#DigitalDetox Update for March 2022

Posted on

It's been a while since I've updated everyone about where I'm at with my #DigitalDetox challenge. Well, it shouldn't be surprising that I have checked some of my challenges off the list but am still working on others. And new ones have been added to the list.

So, where exactly am I at?

Let's start by quickly going through the ones that I've ticked off the list.

Read More→

We Let the Strangers In: The Hunting Trolls

Posted on

Anyone who has ever worked on social media will know what the troll behavior is like. The trolls are the people who seem to take pleasure out of creating animosity and hatred. They will say things to provoke a reaction. And when they catch someone in their sights, they decide it's time to play.

The best advice that anyone can be given when it comes to dealing with trolls is to just ignore them. Most of the time, if you don't entertain them, they will give up and move on.

But there is a rare breed of troll who develops a vendetta—and no amount of ignoring them will make them go away. The trolls see something in you that makes them think that you're vulnerable and they attack. And they keep attacking until you finally break down.

Read More→

Living in a Near-Cashless Society

Posted on

Conversations within my various editors' groups occasionally turn to ways of accepting payments from clients. You get the conversations about using PayPal and similar services. There are the conversations about payments in cash. You get those hilarious conversations about clients wanting to pay via a royalty share, complete with boasted claims that the royalty share would be worth millions.

But whenever the conversation turns to clients paying by check, the group is often amazed by my response.

As much as checks might be nice for some people, I can never accept payment via check. No bank within New Zealand will allow you to deposit checks anymore. Even cashier's checks are now a thing of the past.

There is normally one person who asks how we pay our bills if checks are no longer accepted, likely assuming that we pay for everything via cash. But my answer to this question tends to shock them even more.

New Zealand has become a near-cashless society. Everything is paid for by way of electronic transactions, most of which occur via internet banking.

Read More→

LGBTQ+ Terms: A Glossary for the Unknowing Parent

Posted on

Recently, I decided to binge watch the Netflix series of Sex Education—all three seasons of it, and I'm looking forward to the fourth season (which has been announced as going to happen). It's a racy show that explores the concepts of gender and sexual identity while at the same time reminding us that we are all human. And it is seriously funny.

I will admit that I still see Gillian Anderson as Scully from X-Files, but in every single one of the characters on the show, I can see someone that I know in person.

The show is aimed at teenagers, primarily those 16 years old and older. But if you have never seen the show, let me warn you now that there is open-door sex throughout the show, including in the opening scene of the premiere episode. But the show is not about sex. It's about understanding who we are as human beings, and yes, sex is a part of that.

This post uses medically correct terminology for human reproductive organs. If you are not comfortable with that, then you can stop reading right here.

Read More→

#DigitalDetox Challenges 9 Through 16. I’ve been busy!

Posted on

I've been quiet lately on my blog about my progress with the #DigitalDetox challenge. I have been working in the background, but I'm also starting to see a lot of the irony come to the foreground with all of this.

Most of these #DigitalDetox challenges have really been about self-reflection, deciding how I want my new normal in the post-covid world to look like. I don't think we're past the worst that covid has to throw at us, but I've noticed that since covid, our world has become more and more reliant on the internet… And I want to become less reliant on it.

I've been looking to the future, looking to see what challenges in my #DigitalDetox coloring book I can actually do, given my current situation. And I've been scheming as a result. I'm even starting up a book club. (The invite to the book club is in this post.)

So, here's what I've been up to.

Sorry, peeps, but this is a REALLY long post, but it is what it is.

Read More→