This is why I loathe card readers

I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I actually love it and am obsessed with it in a creepy, more-than-just-Facebook-stalking way. I’m also co-dependent on it like everyone else in this generation. The only people who aren’t are the people who are unable to read this blog post, because, well, they don’t like technology and aren’t on the internet. The reason I hate it as well is because it tends to just crap out on me, for lack of a better term.

I don’t know if I just buy really sub-par products or if it stems from a lack of care, but everything seems to want to die when I need it the most. The most recent example happened when I was using a card reader to upload pictures to my computer. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when the reader just exploded and caught me (and the house) on fire. Just kidding, just seeing if you were paying attention. But it was just as bad. It fried my 32 gb memory card.

I sat there in shock and disbelief. The treasure I once had loved was no longer responding and thus useless to me. I’m not sure if you comprehend how valuable a 32 gb memory card is (I mean, they’re a dime a dozen) but I was heartbroken. A quick search on Amazon and eBay resulted in me realizing how stingy I am when it comes to shelling out 20-something bucks for a memory card, because I wouldn’t do it.

It’s not so much the material good that I miss; it’s all the awesome pictures that never got a chance. They will never see the light of day again because the evil and malicious card reader ate them all. I have a habit of hurting inanimate objects when they hurt me, so for right now the card reader is in time out. I feel like I have to punish it before I just throw it away, seeing as how it is no good to me. It will spend it’s last days thinking about what it did before it receives the same fiery death it bestowed on my precious pictures (and by fiery death, I mean sent to the junkyard or wherever).

Perhaps I sound crazy, but I don’t care. It’s just a sad day when you switch out your 32 gb memory card to an inferior 4 gb one because it’s all you have lying around. At the end of the day I suppose it’s better to have loved and lost than to have the wretched card reader actually burn the house down. I don’t know how to sound melancholy enough; all I know is that I’m never trusting a card reader again for as long as I live.

This is why hobbies are important (part 2)

I am sure many of you didn’t really pay attention to a post a couple of weeks back about hobbies with the parenthetical “part 1.” And if you did then congratulations! Your loyalty is to be rewarded with a new post entitled “part 2.” It was sloppy workmanship on my behalf to leave you waiting so long, but the secret is that my “part 2” was incredibly trite and couldn’t top the first part. But luckily this one is decent enough for me to talk about.

I’ve already mentioned my love for hobbies. I believe they are necessary so you don’t go insane with a case of the cray-crays. My first part to this post was about my adorable 7-year-old self and my adoration of what I deemed college would be like. Click here if you want to go back and read it. But now that I’m theoretically grown up, it’s time to say what my new hobby is. Of course it’s still writing, but I love taking pictures.

However, I’m just okay at it. Which makes me really mad. You don’t just love something to have it not love you back (meaning, it doesn’t turn out the way you want). Am I right, Britney Spears? I got an A in my high school photo class; but when I tried my hand at it in college I was only okay. I have a hard time settling for mediocrity, which is difficult when you’re so stubbornly type-A at times.

That’s why I don’t settle for only being type-A, I just have to be type-B as well. So I’d like to think I’m a mixture. Anyway, in my college class, my type-A just took over way too much. So I’ve decided with the new camera I recently purchased, I wouldn’t take the photos so by the book as I did last time. Some of my favorite shots I took involved a technique called “light painting.” Light painting is when you get a flashlight, or some form of light, and move it in such a way that it creates shapes and designs. Then you hold down your shutter on your camera and it creates a cool picture.

I took light painting shots last time because I thought they were cool. I had no idea that they were an actual thing. So when my bestie, Maggie, brought it to my attention, we had to try it. We enlisted the help of my friend, Robert, to draw designs. We had everything from stars to designs that cannot be mentioned on this quasi-family-friendly blog. Here are some of my favorites from that night:

So even if you feel like you’re just average at something you love, don’t let that deter you from doing it. Who cares if it’s not up to some tightly wound professor who dresses in all black and thinks she’s some artistic genius and you aren’t because you take “average” photos and are just “okay” in Photoshop (sorry, ranting)? Don’t do it to please Ms. “Don’t-Take-Another-Shot-Using-That-Model,” do it because you love it. 

This is why my faith is important to me

(I wrote the following before the Pope resigned. It just so happened that my post this week was about a very basic Catholic belief that coincided with the Pope's timing. I wasn't trying to put the Catholic faith in the spotlight, once again. I'm sorry if anyone feels overwhelmed by Catholicism this week; if you do, however, perhaps you should get outside your comfort zone a little more.)

I oftentimes do not speak about being a Catholic on this blog because I don’t want anyone to feel alienated when they read my posts (which is the opposite of what Catholicism is about). Catholicism gets a bad rap for many reasons; many which I probably don’t have to tell you because you know already. But I swear, not everyone in the Catholic faith is trying to shove religion down your throat. In fact, the majority of priests and nuns I know tend to be the most open-minded people you will ever meet.

The one principle I’ve held onto throughout the years is that first and foremost you do everything with love in mind, and everything else will follow after that. I feel like that should go for any religion, even ones foreign to us like Scientology or Pierce's religion in Community. But it’s true, love people no matter what. I will be the first to admit that I am not always the best at this. I mean, just look at my Nicki Minaj post, I was hardcore judging. But it happens and we are all flawed.

So in case you’re unaware, Lent begins this Wednesday. I know! It was just Christmas. I used to hate this time because it meant I would have to give up something to please my parents and this usually ended up with me giving up cookies and then I was cranky for the next 40 days. 40 days is a long time for a child addicted to sugar. Heck, 40 days is a long time for someone addicted to social media. And that’s why I’m giving it up for the next 40 days.

I’m putting this in writing to see if I can actually do this. I will not be getting on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, or Instagram for the entire Lenten period. I will, however, be regularly updating my blog as usual because I don't have "friends" on here and can't get updates. I’m doing this partly as a Catholic who wants to do something amazing this year and partly as a social experiment. I’ve been regularly using social media since I got an AIM account in 2004. It’s time to have a break from everything. I'm not trying to show that I am "better" than anyone, by any means. This is a personal decision that I don't expect anyone else to feel obligated to do.

This is either going to horribly blow up in my face, or it’s going to motivate me to have a better life. Hopefully it’s the latter, but if it’s the former, we’re all human, right? Right? It’s not like I’m a horrible person if this doesn’t work out and I flock back to the ways of social media within a week, right? I don’t know, we will see. So I guess all that’s left to do is for me to pray to get through it (ha ha, see what I did there, because this is a post about my Catholicism. Okay I’ll stop).   

(This is the picture I'll be using on my various social media)

This is why I'm taking a week off

So I sat down several times to write a decent blog post within the past two days and it just couldn’t be done. I have been so stressed out lately that I cannot put into words how I feel. So I’m taking the week off. I hope everyone has a good one and can’t wait to write for y’all next week!