Blogging

I've always enjoyed reading. I love reading well written sentences which flows to make a smooth paragraph. I like how when sentences are put together thoughtfully, it offers the ability to convey something which would otherwise be hidden in the mumble jumble of the world. I often think that only one with talent can write those sentences. But I realised now that it relies more on effort than talent.

Blogging (web logging) has made it easier for anyone to voice their opinion or get their publication out in the world. However, reading blogs (especially mine :P), it became obvious that "editor" is there for a reason.

The sentences in those books that I enjoyed reading have been written over and over and over again before it is edited by the assistant editor, and then finely combed through by the main editor. In comparison, I typed up this post in less than 10 minutes. No draft. No editor. (Hence - the quality :P)

I have abused the ease and simplicity that Blogger has offer for bloggers and have lost the enjoyment, satisfaction and pride that should comes with creating a great piece of writing because of it.

...

Anyhow, it is great that anyone can voice their opinions and share their love or passion about something through blogging, but perhaps I should re-read my post a few times and let it rest for a little bit before I post it up. Perhaps also, when I think I'm just rambling and I don't see the point of chatting about something (but I type it anyway), I should stop and not post it up. But then again, it depends, why am I blogging? Am I blogging for other people to read? Or am I just blogging as an outlet?

Something to ponder upon.

Meanwhile, there is this blog which I came across today and would like to publicize. It is very simple, but full of purpose. It also kept me engaged in the posts (if not for any other reason than because it's about food!!!).

Fed Up: School Lunch Project

It's pretty good. I like the lunch food shots. I love the honesty in the reviews. I enjoy finding out what's on offer in the school cafeteria (most probably because I've only seen this type of lunches in TV's school scenes cause I did go to school in Indonesia and the food is quite different. Probably not that much different in the nutritional level, but different packaging and taste. :P)

Today's Two Interesting Web Findings: Time & Darren Rowse

In an attempt to cultivate my interest and grow my knowledge on Photography; I started subscribing to "Digital Photography School" RSS feed a while ago. The articles are useful and/or interesting to read. Whenever I found the time to browse the website, I found a handful of articles that tickles my curiosity as a beginner photographer. Constantly! That is how good that website is. Their archive is full of posts with handy tips on photography and gorgeous snapshots.

I found out today that the guy behind the website isn't a professional photographer. WHOA! How is that possible? This person creates MULTIPLE great things and have them all going in parallel. Grr....! I can't even find time to create ONE great thing. I guess I need to try harder, or smarter.

The name is Darren Rowse. He's a Pro Blogger. From my web research, he sounds like an interesting family guy with a good humble head on his shoulder. He lives in Melbourne too! For some reason, I've always thought that DPS is US based. It definitely proves to me that on the web, one's location doesn't impact the greatness of the product that one creates. Plus, here in Australia, we really do have access to enough resources and knowledge to actually compete with the Americans.

Yay!

And then... just as if they can hear my cry in my recent blog post, "Life's Most Precious Commodity, Dumb Little Man posted the answer today!
"Seven Ways to Create More Time In Your Day"

I need to get working on my ONE great thing.

G'day to you all!

This Blog vs A Chatterbox's Pensieve

Someone asked how is this blog any different to my old one, "A Chatterbox's Pensieve".
Good question.
It forces me to think about it and make sure that I'm still re-doing my blog for a reason.

For one, it looks VERY different. I've grown up! :)
See the comparison screenshots below and I trust that you will agree!

Pssst... See! Even I (my photo) look different!!! :P

Secondly (and mainly!) - the posts are now categorised carefully.

I started with the intention of categorising them correctly and thought through it properly before I assigned a category.

Why? Well - I figure that this will allow people to choose what they want to read instead of having to scroll through my rambling & mind-searching before they get to my Photography posts or my Foodie posts, or etc.
(Refer to the image on the left side...)

Having said the above, I realised that it is a somewhat valid question. My posts are still very random - I blog just about anything and everything that I stumbled upon. What can I say? I'm interested in anything and everything and I haven't found that ONE thing that I want to FOCUS on blogging about ALL the time.

I guess I can say, "Please bear with me... and we'll hopefully get there! Somehow, sometime, hopefully soon! :)"

Happy Friday!

JENIUS: Top 50 Australian Food Blogs

JENIUS: Top 50 Australian Food Blogs
It's a very nicely composed and complete list.
Check it out and browse the food blogs links.
Most of them are simply scrumptious... :)

In my ideal world, my blog will be on the list sometime soon..
Perhaps the quarter after the next quarterly update? :P

Food Blogging (Part 2)

Check out what I found about Food Blogger.. :)

10 things you should know about Food Bloggers @Not Quite Nigella
I totally relate to #2, #3 (haha :D), #4 (well - i just want to sample them all..), #9 (the texture of bread just makes the photo!), and #10 (to some extent). LOL for #5 and #8!!! :) Great post!

12 MORE Things You Should Know About Food Bloggers @Not Quite Nigella
Agree!!! #2 is totally a crime.
LOL for #3, mine isn't 90% but definitely above 50%.. :P
#4 is a great idea. I have no idea Ferrero Rocher looks that gorgeous cut into quarters! Nice work.
I have stopped baking due to same reason - but #5 is also a good idea.. Sharing is caring! :)
#7: Yup - my husband does fall under the category of "patient people". :)

Hmm.... maybe I should focus more on food blogging. ;)

Food Blogging (Part 1)

Am I cut out to be a Food Blogger? Let's see.

Love for food? Tick.
Enjoy blogging? Tick.
Passion in photography? Tick.
+++ I live in Melbourne - one of the city which starts the infectious Foodism disease!

But - I know for sure it's not that simple.
There are plentiful food blogs out there (some really awesome ones too).
What gap can I fill? For a list of food blogs, check out food blog blog.com or The Australian Index - Food Blogs.
Actually, do I need to differ myself?
How else am I adding values?
On the other hand - there are enough restaurants/cafes/food junctions in Melbourne for the numerous food bloggers to share and talk about.
That's possibly one way to look at it.

Maybe I should read up on how to be one and then consider it.
Or maybe - I should just blog about whatever and see where I'm heading?

Hmmm.

Anyway - here's some great references on Food Blogging & Food Photography:
* How to food blog – The Last Appetite
* Foodblogging - Do’s and Don’ts » delicious:days
* Top 10 Tips for a Successful Food Blog
* 11 Tips to Improve your Blog Writting
* Food Photography Setup
* VeganYumYum » Food Photography for Bloggers

Off to my second Advanced Bikram Yoga class. Wish me luck!

Moving Blogger Blog to Another Account

When I decided to move on from my old blog, a chatterbox's pensieve - I decided to have a new profile to go with it. At the same time I still want to keep that blog online - it holds history for me and words that I have put together over a few years. Not a problem! I created a new blogger account with my secondary email address for my new blog. Done. Sweet!

Not long after - I realised that there is a problem.. Sigh! X(
The old blogger account that I have is connected to my primary Gmail account - which I am constantly logged on to.

What's the big deal?

Well - every time I write a post - I have to log out from my primary Gmail account and log on to blogger using my secondary email account. Not only that - whenever I comment on people's blog posts - blogger automatically load my primary Gmail account details - which I can't use because it won't trackback to my new blog. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!

After a few days of annoyance and almost deciding on using 2 different web browsers to deal with this issue - I've finally fixed the problem (or so I think)...

I exported my old blog and imported that into my blogger account (under different publishing address) on the secondary email address.
Done the same for my new blog.
Deleted the respected exported blogs.
Yipppeeee... I am smart after all.

Until the time when I realised - ehem - why do I keep getting "The blogger address is not available" when I try to publish the imported blog using the previous blog address? Even after I have deleted the old published blog?

!!!!!!!! X( Now what?

Well - after a little bit of a research (which I should have done initially!) - I found out that the way to do it is by transferring your blog! So without further a due - let me present...

How To Change Blog Owner? and How to Recover Deleted Blogs? - Thanks Blog Doctor!!!

Anyway - thought I'd share the knowledge (and let out the pain)! Cheerio.

On Blogging

My 5th post!
I'm a tad lost for direction.

Where am I going with this?
What is my purpose of blogging?

I even go into the trouble of setting up a new blog.
All because I want to start over and do it right.

But now I'm lost.
What is "right"?

Should I be blogging to get audience - somehow find a gap that hasn't been filled by millions blogger out there on the Internet?
Or should I be using my blog as an outlet for my constantly noisy mind?

With the first option - I could possibly (yes - very miniscule likelihood) make an income out of this which would be lovely (or so I think).
However - what is that gap?

Second option is an easy one - plus it helps make my presence bearable for other people surrounding me.
But - isn't that what I was doing with my initial blog (and the non-purposeful part of it annoys my obsessive compulsiveness and it does kinda puts me off blogging)?

Sigh.
Something for me to think about I suppose.