Multiply changed things while I've been away. For the better, probably, but I need to learn my way around again. So at first I could not find where to click to write a new blog. But as you can see, I found it.
I tidied up a couple of things -- made some old blogs visible again that earlier I had hidden.
And I "quit" the Library group and Writers Block.
So.
Soon again maybe I'll blog.
This one still remains private though.
Meirav, If you notice the date, I had written this blog at 1:31 AM on June 18, 2009. I had intended to return to blogging at that time. However, that is the very night that at about 2 AM my son Scott was killed. And so the inability to blog this past couple of years has been more related to that, than to the stuff I had written about in the two blogs previous to this one.
ReplyDeleteoh. so all that drama with Kira was before your son's death - and just as you thought you were maybe ready to come back, Scott was killed and you were obviously not up to much, I remember you did share a little of your pain but of course I understood you needed time and space.
ReplyDeletebut then you did come back at some stage, seemed like you were back to your normal self, and then again you disappeared. do you mind me asking what happened? was it just that you came back too soon and found you couldn't cope with it yet? or that somehow the old Kira wounds reopened? or something else altogether?
That was pretty much it - I wasn't coping well yet:
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of polarization in the U.S. right then about that Health Care Bill, and several of my online buddies were blasting away on that subject ...
Also, one of my online male buddies was MIA, and I found out he had been arrested, and that besides that, he was never the person he seemed to be here on Multiply.
Also, my youngest son had come back home from the Navy in November, and then in August he got his own place, and I had the empty nest thing to deal with all over again. Yeah ... just a lot of stuff ... regular life stuff, but also some that's unique to communicating with people in a virtual community.
Plenty of good stuff happened in the meanwhile, though. My girl-cousin & I, who have known each other online only for many years through ancestry.com and then Facebook, finally got together in person last summer, and that was great, and we really are family, and practically best friends as well.
Also last summer, my husband & I found a new church that we just love, and we've made friends with another couple there who we really enjoy hanging out with because they like to do the same things we do.
And the Sunday Bible Class at church is like being in a college classroom, and our pastor/teacher has a Master's degree in history (teaches at a high school, besides pastoring our church). My husband and I are pretty well-read in the subject areas that our class is about. And I am never shy when I am in a classroom setting. So I've met quite a few people at church that way, and they all really like me and want to talk to me.
Plus, my genealogy cousin and I found another "lost" cousin last summer, and she's a terrific person, too. The new cousin is also a writer -- a very successful professional writer, actually. We met in person a couple of times, and have been talking to each other almost every day on Facebook for about a year.
A couple weeks ago she & I had coffee together & talked for hours, and she asked me if I wanted to join a writing group she's in. I said, "No, thanks! Been there/done that/don't want to do it again!" But then I got thinking about all of you guys, and remembering how much fun it was at first ... And found myself really missing some of you.
So, sorting it all out, I realized that most certainly SOME people (besides myself) are the same person online as they are in real life. My cousins Adrienne and Julie certainly are! In fact, both of them even SOUND just the same in person as they do when they write.
So, I came back over here and started reading blogs, and the next thing you know, I was writing here again. Neat thing is, nowadays one can double-post from Multiply to Facebook ... and some of my "real life" friends and family members even click on my Multiply links, and then comment on Facebook.
Oh, and yeah ... we also got this new computer. That helps. When my son moved out last August, he took his lightening-fast computer with him. I've still had my laptop right along, but, "the old grey mare - she ain't what she used to be."
Today's a holiday in the U.S. - Memorial Day. I didn't have to work today. But my husband does have to work. It is 4:30 in the afternoon here now (we are about 5 hours behind you, I think); and my husband works second shift. So that's what has taken me so long to get back to you on this. I wanted to wait until he was gone so as not to neglect him while I composed this response.
Talk to you later! Hope you have a good week! Rani
Thank you for taking the time to tell me all this - all the different things that have happened, online and offline and even in the intersection between the two realms... I'm glad you've decided to come back. Yes, some of us really are the same online as we are offline. (I'm trying to start saying "offline" instead of "in real life" because I don't like that term - it seems to imply that what goes on here isn't real, whilst I feel some of the conversations I have with people here are more real than what I get most of the time out there... it saves my sanity at times, being able to come here and find refuge from shallow-talk.)
ReplyDeleteoh, and yes, you're 5 hours behind us. It's nearly 11pm here now. It was a holiday here as well today - not that it matters much from where I'm looking as I'm at home anyway. Tomorrow we're out the whole afternoon and evening - off to visit his parents as his big sister is over for a visit from Australia. I'm very much looking forward to seeing her as we get on really well.
I like those terms - online and offline. Will try to incorporate them into my own vocabulary, as well.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful time with his inlaws!
Oops, I mean YOUR inlaws.
ReplyDelete:-D
thanks. and as you'll see from what I've just posted, you've given me some food for thought!
ReplyDeleteOh no! I just now turned off my computer, so I can get some chores done! LOL! Well, now I've got motivation to work faster! Must do a little cooking, then dust & vacuum. Will catch your blog as soon as I'm done! Couple hours, probably. Hope you don't stay up too late now! Rani
ReplyDeletehey, no rush! my blog post won't run away :)
ReplyDelete