuff all over the place.

I don’t really have a plan for that blog/website/account. All I want is to post quick, interesting and RANDOM stuff that don’t really fit in here- but are too “big” for Twitter. Sort of things that would fit my “Trash” section here- which brings me to question: what to do about it? Any ideas?

If you are a tumblr.com member, feel free to add me. Expect WTF content, stuff about archaeology and astronomy, animals, and posts about my favourite actors, musicians and movies.

jefflion.tumblr.com

In short: No, I did not abandon my site. You may all relax. All three of you, my regular visitors!

I just turned around and it’s April 16th already! So, what’s up, you may ask? Not much (as usual). I got sick and I was feeling crappy. My throat hurt and I sounded like a 60 year old guy on crack (not my usual high pitch voice- yes, in case you didn’t know, my voice is like that, well, not all the time, but I can reach some reeally high notes, especially when talking to hamsters or other animals. Yes, I talk to animals. And no, I don’t expect them to talk back, not in human language at least. Stream of consciousness paragraph ends… Now).

I am feeling better now, but I still need a few days to get into shape.

Now, about the news.

I got a new hamster. Yes, that’s right, I have a hamster again! I wanted to buy a male, because they tend to be tame and bite less than females, but I got a female instead! Her name is Polina (as you might guess, she was supposed to be Pol, read as Paul), and she is long haired Syrian. She doesn’t bite, but she is still a bit scared of me. Oh well. At least she lets me hold her a bit. I didn’t know females can be that visibly longaired!

Once again, I am sorry for not posting that long. I don’t like when I don’t update often. I do have some ideas for posts, mainly rants about crappy movies (when you’re ill you get to watch many of them), but I just didn’t have time (or energy) to update. Hope you understand!

PS- It’s nice to notice Jefflion is getting more hits, even if I don’t update. “More” means “around 15″, but I don’t complain!

Here’s what my stats have to say about searches:

Top Searches: eddie vedder, how to know if a guy is a virgin, mira buva, how to tell if a guy really lost his virginity, download mask paint shop pro.

So yeah, Eddie still rulez (apparently), even after he transformed himself into Dude Lebowski.

Some useful advice:

• Sleep in.
• Don’t do anything in particular. Because you can.
• Go to movies. Watch something profound or entertaining, but not obviously crappy (no romantic comedies, action films or parodies).
• Listen to the music that was popular when you were 14 and that you considered crappy at the time. It’s still crappy, but at least you get to remember your early teens.
• Visit blogs, comment, update your own website.
• Make love to your loved one.
• Eat popcorn. Lots of it.
• Think about your novel. Plan it. Research. Daydream. Then plan and research again. Then daydream. And daydream a little more. It’s good for writing. It’s necessary.
• Go to bed at 4 AM. Because you can.
• Relax, take it easy. Don’t try to do way too many things.

Well, it looks like I did follow those tips this weekend (well, most of it). My husband and I are going to cinema tonight (to get a proper watching of “Sherlock Holmes”, because we decided watching a fun film again is better than giving more money to something we are sure it’s not really our thing (“Avatar”). But I will watch “Avatar” and talk about it- just not at the moment. For now, I want to relax, have fun, do nothing and don’t think about anything really profound… Except my novel.

Bonus track: 25 things I learned reading “Twilight”

This is a long overdue, last (?) installment of “Twilight” spitttings. So I realized it’s best to post them here first, then move them to their appropriate page in the spittings section.

1. Sex with a vampire can kill you, but only if it’s premarital.
2. Abusive, controlling behaviour is ok as long as it’s “true love”.
3. So is pedophilia.
4. Women are inferior to men.
5. If they’re not, they’re infertile.
6. Bad people are ugly, good people are beautiful (even if they don’t find themselves pretty and bitch about that all the time).
7. Kids treat their parents as crap.
8. It’s possible to be non-white and attractive (in a wild, uncivilized way), but it’s not nearly as attractive as being pale and white.
9. In order to know anything about cars and sports, you must posses Y chromosome.
10. If your boyfriend of 6 months leaves you, it’s perfectly ok to become suicidal.
11. Blond females are stupid, bitchy and mean. All of them.
12. Using swear words is bad, but stalking someone isn’t.
13. Desire to have sex is a good enough reason to get married.
14. Girls don’t need any skills apart from cooking, and no ambition apart of finding a man.
15. Clumsiness is attractive. Safety helmets are sexy.
16. People with bad complexion are not worth your attention.
17. In order to feel smart, you should read classics such as Jane Austin and Shakespeare. You don’t have to understand a word of what you’ve read, though.
18. Being forced into a relationship is romantic.
19. Obsession and lust are easily confused for a true love.
20. It’s perfectly ok for a father to hate his own child.
21. Policemen are cowards.
22. Being older than your boyfriend is a major disaster.
23. It’s perfectly ok to neglect your child if you want to have sex.
24. Logic is highly overrated.
25. In order to sell a book, you don’t need any talent, writing skills or an editor.