Sick Child = Day Off = Internet
We spent an hour or so last night trying to bring the temperature of our middle girl down to avoid her spontaneously combusting. After taking antibiotics, sitting in a cold bath, and then sitting downstairs for half the night in front of a fan set to “ludicrous speed” we were on the verge of taking her to hospital when the numbers on the magical ear thermometer finally started to decrease.
The end result of the overnight adventure is that I'm off work today, and Miss 10 is kicking around the house, doped up on a continued cocktail of nurofen and antibiotics. She seems to be doing better today, but then you could have said the same yesterday, before she almost caught fire.
So. Here I am. An un-planned day off, sitting with the laptop, sipping coffee, keeping half an eye on Miss Fireball, and trying to find something productive to doyou know, like wasting the entire day messing around with Tumblr.
I have been a member of Tumblr on and off since it started. I've not always been an “active” member, but over the last few years I had come to know a really interesting group of people. I guess the mistake I made was in thinking of Tumblr as a social platform, when in reality it is notit's a pile of soapboxes in the middle of a walled garden.
Coming back to a “traditional” blog on my own domainmy own virtual turfhas been interesting. It's how I started, and how the whole “blogging” movement started back in the day. There were no big, organised social platformsno ready built communities of people. You were the community. You had to forge your own connectionsfind each othercultivate friendships. Sure, it requires much more work than landing yourself anonymously in the middle of a busy river of people, but the connections you make will stand much more chance of lasting.
I didn't mean to go off on one about the nature of the social internet, but it seems to be a habit recently. I'm not going to apologise either, because this is my blog, and I'll write whatever rubbish I want.
After hoovering the floor in the playroom, Miss 10 is now ankle deep in LEGO, pondering on what she might build. Perhaps I'll go and help her build a virtual world out of little plastic blocks, rather than bits and bytes.