Of the Improbable Mysteries of Tumblr

Agh, I'm having a brain-mush moment over the spelling of "mysteries" in the title. No matter how many times I type it, it continues to look strange.

You may blame Tumblr for my confusion. And for much else besides.

This may stun you all, but until very recently, I had very little idea what Tumblr was. I knew it was another blogging platform, because several of my friends used it, but as it has been oh-so-conveniently blocked off as forums.personals by the almighty body of knowledge that is Lightspeed Systems Content Filtering, I'd never had a chance to have a proper look at any of the famous Tumblr blogs.

But then came this extended half term holiday and, with help from my lovely co-writer Miriam, I was introduced to one of the strangest and most wonderful corners of the internet I have ever seen.

How does one describe Tumblr? Well, from my perspective it appears to be nothing short of something that might occur if the Doctor was left in charge of Gandalf's staff, while in the company of a bored Sherlock Holmes. In the middle of a potions shop. With Loki in the next-door room. Attempting to open up a wormhole with nothing but his Glow Stick of Destiny and a jelly baby.

In short: chaos. Glorious chaos.

Since then, I have spent much of my free time perusing Tumblr, and I have discovered something that makes such a strange cacophony of madness even more attractive. Tumblr isn't just a blogging base ... it's a community. A community of mad people all posting and re-blogging and circulating and making each other laugh and cry and create to their hearts' content.

And that goes without mentioning the fantastic treasures that can be found there. Everything from beautiful original artwork, hilarious parody and roleplaying communities, photographs, heart-tugging messages, and links to places that make you wonder how many wormholes someone must have fallen through to find them. It's amazing.

However, due to the unfortunate internet blocks at place at school, I will not yet be crafting myself a Tumblr account. As much as I love the idea of jumping head-first into the madness and creating a corner of the internet for my more personal and less writing-oriented outbursts, crazes and interests (which would be exceedingly convenient), leaving it alone and dormant for so much of the year just seems daft.

Luckily for me, I leave school next summer. Then, well ... then, we shall see.

What about all of you? Do we have any Tumblr denizens among us? What do you make of it? What sort of things do you put on your blog? What sort of advice would you give to a would-be Tumblrite?

And, most important of all ... give us links!

~ Charley R

Awards? For Me?

Would you believe me if I told you how excited I get to see my name mentioned on other blogs? Call me egotistical, but I do love knowing that I've made people happy enough to nominate me for bloggy prizes.

Now ... on with the show!

This pretty little picture is from my good buddy Miriam from A Farewell to Sanity, (who is by far one of the most awesome people I know) and, according to the rules, all I have to do is pass this on to multiple people, on the criteriam of awesomeness as interpreted by the recipient. Rightio then...

 The Director at "Castles, Quills and Cameras" - her posts always entertain me, not in the least because we share an obsession with Lord of the Rings and entertaining internet pictures.

 Farjag at "Ink On My Fingers" - because I love his poems. And his maps. And his extracts. And ... you get the idea :P

Georgie and Skye at "Further Up and Further In" - not only do I love and adore the "Beautiful People" meme, but the blog is just ... awesome. Seriously, go read it. Now.

Of course, that doesn't mean to say I don't love and adore you all for different reasons - I just don't have enough time and space to put you all up here! 

This second little gem is from another uber-awesome and sniggle-tastic pal, Cathryn Leigh of Elorithryn's Diary, who, now that I think of it, got it from Miriam herself. Small world, eh?

Anywho, this one comes with questions! Yay! Let me go and get my deerstalker, and I'll be on with it:

Favorite colors: Blue, green and silver. Or any combination of the three.

Favorite animal: Ferrets. Because they're awesome.

Favorite number: 13, because it must feel a bit left out as nobody else seems to appreciate it.

Favorite drink: Appletiser - basically fizzy apple juice. Love the stuff.

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook, because I've never sniffed Twitter in my life. It looks far too difficult for a technologically-impaired ninny like me.

Your passion: Writing, reading and listening to music. Like the socialite I am.

Giving or Receiving: As I am not Santa Claus, or the Grinch, I really do not have the expertise to answer this one, hehehehe.

Favorite pattern: Celtic-style knotted patterns.

Favorite day of the week: Saturday, because I have enough free time to do things other than work! Yippee! And there's usually brownies for pudding at lunch time.

Favorite flower: I'm not really into horticulture, but the attraction of the gorgeous purple flower surrounded by nasty pointy things on a thistle has always been somewhat intriguing to me. Perhaps the fact that I associate them with northern England, which is probably one of my favourite places in the world (I want to live there when I'm older), also adds to that attraction somewhat.

I'mma pass this one on to Kirsty from the "Ramblings of Randomspirit", because her posts always bring a smile to my face, no matter how depressed and overworked I am. And, because I like to bend rules, I'll also give it to Miriam Forster of "Dancing with Dragons is Hard on your Shoes", for her incredibly useful posts on editing and assorted hilariously relevant pictures and images.

***

Hee hee, that was fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really ought to get around to that large essay on Augustine's theodicy of evil before my Philosophy teacher bludgeons me to death with a stapler. 

- Charley R

The Versatile Blogging Award - I Feel Famous :)

This overexcitably-written post is dedicated to the guys at Teens Can Write Too! for tagging my blog (albeit under the name of Spook's Scribblings) and putting it under the Versatile Blogging Award! Thank you, you are awesome!

I feel so famous now *grins*

Ze Rules!
Thou shalt leave a muchly-thankful and grovelling link to thine tagger.
Thou shalt then post 5-7 miscelleaneous bits of info about thine self and thine randomness.
Thou shalt tag others as thou wouldst be tagged by.

Anyway, the gist of this is that I now have to write 5-7 random facts about myself, then tag other authors to pass on the epicosity.

Right, here are my random facts!

1- Yesterday was the first time I pronounced "epitome" correctly.
2- I am a sesquipedontist - a person who uses long words.
3- Moths scare the heebie jeebies out of me. Especially when they fly for my face.
4- I am the proud owner of a small red plushie dragon. He lives in my bed, and his name is Llewellyn.
5- I have a fascination with duct tape
6- Anyone who tries to touch my feet will be kicked in the face. You have been warned.
7- I like to play the banjo with the rubber bands in my braces. It doesn't really work, but by heck it's entertaining.

And now to select my victims ...

Elorithryn over at Diary of a Working, Writing Mother

Kirsty over at 'Tis the Way I Tell 'Em

Miriam Joy over at A Farewell to Sanity

And, last but not least, my buddy sazmontgummiebear over at Randomness