My Grandmother liked to make puppets. She would work with kids in her small town (in Ontario) and put on whole puppet shows. They built the stage, sets, costumes, wrote plays and of course they made masses of puppets. There were different kinds, not just sock puppets. Some you put your hand inside and the more elaborate puppets came with strings attached. If we got to look at the puppets she would go on and on about how careful we were when handling the puppets with strings.

My Mother and I liked to sew together, we still do, in between her snowbird trips to Florida. We make seasonal decorations, Halloween costumes for my sister’s kids and we made old fashioned rag dolls, like Raggedy Ann. I still have the very first Raggedy Ann she made for me when I was a kid. The doll has grey hair. She still regrets that but at the time she was being thrifty, using up extra yarn from some other crafty project.

I still like sewing. When I was married my Mother treated me to a good quality sewing machine. I did start using it but have not done much. I like the hand sewing best. I embroider, I crochet (though it’s not quite the same as sewing) and I like quilting. I would really like to spend a lot more time working out how to use that machine and working on sewing projects in general. It is such a great hobby. So nice to have something lovely or practical to show for your time at the end. Best of all was working together, sewing with family.

I’m going to see what local groups I can find now that I’m living in the big city and my Mother is snowbirding till at least May. I have tons of fabric and yarn stashed around here and there to use up. Maybe I will create my own version of the grey-haired Raggedy Ann doll.

I collect postcards. Not as much as I did when I wrote to a thousand or so pen pals around the world when I was a teen, but I still pick up the odd one here and there. I don’t get to travel much so it’s far more challenging to collect postcards when you are in one place.

Some people create their own or take it farther and create mail art. If you’ve never heard of mail art take a look at a few sites. It is an art which may seem retro or falling off now that email is so much easier and available without having to leave the house to buy a stamp, paper or anything else. But, losing things like mail art, letter writing and goofy little things like swapping friendship books and postcards is sad. I don’t like seeing old traditions die off but we are also losing the art of letter writing, keeping in touch with more than a one line email. When did you last write a real letter to anyone? I haven’t for a long time though I used to write to all my Grandparents regularly, until they were all gone.

Back to postcards though. I have seen a few really neat groups at Flickr for those who exchange or collect postcards. Exchanging means you do have to give out a mailing address of some kind. Consider renting a post box or just have them sent to where you work, attention to you, if you’re nervous about giving out your home address. Collecting is taking the exchange seriously and likely finding a way to store your postcards in a way they won’t yellow or get wet. The best thing about postcards from other people in other places is seeing something you couldn’t just walk to yourself. When I wrote pen pal letters we used to exchange other things along with postcards: newspaper clippings, local money, friendship books (kind of a girly thing), travel brochures, pretty much anything we could fit into an envelope without paying a fortune to mail.

I’ve had email from two insane people in a row today. One was through an online dating site and the other was a guy who invited feedback about his blog.

The first guy I met through a dating site and I had replied to him once and he sent a reply back. His reply had nothing for me to really build a conversation on so I left it for a time when I had something to chit chat about. I had planned to write some chatty emails when I had my other work done. It was personal, not an emergency and after all he didn’t come across as eager. Today he emails me calling me an asshole and saying how I’m pathetic and playing head games. Where the frick does this come from? I didn’t reply back the same day and I’m suddenly deserving of this? It’s insane! Thank God I didn’t ever arrange a date with this flipped out mess. Geez, he sounded like a psycho cause he hadn’t heard back from me after two whole days!!! Kind of scary.

The other one was a website I have read a few times, found through another blog but had not bookmarked or ever left a comment. This time I thought I would email a comment to the site owner. I didn’t say anything particularly inflammatory but the guy had a hissy fit. I had said I liked his blog but I thought he should move his content higher so it wasn’t buried under his spam/ ads. Well, it is good advice. No one can say they like digging down through spam to find content on a site. He called me a troll and a lot of stuff which was not called for. People, if you have a site and invite feedback don’t fly off the handle when you get it. Not everyone is going to think your site is great, some might even offer constructive criticism. I had actually said I liked his site and only offered feedback cause he had asked for feedback.

I know I will get comments now saying what a nasty bitch I am, how unrealistic or arrogant I am and so on and so on. Some people just seem to want to be negative and make sure to rub off on everyone they can. The new bloggers seem to be a lot more about spamming than blogging and people online are a lot angrier than I remember them being just a few years ago. I miss the blogging community, when it was about fun, free writing and exploring what was out here.

What? She’s writing about dating again… Yes, she (I mean) I am. Not for any good or useful purpose. I’m not going to change the world though I humour myself and keep right on trying.

Today let’s talk about online dating etiquette. For one thing, spelling does count and punctuation does matter. I know a lot of guys (my own brother included) who write email that could have been typed by a four year old, or someone really lazy/ sloppy/ careless. Keeping in mind that this email is making your first impression, do you want to appear like a drooling idiot? I’ve come to a new conclusion actually. Men don’t care. They somehow feel dating is like flipping through a catalogue and women are just on order. This is why I’m pretty much finished with online dating but for entertainment purposes.

The other biggie in online dating etiquette is not ignoring people, deliberately. If someone sends you a reply but they don’t sound perfect enough don’t ignore them. That’s just so obnoxious. People who do this should be kept in cages with the other primates and not allowed to socialize at all. I don’t mind (too much) if someone isn’t interested in me due to my eye colour, odd hobbies or the plus sized aspect. But, have the humanity to say “thanks, but no thanks” in some nice way.

People who use no etiquette at all make dating a hell for all of us. Of course, it’s not just men who do this. (So I keep hearing men claim). Good luck. But, honestly, don’t look for the love of your life online. Join BookCrossing or something where real people meet in a group when it’s not about dating. You’re far more likely to find someone that way, when you and they least suspect it.

I was reading about someone who has posted to a freelance job finding site, trying to get someone to list their site in the Dmoz directory. This person wants to pay someone to get the site listed immediately. There were five people who replied. One claimed to have done this before, for payment. The problem with that is a Dmoz editor is unpaid. If an editor is caught taking payments or bribes they will be removed from the directory. It helps keep things honest and fair for everyone submitting their site. Of course, this doesn’t happen much outside of the business sites.

For me it is interesting to read about these plots and plans. I can’t remember being offered a bribe before. I have been pressured to list a site. Whether I do or not depends on the site, if it’s a decent site or a spam farm. It icks me that people try to be so spammy and pushy. I think they have it all wrong.

First, a business should be focused on getting local attention. How does it help a business in Toronto or Montreal or New York to have people from Brazil finding your business. How likely is someone from Brazil to hire a copywriter, a bottling company or a shoe designer from outside of their local area? It’s silly to get so caught up on being listed in a search engine. What does placement matter if the people in your own town have no idea you’re there and available and looking for their business. Focus on what’s right in front of your face and stop obsessing about search engine optimization. Talk to your local newspaper, radio station and the people who hired your competition. Put your time into real promotion rather than something that has you spinning your wheels and wasting your money.