Plurking or tweeting... which is your choice?

I have been swaying back and forth between Plurk and Twitter over the last three months... After a rather strong addiciton to Plurk initially, i broke free and had a break. It was needed as i had become emotionally invested, not through sharing personal information, but i had started to lead a virtual world in some ways and that kind of scared me.

So i went back to twitter, but not in an involved way, more as a voyeur. Then just this week i returned to the plurking world... to anyone who knows it, you'd know that my kaarma was 0.00... a terribly uninspiring return... but i started conversations again... and my old mates commented and i felt a part of the community again.

To me something about plurk seems to embrace someone like me far more than Twitter, which seems to generally be a very individual and less engaging flow... I am not saying either is a failure, but acknowledging that as they are structured differently they will engage people differently. For my way of interacting i feel i learn more and have more time to browse with Plurk... but some very important failings stop me from being completely positive about the experience. The fact that you can't track conversations you're in makes it very hard work.

Either way, both have been pretty good at enabling me to be short n sharp with my point. A friend commented the other day that i was the most succinct txter she knows. I am pretty sure she wouldn't have any tweople or plurkers as friends... so i wonder if this has had an influence. I think this is a new topic to be explored next post...

Tai Tai Life: The next President? I don't think so.

Tai Tai Life: The next President? I don't think so. Mrs Tai Tai this sounds like a very interesting course... but wow what a tricky situation you've put yourself in by having that particular case study - will the other person know that they were the other party in scenario? Good luck. BTW i don't think you've put in the comments option - do it in settings i think. This was the only way i could comment.

New design

Welcome to my new design... hopefully this is a little bit more embracing the feel of this blog... and more pleasant to visit. The graphic encompasses the social, communications and cyclical aspects of communication. Let me know what you think.

Cloud computing... no... Cloud Parenting!

As i drove to swimming lessons this morning, I zoned out of the banter/screeching going on in the back seat and was productively planning the rest of my day. Then i had a slight light bulb moment of 'hey - how did i plan that so clearly... normally it feels much harder'.

It's a little hard to explain to non-parents (and this certainly is not an anti post in anyway shape or form) and even non-full time caring parents that mostly your brain is just a fuzzy mess of absolutely everything... but it's not due to a lack of brain cells or capability, but because there is so much going on it's like a one of those clever visualisations of what the connected SocialMedia world looks like... a bit of a jumble really.

I recently read a friend's posts about her busy life, but from the different perspective of a Hong Kong mum. One thought that really struck home was the comment that she's busy by choice, I assume she meant that unlike her Aussie friends who were just bloody busy due to lack of help, she had the hired help to enable her to do it all.

I am not sure that's totally true that we are busy without choice; much of my busy-ness is 'self-inflicted' because I want to do it all. However, i have had to set self imposed limitations on the amount of things i get involved in - basically and inbuilt barometer telling me to stop or it will affect my family.

Over the last year, i have had to conciously focus on not getting so worked up, stressed and busy because it was affecting my family. My husband, who's job is rather stressful, was being affected by my stress, as were my kids... it's been a physical reaction for my husband with his skin being the outlet of the stress. The kids behaviour was their outlet... So I assessed and changed. But a big thing i've noticed is that it's affecting my 'clarity' so whilst my 'cloud parenting' is partially due to my busy-ness it's also because i have become less 'stressed' about it all... kind of 'mushy mum brain'. Hmmm... perhaps there is a switch i can turn... on 'Focussed Working Busy Mum' to 'Chilled out Happy Smiley Good Wife and Mum'... i'll let you know if i find it!