Well, blAugust is over and Septembemblag will start soon (after a short break), so this seems like a sensible time to do a review of the goals and effectiveness of the propaganda organ that is the Leaflocker.
Mission:
To provide modest entertainment to the population of the internet at large and get some practice writing again:
Don't know about the modest entertainment, but even over the short period of a month I've noticed that it's become easier to write, and I hope you'll all agree that the structure of my writing has become at least a little less slap-dash. I've been very rusty for a very long time (about five years), and it feels good to get a little grease in the works.
Regular Features:
Monday Papal Cartoons:
Cartooning again after a year away has been good, although the quality of my art makes me cry myself to sleep some time. Nevertheless, doing the Pope cartoons and associated explanatory notes has re-ignited my enthusiasm for the long-term project that is Hamemus Papas, my time-travelling pope adventure. We'll have to wait and see what happens with that, but I hope that Monday cartoons (with or without popes) will be a continuing feature.
Tuesday Solo Book Club:
This has been hard to keep up due to the slowness of my reading pace now that I'm spending all my time working and writing blag posts. I am unhappy with the reviews in general, and need to put more time into researching the topic to make them more interesting. Nevertheless, I enjoy the long-term project that is the reading list and aim to continue it, but maybe on a fortnightly basis once I finish the backlog of reviews for stuff read since the start of the year.
Wednesday Quiz:
Has been pretty seat of the pants apart from the first couple, and participation numbers have been low, even compared to last season. I find it hard to reconcile making a quiz that participants will enjoy (which typically means "get most of the stuff right") and a quiz which I will enjoy making (which typically means "a bunch of obscure trivia"), and so far have erred on the side of my personal enjoyment, because the Leaflocker, as much as it purports to be for the people, is fundamentally an exercise in my own ego. I'm going to keep it, at least until the end of the season, and then look at ways of making it more interesting somehow.
Thursday Void:
The absence of a planned feature for Thursday, far from keeping the Leaflocker unpredictable and exciting as intended, has meant a struggle every week to find content, then last minute text-filled posts (like this one). The plan of doing a regular devotion on Thursdays, though it's yielded a grand total of no posts since its inception, is a line of thought worth pursuing, I think, though I still feel a little uneasy about sharing my personal thoughts on such a level with the internet, particularly given that it has such a long memory.
Friday Ties:
Inexplicably, has turned out to be a popular addition that will continue until I run out of ties, unless something unexpected happens. Keeping it interesting could be a challenge, but for now it's fun (and not too time consuming) to make and (apparently) to read. The intended expansion into Tin Tin reviews is yet to eventuate and I'm not sure that this is a bad thing.
Irregular Features
Wreck This Journal:
Going online and seeing some of the amazing things that some people have done to their journals has put a damper on this project for a little while. I'm still enjoying destroying my journal, but I'm not utterly convinced that the world needs to see. I'm trying not to let this attitude infect the rest of the features, as it could be fatal.
Crosswords:
While my crossword participation rate is at an all-time high, my crossword composition is sadly lacking in recent times. If I ever manage to finish a crossword it will be posted here, but I wouldn't be holding your breath. The current crossword education project was abandoned when I realised that the crossword I was using was much too hard. It may be resurrected if I can come up with something better.
The List
In as much as it's ever actually happened, the list is on hiatus until certain visitors to Canada have returned to the sunburnt country.
The editorial staff would like to extend our thanks to you all for stopping by during the month, and we hope that you'll continue to patronise the Leaflocker in the future. If you have any suggestions for content (we're currently short an average of about 1 post a week), or comments to add feel free to drop us a line.
Enjoy your Spring (or Fall, for our North American audience [or Autumn, if they use that term in Canada]).
Showing posts with label ego. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ego. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Monday, 1 November 2010
Double Date™
When I was committing the horrible crime of book-buying, as described in the last post, I also picked up a 2011 pocket diary, in the vain hope of becoming the kind of organised and dependable person I've always secretly wanted to be.
Unfortunately, I left it in my shirt pocket, where it was discovered and from where it was subsequently 'liberated' by a 'friend'. The long and short of the story is that my nice crisp clean sensible pocket diary now includes the useful entries 'AN ENGLISHMAN, AN IRISHMAN AND A SCOTSMAN WALK INTO A BAR' on November the 12th and 'DON'T FORGET THIS DAY!' on May the 21st.
Thus, we get to your bit. You, as my favourite readers of my blog, may enter something in my 2011 diary, and provided this thing is not illegal or morally questionable I will endeavour to carry out this action on the date proscribed. The catch, to prevent me having to do the absurdest things your diseased minds can come up with, is that you must do it with me. For those of you in Adelaide, this means getting together, and for those of you in other places, this means performing a similar or equivalent diary entry for yourself and informing me about it in a manner that will amuse me.
Do you have a special holiday that you celebrate and wish you could propagate? A zany act of bravado you've never wanted to do alone? A dish you need a fellow culinary master to aid you with*? A wedding you actually want me to attend? This is the place to let me know, whereupon it will be entered in...the Diary**.
I'm not exactly expecting to fill up the book in this manner, but the more things in there the more likely I am to actually continue to use it. Thus, if you are an enemy of entropy or simply a fan of people turning up to things they said they would, it's your duty to open up the comments and take me on a Double Date™.
*Actual culinary mastery is not guaranteed.
**No, that was not a deliberate Pratchett reference, but good work for picking up on it anyway.
Unfortunately, I left it in my shirt pocket, where it was discovered and from where it was subsequently 'liberated' by a 'friend'. The long and short of the story is that my nice crisp clean sensible pocket diary now includes the useful entries 'AN ENGLISHMAN, AN IRISHMAN AND A SCOTSMAN WALK INTO A BAR' on November the 12th and 'DON'T FORGET THIS DAY!' on May the 21st.
Thus, we get to your bit. You, as my favourite readers of my blog, may enter something in my 2011 diary, and provided this thing is not illegal or morally questionable I will endeavour to carry out this action on the date proscribed. The catch, to prevent me having to do the absurdest things your diseased minds can come up with, is that you must do it with me. For those of you in Adelaide, this means getting together, and for those of you in other places, this means performing a similar or equivalent diary entry for yourself and informing me about it in a manner that will amuse me.
Do you have a special holiday that you celebrate and wish you could propagate? A zany act of bravado you've never wanted to do alone? A dish you need a fellow culinary master to aid you with*? A wedding you actually want me to attend? This is the place to let me know, whereupon it will be entered in...the Diary**.
I'm not exactly expecting to fill up the book in this manner, but the more things in there the more likely I am to actually continue to use it. Thus, if you are an enemy of entropy or simply a fan of people turning up to things they said they would, it's your duty to open up the comments and take me on a Double Date™.
*Actual culinary mastery is not guaranteed.
**No, that was not a deliberate Pratchett reference, but good work for picking up on it anyway.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
In my usual fashion of taking credit for things I had very little or nothing to do with, I think it's probably worth mentioning that two of my friends announced their engagement last night. This would not normally be remarkable, after all it seems that half the people I know are suddenly getting married at the moment, except that it turns out that I introduced these two back in the deep dark depths of time when we were all back in university. Truly, I had no idea that introducing pancake girl and the blob would lead to marriage, but I can't help feeling more than a little bit proud.
So here's to you, blob, and to you, pancake girl, and to an exciting future.
My ego stirs me to point out that my record is pretty good so far, and that I have my little bottle of sulphur and some woodchips ready, and that all you single friends of mine are more than welcome to turn up to my place for my weekly dinners. You never can tell, and at least you'll be fed.
So here's to you, blob, and to you, pancake girl, and to an exciting future.
My ego stirs me to point out that my record is pretty good so far, and that I have my little bottle of sulphur and some woodchips ready, and that all you single friends of mine are more than welcome to turn up to my place for my weekly dinners. You never can tell, and at least you'll be fed.
Monday, 6 September 2010
Elections - The Never Ending Story
More than two weeks have passed since the 2010 Federal election, and Australia is still without a government, with three of those independents we talked about last week (Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott) still deliberating, while Bandt and Wilkie have thrown their votes behind a Labor Government, making the scoreline 74-73 against the Coalition.
Yes, that's right, after two weeks, anyone could win. Or no-one could. If these 3 guys can't come to an agreement in the next few days, Australia is in for political turmoil and all-round crazy time. Here's how it works.
If the big three come down on the side of the government, Labor will have a 77-73 majority (Tony Crook of the nationals is still insisting he's a party in his own right, but no-one is really listening). Who knows what Labor would have to offer Bob Katter and Tony Windsor to make this happen, but if they could it would make the most stable possible option.
If the 3 go to the Coalition, they could form government, but it's possible that Crook could come into play and block the election of a Speaker. Without a Speaker there's no House, and no government, so that's a pretty drastic move on his behalf. If he doesn't cross the floor, then the Coalition will come into power with a friendly Senate (until July), but only need to lose one vote in the House to block their legislation.
If the 3 split, with Oakeshott to Labor and the other two to the Liberals, we'd be in a bit of a pickle. With 75 apiece it's possible that either side could still form government, but it would rely on a lot of wheeling and dealing in each and every vote for the government to get anything done. It could be a weird time to be in federal politics.
Anyway, if you care at all you know all this, so I'll get to the point. The main reason for this post is that with 80% of the vote counted, it looks like Bob Day might make the Senate in South Australia. It's no sure thing yet, but if he gets in (with only 4% primary vote) I will feel justified for my wild predictions of three weeks ago, and you will have to bow down and pay homage to me as the Election King.
I hope to be able to write tomorrow sometime that we have a government.
Yes, that's right, after two weeks, anyone could win. Or no-one could. If these 3 guys can't come to an agreement in the next few days, Australia is in for political turmoil and all-round crazy time. Here's how it works.
If the big three come down on the side of the government, Labor will have a 77-73 majority (Tony Crook of the nationals is still insisting he's a party in his own right, but no-one is really listening). Who knows what Labor would have to offer Bob Katter and Tony Windsor to make this happen, but if they could it would make the most stable possible option.
If the 3 go to the Coalition, they could form government, but it's possible that Crook could come into play and block the election of a Speaker. Without a Speaker there's no House, and no government, so that's a pretty drastic move on his behalf. If he doesn't cross the floor, then the Coalition will come into power with a friendly Senate (until July), but only need to lose one vote in the House to block their legislation.
If the 3 split, with Oakeshott to Labor and the other two to the Liberals, we'd be in a bit of a pickle. With 75 apiece it's possible that either side could still form government, but it would rely on a lot of wheeling and dealing in each and every vote for the government to get anything done. It could be a weird time to be in federal politics.
Anyway, if you care at all you know all this, so I'll get to the point. The main reason for this post is that with 80% of the vote counted, it looks like Bob Day might make the Senate in South Australia. It's no sure thing yet, but if he gets in (with only 4% primary vote) I will feel justified for my wild predictions of three weeks ago, and you will have to bow down and pay homage to me as the Election King.
I hope to be able to write tomorrow sometime that we have a government.
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