Blog Hopping

Every so often on Swap Bot there will be something called a Blog Hop, which is designed to get our blogs a bit of exposure among like-minded people!  The idea is that you post the web address of your blog (yes, I know I don't call this a "blog" but others do, so...) and then five people will be assigned to read entries and comment on one of them.  You in turn will read the blogs of 5 other people and comment on their blogs.

This works best if there are lots of people involved, but this time there are only 7 of us. Still we can check out new blogs and see if they are to our liking.

The thing about blog hops is that you discover the diversity in the kinds of blogs people keep and what they choose to write about.

The first of my partners was someone called "bluecrayons" whose blog is called "Come Craft with Blue."  "Bluecrayons" is the screen name of a woman called Rhonda Helm from Polk City, FL, whose brief bio reads:  I'm a crafter at heart. I love all crafts. Love to scrapbook. photography is something I enjoy. I always have a cam on me whether it is my cell or digi. I have 2 parakeets (my kids) named Bucky and Leo. there a year old. Buddy is my black Chinese pug. I have 3 college degrees in criminal justice and computer crime. 1 class away from my web design degree. been in the swapping scene for 10 years.

Her blog entries all concern crafting projects she is engaged in with other crafters.  For example, on Feb. 29 the task was to take the letters in the word LEAP and create any paper crafting project; a card, a scrapbook layout, a journal page, etc.
 
Blogs like this always intimidate me since they are always so clever in ways I can only wish to be.  Of course, they are all driven by photos of their work and "photos" of my work contain words, so to each her own!

The second blogger was called "Tampatha," whose real name is Tammy.  She is another crafter whose blog is entitled "Creatively Me."  She only had two entries for the month of February, but the one I liked was called Obscure February Holidays, where she created greeting cards for holidays like "eat ice cream for breakfast day," "don't cry over spilled milk day" and "polar bear day."

"Peanutsmommy7" (Michele Cruz) worried me.  Her blog is "Welcome to My Life" and while she had an entry for every day, each entry was either a repeat of or another version of the quote "A true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else believes your smile!."  I was so concerned about her after reading many of her entries that I sent her a "hug" and told her that I felt her pain!

"IdleEmma" is another crafter who writes at Puddle Side Musings.  Emma is a 23 year old Irish girl who blogs about crafts, snail mail and planners.  Her first entry was titled "Kawaii Box Show Off" and was photos of the contents of a box of cute things she had received in the mail.  I gathered that this was some sort of service she subscribed to because she showed the contents of several boxes and then she was cutting back on expenses so there would be no other boxes.  I am not really into what they label "Kawaii," but I had to admit that I thought this calendar was very cute.
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My last partner was someone called DerpyShy (Jennifer Trevino).  This is the kind of person I don't understand.  Why would you sign up for this swap if you have no blog listed...anywhere?  Three of us (so far) have left requests for the address of her blog, but so far none has been given.

Since there were only 7 people in the swap, 6 + me! I checked out the one blog I was not assigned to, which was Let's Make a Panda.  "Let's Make A Panda" is maintained by WhiteKhocolate, an avid foodie and creative education facilitator, who lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is married to the Khocolateman, and they have one furbaby (Dalek).  This is the only one of the 6 that I would call the kind of "blog" that I'm interested in reading.  She blogs about "the fuzzy things in life - food, family, and crafting fun." Though I have to admit that I got lost in some of her food entries since she was using things I'd never heard of, and I don't know if it's just me and my unfamiliarity with health food, or if it's because she lives in Australia and is using things not readily available here.

I hope I hear from DerpyShy eventually.  I'd like to read what (if anything) she writes about.  But I got a chance to be introduced to other bloggers, though I suspect I won't be following them.  We are too different.

Friends We've Never Met

The weird thing about meeting internet friends for the first time is that you aren't really meeting them for the first time.  You've actually been a part of each other's lives for years, but you've just never been in the same place at the same time before.

Today the delightful Mary Z (who writes "Z's World") and her husband John breezed through town.  They had flown in to meet John's sister Ann and her husband Al, driving north to where they were going to meet other family members for a week's vacation.

As they would be passing right through Woodland, which is 10 miles from Davis, and as they would be there at noon, she suggested we get together for lunch.  I chose Paco's Mexican restaurant because I knew it was very large, not usually very busy, a unique setting (as it used to be an old bank), and the food was good.

Perfect choice.  And perfect timing.  We arrived within 5 minutes of each other and it was like we had always known each other, as it usually is with these meetings after so many internet years as friends.  The reason we have become friends became clear when I heard her order her lunch:  chile relleno, with black beans, and salad with blue cheese dressing.  Water "and lots of it" as her beverage.  It was exactly what I had planned to order, down to the "lots of it" for the water.  

She's wearing that colorful scarf (her one big purchase in Cannes...a whole 4 Euros, John says) at a rakish angle because she had a fall on August 1 and broke the bone just below the head of the humerus.  She has a metal plate and screws in har arm, and the arm is in a sling, nicely camouflaged by the scarf.

We chatted away like we'd just seen each other yesterday, about dogs and trips and all sorts of things.  She excitedly showed me her new iPad and the things she is learning on it.  The hour just flew by and all too soon it was time to say goodbye and send them on their way.

What a delightful lunch (and thanks, John, for treating us!)

In the evening we went back to Woodland for the concert of a young man named Spencer Micetich.  It was his senior concert of a few classical, but mostly musical theater pieces, some with a little help from his friends.  He has just graduated from high school and will be entering college in So. California.

I've never met him, though I interviewed him once on the phone.   I first heard of him when he was nominated for an Elly Award -- that's the Sacramento equivalent of the Tonys -- for his performances as Jean Valjean in the Woodland Opera House young people's production of Les Miserables.

It is the policy of the Davis Enterprise not to review young people's theater for all sorts of reasons, mostly having to do with uneven performances and stage mothers.  So I had not gone to see this production, though people told me it was wonderful.

I don't remember if I interviewed him after he was nominated or after he won -- I think it was after he was nominated.  I found him a very soft-spoken, self-effacing, pleasant young man.  Everyone told me that he was a nice as he sounded in the interview.  I was sorry I had missed his performance.

I actually saw him in an adult production of South Pacific, where he played Lt. Cable, the young man who falls in love with Bloody Mary's daughter.  In my review, I wrote this about his performance:

Micetich is a marvel. This young actor is only a senior in high school, yet he has a maturity far beyond his years and has already won an Elly for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in the Young People’s production of "Les Miserables." But here he is playing against an adult cast and holds his own beautifully.

When I saw he was giving this concert, I wanted to go and be supportive, though he won't know I was there, since this kind of thing doesn't get reviewed.  But I was able to hear him sing "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis and it's obvious why he won the Elly.  It was spine tingling.

I don't know what's ahead for young Micetich, but he has the potential to compete with the big boys and I hope that some day I will see him in a big role and remember when I didn't review him in Les Miserables because I didn't "do" young people's theater.  And feel I really missed something special.