Archive for the 'Q.O.T.W.' Category
January 13 2010: QOTW: Professional Photos
Filed under Body & Q.O.T.W. with 5 Comments
Recent increases in positive body image and self-confidence has resulted in a few things. First, that I’ve become increasingly arrogant in my Facebook statuses with the below two as examples:
- Amanda is going through a good period where she can look in the mirror early in the morning with bedhead and sleep in her eyes and still be able to legitimately say “Hey, you sexy thing you!”
- Amanda is already hot enough without the added complications of 40+ degree heat.
Second, I’m now contemplating getting a few professional photos done. I’ve never felt better about my body and my looks, and I think it would be a good idea to preserve this particular moment in time with a few really well shot photos, so I can look back in decades to come and think: “Damn, I was one hot chicky”. An old friend and I have been discussing potential shots – he’s a professional photographer and is keen to expand his portfolio of portraiture. I’m keen to be a guinea pig.
We have a few staged shots in mind already (yeah, some of them will be not-so-clothed), but I’d like to get some ideas from others – especially blog readers as I’ve been more honest with all of you for a longer time than I have with anyone else in my life. Most of you probably know me, the real me, better than most of my RL friends. I really have only a single requirement for the shots: I don’t want anything too staged or fake. I want the shots to look relatively natural, like they’ve just captured me at a random point of my day.
Question of the Week: What particular things (personality traits, objects, events, places, etc.) do you associate with me? If you think of me getting professional photos done, what kind of shot do you envision?
January 8 2010: QOTW: Social Media and Relationships
Filed under Q.O.T.W. & Relationships/Men with 16 Comments
So I’ve just read this article, and I’m curious. Most of the readers of this blog are as similarly active on the internet as myself – if not more. You might be a blogger, or a Tweeter, or you might visit a million forums. You might be an IRC regular, or just a frequent commenter on other blogs. Bottom line is, you spend a (relatively) large amount of your time on the Internet – probably more so than your average Joe or Jane.
I’ve got an online presence. I blog here. I Tweet near-daily. I use my LiveJournal occasionally for private entries. I’m relatively active in my local Melbourne LiveJournal community. I (try to) comment on other blogs regularly. I’m part of a forum (and have been very active in other forums). I’m very active on Facebook. I chat on MSN semi-regularly with online friends. I’ve met nearly two dozen ‘online’ people IRL, all over the world.
On the other hand, Dylan doesn’t understand why I blog, why I tweet, and how I can be so close to people online. It’s not to say that he’s a Luddite though, because he is incredibly tech-savvy. His interests online though, extend to browsing innovation and technology blogs, and research on various topics. For instance, we recently bought some pot plants for his place, but he spent about a week researching different varieties and their properties online before making a decision. We’re looking at purchasing snorkelling masks, and he’s already spent days researching different brands and styles.
We spend equal amounts of time online – but whereas my Internet usage is based around interaction with others, his is very much self-contained. This is actually probably reflective of our RL persons as well though – I’m more likely to spend time chatting to a friend, whereas he’s more likely to spend a day figuring out a way to rig up a way for the garden solar lights to light up his bungalow to save on electricity bills (true story – he’s still trying to figure it out).
Question of the Week: If you’re in a relationship, what’s your respective approaches to social media, and how does that work out for you? If you’re not in a relationship, what combination (one techy one not, two techies, or two non-techies, etc.) do you think would work best?
December 20 2009: QOTW: Gift-giving
Filed under Life & Q.O.T.W. with 21 Comments
It’s no secret that I’m not particularly into the Christmas spirit. My family have never celebrated Christmas, and I’ve never really understood the concept of gift exchanges – why not just all agree to buy yourself the thing you want most, rather than have gifts that you don’t want given to you by others? I think the same of birthday presents – I’d much rather get money so I can buy my own large present, rather than have lots of little things given to me.
This year however, marks the first Christmas I’ve spent away from family, with two house mates who believe firmly in the concept of gift-giving, a fancy Christmas lunch, etc. Because I knew that they’d buy me presents, I kind of felt obligated to buy them presents as well. So, in the practical and logical way that I do things, I bought:
- For my female housemate: Organisational things. A shoe rack you can hang over a door, hanging organisers for wardrobes, etc. Her room is a pigsty (by anyone’s standards, not just my own anal standards!), and I thought it would come in handy for her to be able to organise at least some of her possessions.
- For my male housemate: Jumpers and scarves – he’s heading to Italy for three weeks in January, and has no winter clothes. He wears Tshirts and shorts year-round in Australia, but that’s really not an option for a European winter, so I bought him some warm clothes to wear over there.
Dylan tells me that I’ve misunderstood the whole concept of Christmas gift giving. He claims that Christmas gifts needn’t have to be about practicality and whether or not the recipient will use it, but that it’s about something thoughtful and personal, something frivolous that will put a smile on the person’s face. To teach me a lesson about what a “true” Christmas is about, he’s already claimed that he’s going to wake me up at 5am to open presents, then take me out for “experiences” all day. I have no idea what these “experiences” are going to be, because he won’t even tell me what I should wear for the day to ensure that I’m appropriately dressed for the activities.
Anyway, point is, I personally think that a practical gift is more likely to give long-term happiness to the recipient. Sure, a gag gift might give you a few laughs on the day, but after that it’s probably just going to go in a drawer and be forgotten about. A practical gift like the two I got however, will give ongoing benefits to the recipients!
Question of the Week: What kind of gift giver are you? Do you aim for practicality, or do you get anything that will put a smile on the recipient’s face?