IG Agony?

A few days ago I watched a video clip called The Agony of Instagram. Click on the link if you want to watch it for yourself. It's basically another story about social media envy, which we've all heard many times over. This time they're saying it's not from Facebook or Twitter, but from Instagram. That caught my attention because I am fairly new to Instagram. I was very much a late-comer to that site, and I didn't join until a long time after most of my friends did. However, being the photo-freak I am, I quickly passed up most of my friends in posting. As you can see above, I've put up 2,771 pictures. I'm sure that number will be higher by the time you actually read this blog. I kind of like taking photographs ... well, duh.

The video talks about people being jealous when it comes to seeing friends posting particularly good pictures of family photos, dinner spreads, etc. Do you feel that way? I don't. I'm not jealous of anyone's photos. Well, maybe when I see the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers with his way-to-young-for-him model girlfriend ... but that's another story. I love seeing people's photos, and it doesn't matter if they're perfect or not. The ones that are perfect looking just impress me. I'm more like, "Dang, that's a great shot!" If anything, it makes me want to try harder to improve my own photography skills — not make me jealous thinking my friends are better photographers or that they have nicer things. And besides, what's nice to one might not be as nice to another. I have friends with beautifully decorated Christmas trees with antique ornaments. Mine is filled with kids' crafts. I saw friends post gorgeous Thanksgiving tables with exquisite, fine china. Mine had paper plates and pine cone turkeys. What IS perfect anyway?

Not everyone feels the same way. I'm sure there is a huge percentage of people on Instagram who aren't into photography at all. I'd bet there are many who just like snapping a quick picture and posting it. There are the professionals though, and each image they post is a work of art. I see a lot of those, but I'm not jealous, I'm more often impressed. Photography is just as much of an art-form as it is a skill. Most photographers take dozens of photographs just to get one they're satisfied with. I certainly wouldn't call myself a photographer in any professional sense of the word — it's a hobby for me. I joke and call myself an Indoor Wildlife Photographer because some of my best shots are taken from inside the house through a dirty window. Others are taken from the passenger seat of our car while we're driving 70mph. The trick is editing them to make them look cool. Like any other photographer, I often take many pictures just to get one that I'll post. The same goes for "selfies" (I hate that word), and often times I take dozens before I get one I'm actually willing to put up. Do I use filters to make them look better? Of course. Who wouldn't want to look like they have perfect skin over a bunch of freckles?

The video talks about FOMO, which stands for the Fear Of Missing Out. Just the fact that someone is being paid to study this makes my head spin. It makes me wonder where the money came from — tax-payers, probably. It's interesting how they say young men are the most affected by FOMO, but the guy doing the study doesn't really know why. I did like how the co-founder of Flickr said, "Social software is both the creator and the cure of FOMO. It's cyclical." I thought that was a very interesting comment, and certainly a much glass-half-full way of seeing things, verses the Oxford study that focused only on the negative.

I've had people tell me things about my pictures, such as how great my hair looks. Yeah, it did for that one particular shot, which is why I posted that one. Or, how nice and clean my house looks. I'm not a neat-freak, but I certainly won't post a photograph of my living room when it's trashed, which is usually is. Or, how perfect looking my Christmas tree is. Lighting, angles, and filters are wonderful things, aren't they? So, this whole jealousy thing is silly to me. Maybe it's not to others, but it is to me. What might look like a "perfect photo" to one person usually isn't. Some people just try harder to make it appear that way. Is that fake or giving a false sense of something? Maybe ... maybe not. Go look at any magazine and I bet you what you see isn't really how it was when they photographed it.

What do you think — do photographs make you jealous or feel like you're missing out?

Tonight's Moon ...

I went outside this evening and took a couple of shots of the moon. I managed to get a few decent shots, mostly because I took the time to put my camera on a tripod AND go outside. I swear, I take so many photographs through my dirty windows or while we're zooming down the highway at 70mph. I can only imagine what I could do if I actually got outside and tried to get some good pictures. Beautiful moon tonight, regardless. I hope you got to see it, too.

Raggedy Ann & Andy

I wish I had my original Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls. I remember them vividly, even down to the boxes they came in with the see-thru windows. For whatever reason, I loved those dolls when I was younger. Like so many of my childhood toys, they were either lost, given away, destroyed, or something. The dolls pictured here are miniature versions of the ones I had. My mother-in-law bought these for me a few years back at the Navy Exchange she shops at. If you look closely, you can see that infamous yellow rickrack and that blue and white purple outfit of Mrs. Beasley. Raggedy Ann & Andy sit happily on her lap, along with some other of my childhood toys. Only a few are originals; the others are all replicas. My MIL has a great pair of dolls that one of her relatives hand-made for her. I should have taken pictures of them when I was in CA recently. They're awesome dolls.

Raggedy Ann was born on September 7, 1915 by creator, Johnny Gruelle. Three years later, she was marketed along with a series of stories. Her brother, Andy came long in 1920, dressed in a sailor suit and hat. Raggedy Ann was designed for Gruelle's daughter, Marcella. She brought him an old, hand-made ragdoll, and he drew a face on it for her. The story says he pulled down a book of poems — The Raggedy Man and Little Orphan Annie — and decided to call the doll, Raggedy Ann. Marcella died at the age of thirteen after receiving a vaccine for smallpox. Johnny Gruelle blamed it on the vaccine, although doctors said she had a heart condition. Regardless, Gruelle became an opponent for the vaccinations and used Raggedy Ann as a symbol for the anti-vaccination movement. 

Did you have a Raggedy Ann & Andy doll when you were a kid?

Two-Ingredient Fudge

I saw this recipe on Facebook recently. I'd heard of fudge using two ingredients, but I've never tried it. I was pretty skeptical, but it was super easy and the fudge turned out great. All you do is put a bag of chocolate chips into a microwave-safe dish along with a small can of sweetened condensed milk. Microwave for about 3 minutes, and then remove and stir until blended. Then I stuck it in the fridge and left it there overnight. It started to firm up right away, so you could chill it for less time. The picture below was taken right before I cut it into squares.

My family loved it and is already asking me to make more. I don't know if I like it more or less than traditional fudge, but it sure was easy. Fudge in three minutes = awesome.

Pumpkin Spice Balls

I saw a recipe on Facebook for a 2-ingredient muffin. I figured Thanksgiving morning would be a good time to give it a try. All you do is mix a box of spice cake mix with a small can of pumpkin. Then you bake it at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes. I made mine in mini muffin tins, so I got 36 muffins out of this. They came out like little balls, almost resembling donut holes. I think they were called pumpkin muffins, but I'm calling mine Pumpkin Spice Balls instead.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Dandelion

This is another book I found at the thrift store recently. I love rummaging around our local Salvation Army. Most of the children's books are a quarter each. Soft covers used to be a dime, but I think they've started charging a quarter for most of them now. Anyway, I got this book at 50% off, so technically it was only 12.5 cents. Not bad for a 1977 hardcover, don't you think?

Dandelion is very excited to be invited to Jennifer Giraffe's tea party. Although the party is a "come as you are" event, Dandelion spruces himself up to the nines — he gets his hair washed and styled, he gets his nails done, he gets some fancy new duds to wear, and he even brings flowers. The only problem is — he's made such drastic changes to his appearance that Jennifer doesn't recognize him and won't let him into her party. Poor Dandelion. How will he manage to get to the party? Will his friends recognize him? Will they accept him for who he really is?

I love this book. I love books with great messages. It seems nowadays publishers steer clear of picture books with moral lessons. Not all do that, but some do. I've seen it posted directly on publishers' submission guidelines. I suppose they feel parents don't want their children to be preached at while reading a story. I understand that, but I don't think it's always a bad thing. I think it's good to let children know they don't need fancy hairstyles or expensive clothes to be accepted or liked better. We live in a day and age where kids are growing up so much faster. I guess maybe that's why I cherish these older picture books so much. 

The Rain Puddle

I came across this wonderful, old picture book at the local thrift store recently. The Rain Puddle was written by Adelaide Holl and was illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. After searching Amazon, I see there are various copies of this book put out by different publishers in different years. The copy I have is from 1965 and was published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. So, in other words, this book is as old as I am — yikes.

Red Hen is pecking away when she comes across a rain puddle. Looking into the water, she's alarmed to see another red hen looking right back at her. Fearing her feathered friend has fallen into the water, she summons the help of a turkey. The turkey goes to see for himself, and sure enough, he's just as alarmed to see that a turkey has fallen into the water. And so it goes ... one-by-one, all the farm animals check out the puddle, only to see a new animal has fallen in. It isn't long before the entire barnyard is in hysterics thinking the puddle is filled with stranded animals. Just when everyone is about to totally lose it ... the sun comes out.

It's a cute book. I love these old ones, so I'm always thrilled to come across them, especially when I buy them for a quarter. This time I really got a bargain — books were 50% off.