Overwhelmed
Mar. 24th, 2024 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustToday is Harry Houdini's 150th birthday, and I didn't find out until tea-time. That's how much I am not keeping up.
People whose kind comments have gone unanswered already know this, of course. I have been amazed at people's thoughtfulness and support - InRealLife as well as online, but given the constant background noise about the evils of social media, I love this reminder that the opposite is also true. I like, too, the mixture of who comments: people I have actually met, people with whom there's a constant give-and-take, but also the reminder of the goodwill of lurkers.
The same is true off-line. Friends and neighbours have been helpful, and sometimes quite unexpectedly. J and J came from York for a cup of tea and a chat, bringing a Victoria sponge and a posy of pale yellow daffodils. They were certainly, for a number of reasons, people I would have chosen to see, but I was surprised when they offered, out of the blue, to make it happen.
We had a date to meet S. for fish and chips before she goes to the (livestreamed) opera; we won't do that, but she will call in for a cup of tea.
This morning we went to Lidl:durham_rambler hunted for (and found) treasure in the middle aisle, and I bought some emergency supplies. There's a lop-sided chicken in the oven right now.
People whose kind comments have gone unanswered already know this, of course. I have been amazed at people's thoughtfulness and support - InRealLife as well as online, but given the constant background noise about the evils of social media, I love this reminder that the opposite is also true. I like, too, the mixture of who comments: people I have actually met, people with whom there's a constant give-and-take, but also the reminder of the goodwill of lurkers.
The same is true off-line. Friends and neighbours have been helpful, and sometimes quite unexpectedly. J and J came from York for a cup of tea and a chat, bringing a Victoria sponge and a posy of pale yellow daffodils. They were certainly, for a number of reasons, people I would have chosen to see, but I was surprised when they offered, out of the blue, to make it happen.
We had a date to meet S. for fish and chips before she goes to the (livestreamed) opera; we won't do that, but she will call in for a cup of tea.
This morning we went to Lidl:
durham_rambler hunted for (and found) treasure in the middle aisle, and I bought some emergency supplies. There's a lop-sided chicken in the oven right now.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-24 08:06 pm (UTC)I didn't know, either, and I appreciate finding out!
I am glad so many people in your physical life are being supportive. And that
no subject
Date: 2024-03-25 01:43 am (UTC)I didn't know about Houdini's birthday either, so we can be out of the loop together. :-)
One of the things I love about Dreamwidth is how it helps people connect with others -- no algorithms, no artificial boosting, just humans interacting with other humans we might never have met otherwise. This was true of the "old" Internet and Usenet before it, and some mailing lists. It is very different from what Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, et al do, both in the technologies and in how people use it. There, it seems like people participate to be seen. Here (and some of those other places), people participate to be with their kinds of people. I like this flavor of Internet much better than that one.
I'm glad that![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
durham_rambler is going out and about -- that sounds like great progress!
no subject
Date: 2024-03-25 02:27 am (UTC)Nie
no subject
Date: 2024-03-26 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-26 02:54 pm (UTC)I think of it as the difference between a 'pull' medium (here's all this stuff, what will I choose?) and a 'push' medium (take this! and this! and ...). What took me unawares, I confess, os that in choosing to read what people wrote, I was choosing to make them personally part of my life.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-26 02:55 pm (UTC)