Why I am still a blogger & some ramblings

'hello, i'm an alien'

Sad news — my Instagram was not hacked. It's very upsetting because if it had been hacked, someone would have updated it and I wouldn't have to. I don't know what happened. I stopped posting at Instagram for a few weeks and now I really just don't want to do it anymore. If I could, I would probably just post links to my blog but you can't make links plus it's kind of strange to link to your blog from Instagram or any other social media as it almost feels a bit backward somehow. And also, I really just don't know about replying to comments — it's all bunched together in the same space and maybe I should reply to them but I don't know. I have no excuses, I'm just lazy. I think now I'm a bit more anti-social media than I thought or perhaps I have always been this way. Here's a little list of my social media history:

Twitter – I quitted that due to not being able to post fast enough or maybe because I hate how hard it is to actually know who's who when everyone is so quick.

Pinterest – I quitted that as well. It's more of a place to gather image resources but kind of hard to use since they demand you sign in just to view a page and I'm never in the habit of staying signed into Pinterest and also, it's very, very, very hard to find the original link to any artwork/photo/idea because one person pin something and the whole world pins it but no one knows where the original comes from.

Facebook – I've never tried it but I was tempted to join but decided it's not for me. I honestly cannot look at a facebook page for long without feeling a bit backward because I think the design is a bit archaic and also, it keeps asking me to sign in which annoys me so much that I usually close the browser window after a few moments.

So it's not quite a history since I didn't really do much. I guess you can say, I really am a bit anti-social media. Is there a cure for this?

I just read this post at Offbeat YA about bloggers being artists and crafters and I agreed with Roberta. We as bloggers create content and unlike social media, we don't have to conform to a certain format of presenting it. That is, we can add our own distinction, our own little touches. I'm not saying you can't do it with social media, I'm just saying it's a bit harder to distinguish yourself when you have to move at a faster speed. That's what I get from social media — you don't go at your own speed even if it appears that you do. I guess in this instance, I'm slower than most people. Slower to respond to replies and comments, it's why you sometimes see my replies to comments here on this blog a week late. (Read Roberta's post here.)

So what's the point of all of this? Just that, instead of trying out social media, maybe I should just stick to blogging. Blogging is really, truly, my only preferred platform. Whatever else I quit, I seem to always return to blogging. I have been blogging for a long while and have only quitted about two million times but I'm still blogging and in a few years, I'll announce my retirement from blogging and then a few days afterward, I'll start to blog. Again.

And now some shameless promotion:

click on image to go to the shop

In other news, the error at my society6 shop is apparently a copyright thing – that is, they believed I have violated some copyright issue but I see a lot of famous people artworks. In fact, when I searched for that same person on Society6, 50 pages of artwork with that same person shows up – what the hell is that mean? Shouldn't all these works be taken down too? I didn't want to deal with this so I decided to take the piece down and will not post the other art pieces with famous people either.

I did promise myself that I would promote the shop nonetheless. So here's a promote shout out and read this with exclamation marks even when I didn't put one in: Visit 'the tea rain girl' shop and buy prints. And get nothing extra but you will have prints! Well, the ones you will have purchased anyway. Yay for art! Go shop here.

Fiction: April Gale and The Long Short Journey

This week's Words for Wednesday are: this sound

And/or: it's going to rain today; chasing storms; umbrellas; charmed; a long journey; trains

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Fiction: April Gale and The Long Short Journey

The rain tap, tap, tap on the train windows. April Gale sighs. The long journey to her grandfather's house is getting tedious. The storm seems to be following her all the way from her house to the train platform and now here. She brushes a finger against the window pane making a streak across the steam. She hears a cough and turns to the boy on the other side of the train. He is bundled in blankets but is still shivering. She snaps her fingers and instantly, he stops shivering. She hears a sigh and turns to her aunt sitting beside her. Aunt Josephine gives April a thin raised eyebrow. April grins at her. Aunt Josephine frowns and returns to her book.

April pulls at her shawl closer around her shoulders. The train has no heating and they have been here for ten hours straight. She turns back to the window. The rain falls in larger droplets. The gray sky swims with half-black clouds. There is nothing to see in the wide grayness. April pulls the curtains closed. She glances over at the boy. He is sleeping while leaning against the train wall. His spikes of blond hair are bent at one corner. April's eyes land on the old woman sitting beside the boy. She stares at April with her lips pursed and large brown eyes almost popping out of their sockets. April gives her a small smile and turns away.

Another ten hours of this and April might just jump out the windows, that is, if she can open them. When she sat down hours ago, she had noted the windows are sealed shut. How is anyone to breathe around here? She starts to stand up but Aunt Josephine presses a hand on April's shoulder and shakes her head. April sits back and leans her head against the seat. She wishes they could just fly to her grandfather's house. She closes her eyes and imagines the train lifting off the tracks and moving forward in a moderate speed so as to have a relaxing trip.

Someone screams and April opens her eyes. The train seems to be lifting. She pushes the curtains open. The sea is getting lower and lower below them. She reaches out to grab her aunt's arm and at the same time, her aunt shoots her a look that warns of daggers and swords. April laughs lightly and drops her hand onto the armrest.

Outside, the rain seems to be moving upward. The train pauses and starts moving forward in a moderate speed. April turns her head slightly to glance at the passengers. They are keeping their heads down except for the sleeping boy who is awake and staring out the window. There are a few shouts and screams but nothing alarming, well, nothing too loud that Aunt Josephine can comment on but Aunt Josephine is busy vomiting into her small bag. Her book lays on the floor in the isles slipping back and forth.

The train speeds up and soon they are moving faster and faster that any screams coming from the passengers are drowned out by other screams. April clings to the armrests and wonders why they are moving so fast. She certainly has not pictured this. She dares a peek at the passing sky but the view moves too swiftly for her to make out any details.

Over two hours later, they begin to slow down. Then they descend back onto the tracks. April can hear the collected sighs of relief. Aunt Josephine leans back in her seat and peers at April with half-opened eyes and in a almost whisper, says, "Your grandfather is going to hear about this." Then she turns and lowers her face into her bag.

April lets out a breath. Well, there's nothing she can do to fix this but they did saved seven hours of tedious train ride. And now she realizes her powers are growing.

--- More Words for Wednesday over here ---

Words for Wednesday — Jan 16

This month, I am hosting Words for Wednesday. Words for Wednesday is started by Delores and now is hosted by various bloggers. The aim is to encourage you to write - a poem, a story, a song or whatever comes to you - using some or all of the prompts.

This week's prompts are:

This sound — listen to it and see what words or thoughts will come up. Please note, this video is 10 hours long so remember to pause it after a listen or if you like, you can just continue to listen to it while you write. (In case you don't want to listen, the sound is 'rain and thunderstorms.'


video link >

And/or:
1. it's going to rain today
2. chasing storms
3. umbrellas
4. charmed
5. a long journey
6. trains

You may write your piece in the comments or post it on your blog. If posting on your blog, please leave a direct link to the post so we can all visit you.