This year has been a truly crazy one. My computer has been on-off all year and my hands weren't working properly at the start of the year. So, all in all, I've done very little writing or blogging this year.
On top of that in one of my computer crashes I lost all my blogblast for Peace 2012 work - my posters, globe ideas and notes. I had already downloaded the shared posters to Facebook, but my own stuff was gone and I simply haven't been able to find or recreate what I lost.
So I started again and... it's been such a slog! I actually thought of writing a rant for my blog post for peace yesterday, because internet "red tape" is driving me insane this year.You see - every year I write on a theme and every year I ask permission from places to use their info, website or pictures for that theme, but this year almost every thing I want to use for my idea is under copyrights that demand I pay or sacrifice a pure white lamb before they'll say "yes" (rolls eyes). Only one very nice person has said yes and I do intend to thank him in full on the day. The rest are just
SOURPUSS GROUCHY GRINCHES!
Now on to the more interesting news as of yesterday evening. You see... yesterday evening a friend emailed me with her own woes. She's had a similar time and even worse, to be honest. She can't even access her blog as blogger went bananas and decided she was a hacker and trying to get to a real live person to sort it out is near impossible.
Finding a real live person to talk to is becoming more and more of an issue for us all. How many times recently have you ended up on hold on a phone trying to reach a real live person? How many times have you had a problem that you can't talk to anyone about because everything is automated, done by email or phone rather than face to face?
How many jobs has this planet lost to machines that don't "get it", cannot understand being human and have zero common sense?
So, this morning I was trying to figure a way to help my friend get back blogging by trying some experiments on a test blog I set up years ago to try out different layouts and backgrounds. I go there to try some things and... what do I find? I find a test post I created in 2009 that I do not remember at all! Here it is...
A faintish journey do I make
As through this frazzled world I wind,
With heavy heart and weary steps,
But with determined mind.
Beseech I for a flicker of
The faith than can a mountain move,
And hold that tenet close to me,
Believing where I cannot prove.
The pow'r that comes when sinking low
To man who grasps for straw or rope,
Will clutch til has he breath no more
For where there's life, there's hope.
If my good turn be given to
My fellow man's deficiency,
I'll try to share my lowly gifts
Of Faith and Hope and Charity.
faith, hope, and charity - anne shannon demarest - 1965
How's that for perfect timing?
glitter-graphics.com
Loved the poem!
ReplyDeleteWhenever I get an automated phone message I demand a real person, even if I can do what I want with the auto system. I figure that might just be job security for someone.
ReplyDeletegood point, Em. My dad refuses to use the aumtomated self-serve lines in supermarkets for the same reason.
LOVE the poem! Sorry about your friend's blog...I hope she can solve her problems eventually.
ReplyDeleteMachines, eh? Well, one problem we have around here is that banks are starting to reduce their regular services, so the tills are only open a few hours each week (on Mondays only) and I read in the local newspaper that 'coz there are so many old people here who don't use the internet, they still rely heavily on regular till services in the banks. It is crazy indeed, but dunno what to do about it.
I read in Japan one supermarket was open a few years ago and all the tills were non-humans. Simply 'coz the cost of hiring people is just simply too much. Geez...
Faith, hope and charity are qualities you have in abundance... sadly, to much of the world, they're old-fashioned qualities... much like humans at enquiries. Shall I go on about trying to contact embassies? "If you want X, dial 1, if you want Y, dial 2. If you'd prefer to go insane, start over again. We have a perfectly good, inane, melody for you to listen to before starting your number roulette."
ReplyDeleteI hope your friend gets her blog sorted out. That must be very frustrating. What a beautiful poem. I'm glad you found it :)
Hi Amel
ReplyDeleteYes, problems are all sorted, thank goodness!
You know what really makes me roll my eyes at stories like your Japanese supermarket - they won't pay wages, but if they keep doing that till no-one is working... whose going to be able to buy those products in their supermarket one day?
Hi Tint
Mmm.. trust me, I have days of seriously lacking all three! But thanks for thinking so nicely of me.
Embassies? OMG ... don't remind me! The most hilarious/frustrating was the first time I encountered their "press 1" type system as at that stage our SA phone was still the old round dial type. I couldn't get through and the recorded voice kept saying, "You seem to have IGNORED our command" and then cutting me off or stating the obvious all over again. Eventually I had to borrow a friend's button style phone to phone with. mad!
I like that poem! Isn't it amazing it was right there when you needed it without knowing it. Blogger can cause some real troubles sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHi Daisy! :)
ReplyDeleteYes,it's a lovely poem (still no memory of where I found it!) and yesss blogger can be a pain. I find I'm fighting like a mad woman to keep my paragraph spacing lately. It's like a cyber tug of war!