Monday 5 August 2013

DV

'Want to do' - ah, there's a thing.  There are things one might yearn to do but know the opportunity might or will never arise (a friend of mine has hankered since childhood for a trip into space, but I think she will never have the chance), things that one intends to do, things one hopes might happen.  I tend not to wish for the impossible and I don't even plan ahead that much, but will take an opportunity if it presents itself.

A friend (a different friend, in fact it's Rupert's owner's mother) took a break from her job as a teacher while her children were small and, once they started school, decided to learn some new skills.  So first she learned Japanese and then photography and took a GCSE in each.  I can see the point of the exam in those cases because it was a measurable mark of success, whereas I refused to take exams when I was learning the clarinet because, if anything, I felt it would hold me back.

So what I want to do at present is -

1 Get the new blog up and running, with vast appreciation of Ro's help.

2 Take the CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) on a motorbike.  What I then do with it will depend on how much I really enjoy it, but it's a challenge I seem to have set myself without quite realising I was going to.

3 Continue with the social life and doing things for pleasure.  I've been doing pretty well at this all year, it's something that usually drifts during the spring and early summer.  I start with good intentions in the autumn (I go by school years still more than calendar ones) but, when busy, it's the things you want to do rather than the things you must do that slip first.  I have got something vital on at school that needs to be prepared for this month and done in the first half of next and I'll tell you about it in due course, but then I have two holidays booked, one with Wink and one with Nadfas and I've arranged to go and visit Badgerdaddy in October too (and hope to call on John G on the way, though I haven't let him know dates yet).  Then Wink will be having an operation and I'll spend quite a lot of time with her.  So, though I might not manage many social things at home, I'll be doing them somewhere.

4 On my 'I'm going to bloody well do this because I'm not a wuss' list is getting over this ludicrous inability to be out of my depth, literally.  Fear of water has to go, it's not going to govern me much longer.

5 At present, though it'll probably last all of another month, my nails are looking okay and I'm putting stuff on to strengthen them.  They are dreadfully weak and when they break, I neglect them in despair and then, when worrying in the dark reaches of the night, I bite them.  That is a shaming admission from someone of my age, but if Roses and Mig can stop smoking, I can stop doing something I should have grown out of half a century ago.

As is sensible with a 'to-do' list, one should always have an item that can be ticked off pretty quickly.  So, though it's not yet quite finished, here's a link to the new blog.  Which will include the whole of this blog very soon, I trust.  I might post on both until I'm sure what I'm doing over there, but then this won't be updated any longer and there will just be the link to that, though the archives will remain here too.

On the new blog, I'm afraid you'll have to register once to leave comments, but just with your chosen name and an email and then you won't have to do it again, there won't be a wv and it will be published immediately.  Hope it all works ok, let me know about any problems.  Ronan says that it's always possible the whole thing may go awry when he uploads more than 3,000 posts from here to there and he may have to start again, though he hopes not.  So do I, it's not as if this is a hobby for him and he's being very kind as it is.

16 comments:

Zig said...

please can I be a bit of the socialising when you're with Wink?

You can ride one of mine as well, in fact they would love you so small and light.

I am popping to your new blog now to registered my interest! If i don't appear I have done something wrong ...

Z said...

Oh, yes please! I'd love to see you.

Unknown said...

New blog??

Z said...

It's not really a new blog, just that this one is moving.

Blue Witch said...

Goodbye dear heart.

BW doesn't register with anyone.

Why make it easy for anyone to tie together all the comments one leaves anywhere?

PS I don't think you *have* to have registration for WP blogs.

Roses said...

Why not treat yourself to fake nails for a bit?

Go totally wild!

Z said...

I have done everything I can to help, BW - Open ID solved the spam problems here but I don't use it for your sake. No, I don't have to have registration, but I really can't put up with the spam any longer. It's a real nuisance, having to approve every comment, and really only feasible because I can do it on the phone, and there's still loads of spam, up to 50 a day, that I have to reject one by one. I'm desperate to call a halt to that. I don't quite understand your objection since I have an email address for you anyway and that's all you'd have to leave - not a link to your blog unless you wanted to.

Z said...

Oh, and registration is password protected, BW, it's as secure as I can make it for subscribers.

I did once, Roses, but they ruin your own nails and I don't want to have to go through that awful regrowth again. And I'm so careless, can't be doing with wearing gardening gloves - that's bad enough for real nails, destroys fake ones.

Blue Witch said...

My problem is, once registered, every comment I leave on *any* WP blog is connected together (and visible to anyone whose WP blog I comment on). I choose not to wish anyone to be able to do that.

Such info is also already sold by companies and is very valuable - pension providers, healthcare providers, insurance providers all can access it already. It will only get worse in future.

I manage to delete spam without needing people to register. It's really not that onerus (cf the effort people have to put in to bother to leave a comment).

Z said...

I can delete spam of course, but I'm really tired of needing to do so. It's quite as intrusive as cold telephone calls. I'll speak to Ronan, but I can't bother him again tonight - I'll continue to post here for the time being anyway as well as on the new site, until I'm sure that everything is set up as I want it.

I don't know if using Wordpress.com is the same as one's own .co.uk site through Wordpress. Ronan's company uses Wordpress for commercial sites without problems - but I'll check with him.

PixieMum said...

I'm not very technical but could Blue Witch, and anyone else who has similar problems with registering, use a one off email address that hasn't and won't be used elsewhere. If this is feasible perhaps say with gmail, or other newer provider.

I have a second email address to use for these occasions, it is good as I can delete the post on say my iPad and by some miracle of whizziness it disappears from my laptop and iPhone too, unlike Hotmail, where each one individually is deleted.

Hope this helps. Madeleine

Compostwoman said...

I am finding that despite being signed in to WP ( I even have a WP blog!) it will not recognise me so I can post a comment on your new blog - I keep getting told I have put in an unrecognised username or password ( which I have not)

This has happened repeatedly today, so not a one off problem.

I fear if this continues I will no longer be able to comment on your lovely utterences, once you migrate to WP

Z said...

This isn't a WP blog as such, but my own website that makes use of WP as a blogging tool. So your WP identity won't work - at least, that's my understanding. If you register as if you aren't already a member, I think you should be ok. Please let me know here if not

Z said...

Thanks, Madeleine.

Compostwoman said...

Hurrah! I'm in :) Thanks for clarifying how to do it.

Liz Hinds said...

I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to stop biting your finger-nails.