Tag: blogging

Holidays · Internet · July 2015

Holiday Countdown

FrancescaLeave a comment

Happy Monday darlings. After six-plus years, today I realised the merits of iTunes over YouTube streaming. I’ve also remembered how much I love The Fratellis… It’s a good thing I don’t claim technical brilliance, innit.

Speaking of the Internet, I’m trying to work out decent posts to magic up while I’m away. Does anyone have anything they’d like to see?

Just kidding, I know not a single person will tell me if there is… so I will probably mass-dump videos I like and talk about my favourite stuff, as per tradition.

There was actually something serious I had to say but I’ve completely fuckin’ forgotten it, so it was either not that serious or is completely pointless so doesn’t need worrying about. Either way my memory’s going so it’s time to go cuddle a dog and double-check my clothes for when I go on holiday. Did I mention I’m going on holiday? And I’m going to spend ten days of my life without the my phone beeping at me? I’ll be there in a week. I can’t find a GIF smug enough, so you’ll just have to imagine my shit eating grin.

Advertisement
Art · June 2015 · School *choke*

In Which You Can Drink at School and Not Get Kicked Out

FrancescaLeave a comment

Is it raining where you are right now? Unless you are in Australia I think you are completely justified in saying ‘f u weather bye’.

I’ve been on Tumblr too much. But seriously if this is summer then I want to be a theist just so I know where to lodge a complaint.

Yesterday some friends and I went back to our old school to collect our certificates of 13 years of unpaid slave labour education and it was pretty weird because a) I left a year ago but it felt like 15 years and five minutes, and b) they let us drink wine which was disconcerting to say the least, not to mention you could speak to teachers almost like they were real people…

I just skim-read the post I did last year about going to school when you don’t really want to, and it reminds me of how bitter I was about my school experience. In retrospect I should have seized the day and all that shit, and appreciated how lucky I was to have free education until I was 18, but at the time all I wanted to do was leave, become a writer and set my own hours.

Now I have in fact done that for a year, and to be perfectly honest I don’t feel like I’ve magically got everything together. ‘Becoming a writer’ was a great plan, but that was all I had. I didn’t really know about personal finance or budgeting or product research or good rates for copywriting or the importance of self discipline, and all those other little things that you learn as you go but wish someone had warned you about. I didn’t appreciate that consistent income is something you only miss when you don’t have it any more, or that building a portfolio career means sticking with projects for months on end even if they pay absolutely nothing… and it’s only been a year. In another year, if I’m still doing this, I’ll have (hopefully) learnt a lot more. Maybe I’ll even have a consistent, national-average income, although I looked up the living wage versus the minimum wage yesterday and nearly fell over, so I’m not holding out too much hope.

screw jackets sunshinethekatt.tumblr

I do hope I’m still doing this in a year, though, and not just because a lot of people I saw yesterday for the first time in a year thought my job was cool. (These are people who are studying mechanical engineering and foreign languages and medicine full time for a £40k debt holy shit they are the ones with steely determination.) As hard as it is to make sure I’m doing copy and freelancing and trying to improve my Etsy sales – hint: you can help with that one – and blogging and not ready to pack it in and move to Tibet, I know in my gut that I made the right choice between this, a ‘regular’ job and uni.

Or I think I did. Let’s see in another year.

(All Hail) Creation · Books · Indifferent Ignorance · October 2014 · Scriptures

Introducing The Little Book of Indifferent Ignorance, Volume I

FrancescaLeave a comment

Yoohoo, snowflakes, this is what I was chatting about on Twitter the other day. I am very pleased and excited to share my first book-of-sorts, The Little Book of Indifferent Ignorance, Volume I!

Look, it's a proper self-help guide!
Look, it’s a proper self-help guide!

Big thank-yous to Ruby, who helped with design advice, and to tabloid-quoting racist homophobes, whose ideals informed this piece rather a lot.

I have put it on Etsy to purchase as a PDF here and it is also available to simply download here:

The Little Book of Indifferent Ignorance

I do not currently have the resources for a proper book, as such, or a fancypants shop on this site, so the PDF is currently available to download; if you have a conscience, believe in compensating people for services rendered or enjoy reading the book, please make a contribution. Together we can tackle the disease of indifferent ignorance!

Buy Now Button with Credit Cards

That button will take you to my PayPal, where you can pay either through PayPal or with a card. Just enter ‘Indifferent Ignorance Book I’ or something in the description box so I know what it is you’re paying for; I will soon publish PDF booklets of my other work too. RRP for this particular book is £4.50 on Etsy, hint hint.

Let me know what you think of the book itself in a comment and share it with your friends! Print it out and carry it around if you fancy quoting it and sounding like an idiot! Email me your own examples so I can start to compile Volume II! (I have already thought of more examples but it would be fun to see if you guys have had similar experiences or thoughts.)

This is part two of Five Ways To Celebrate Five Years of Blogging, by the way; you will be pleased to hear that the MCR merchandise reached its recipient, a lovely girl in Italy, successfully.

Happy Friday!

August 2014 · Books · DISCUSS. · Dogs · Frnkiero · History & Old Stuff · Indifferent Ignorance · Internet

Tuesday is Okay Today.

FrancescaLeave a comment

Darlings, it’s Tuesday. Tuesday is normally a nondescript day. The novelty of a new week has worn off but next weekend is but a pipe dream.

Not today.

Today is the 2000th anniversary of the death of the bloke who founded the Roman Empire.

Cool huh.

Don’t worry if you don’t much understand the whole Roman Empire/Republic of Rome shebang – just watch the entire Star Wars series in story order (not order in which they were made. I know that means starting off with Jar Jar Binks but that’s the price of education I’m afraid). Alternatively you could read the Heroes of Olympus series, which explains things pretty well (again, I recommend starting with Percy Jackson and the Olympians so you have a clue who all the characters are. They’re short, it’ll take a weekend tops).

Speaking of old Seaweed Brain – why Francesca, how did you make that connection? – Uncle Rick’s newest piece, Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, is out in the US today. The English one is out already but has been ignored by me in the shops because the US is the only version with John Rocco’s art and I’d rather save for the extortionate shipping and get a cute cover plus illustrations than blow the last of my Waterstones cards on the ugly one.

Don’t judge a book by its cover, psh.

Speaking of significant dates.

31st October is kind of a big deal this year, because – as well as being Frank Iero’s 33rd birthday – it marks five years of this place being open for business.

Five years.

You know a lot of marriages don’t last that long? I’m going to be cracking out the decent booze to celebrate. Only joking, I’ll probably reminisce about luminous green font and wonder where the hell my life went.

But seriously, I do kind of want to celebrate. The average life expectancy for a blog is three-to-six months, so these bigger landmarks should probably be shouted from the rooftops.

From shitshilarious.tumblr.com
From shitshilarious.tumblr.com

I’m just not sure how. I mean, in an ideal world I would have an Indifferent Ignorance t-shirt (or more specifically, many t-shirts which you guys would also have) or cute yet punk rock badges. But the world ain’t ideal so until 500 people comment every week I’m going to presume I’ve not got an audience big enough to viably produce ‘stuff’.

But I really do want to do something.

Maybe a zine of my blogging pearls of wisdom? A video blog (seems redundant)? A giveaway of… short stories?

Maybe just a collection of my five favourite GIFs.

August 2014 · DISCUSS. · Indifferent Ignorance · LGBT

In Which I Have a Crisis of Conduct

Francesca1 Comment

One thing I missed a lot while I was at school in the last couple of years was the ability to blog more than twice a week. I used to be able to spend two-plus hours on a post almost every other day, find any old shit on Google for a picture then start a comment thread about MCR fanfiction… those were simpler times indeed.

On the plus side, having very little time to post made me quite good at saving links and images for later use, which makes the whole posting shenanigans a lot easier and prevents last-minute flustering.

From cantseemtofind.tumblr.com
From cantseemtofind.tumblr.com

Fun fact: I haven’t actually finished reading The Hobbit. So far I’ve seen both film adaptations before reading the book and I must say it was quite nice not finding fault with every deviance from the original. I felt like a lay reader, for once, and not an invested fan. It was quite relaxing.

I’m starting to remember why I haven’t delved back into thrice-a-week posting sooner.

What did I talk about back in the day?!

Maybe I should do what Krista over at Effing Dykes did quite a bit, which was have reoccurring, specific posts like how to spot a certain ‘type’ of lesbian or Kelly Has a Question, which was basically Educating Straight People 101.

I just read through a couple of posts there and thought “shit I’m going to have to mention that there’s some pretty NSFW stuff over there”. Then I thought “who cares there aren’t any six-year-olds here.”

Then I thought “what if there are?”

What if there are? I could be ruining childhoods simply by swearing! Or what if I get back into journalism and decide to discuss serious topics more often than the Six O’Clock News? Or with more grim detail than usual? What if the internal battle between Stiff Upper Lipped and Quite British Francesca and Feminist Writer Francesca is won by the latter and I start discussing PMS? Or, worse, what if I start using this place as a diary and divulging the people whom I find attractive?

Actually that’s gross because while people may need to know the specifics of gang rape – or PMS – in order to function in society, no one needs to know who I do or don’t find attractive.

But still. What if there are young-ish people here? Should I curb my language or something?! I probably won’t, but still.

Show yourselves.

(All Hail) Creation · Animals... · April 2014 · Art · Dogs · Indifferent Ignorance · Music · My Chemical Romance (get a category) · Photogenius · The Webways

April Fools Are for Sissies. Here Are Some Words Instead.

FrancescaLeave a comment

It’s the first of the month and it’s sunny, which I think means that a spot of spring cleaning is in order…

The Webways is hiring a social media administrator to help out with running the place. If you like MCR and you have an hour or two a week to spare, please please apply. It pains me to say it, but I can’t run it by myself any more. I know, I thought I’m infallible too. But it turns out I’m not, I’m actually really busy – and if any of my projects are going to be as great as they can be, I have to start delegating or I’ll loose my mind brilliant standards more sleep. Please no, I have exams soon.

Speaking of exams, a few months ago I was chatting to Ellen and Isobel about stuff I could make that hasn’t been made but should have been, and between us we came up with this:

Weekly Revision Timetable by Francesca Burke

I Photoshopped it my very own self and it works. No more shitty frills and stupid font, no more space that’s taken up by crap executives think you need… just a revision timetable (or general planner, now I think of it) that lets you plan your revision. Did I mention it’s available here for a fraction of the price of a notebook you’ll never use? All proceeds go toward funding this place and The Webways, of course, which reminds me:

I was being serious about this funding idea. I don’t have a lot of spare cash and I really, really don’t want to sell advertising space. I know I don’t blog as much as I used to – hi again exams – and I know that nobody likes posting comments or spending more than 0.5 seconds on a webpage these days, but I do quite love this site. I have high hopes for her, in the same way one has high hopes that their pets will learn to swim.

From corgianddachshund.tumblr.com
From corgianddachshund.tumblr.com

I may or may not be building a collection of animal images and GIFs for use in every available post. Anyway, pleaseplease let me know if you’re into the idea of a writing/art-money exchange, or if you have any other suggestions. (Personally I would like an Indifferent Ignorance-coloured bobble hat and Webways mug and coaster but I don’t think there’s a market for either. Unless there is. I don’t know unless you tell me. Damnit these brackets need to end soon.)

(All Hail) Creation · Art · December 2013 · Indifferent Ignorance · Photogenius · TV

I Was Thinking About Sherlock‘s Imminent Return and Had a Mild Epiphany…

Francesca2 Comments

Rookie Mistake  Then I remembered some blue paper that’s been crying out for something blog-y and decorated my room:

Blue Rookie Mistake

Very tempted to make it the first ever piece of Indifferent Ignorance merch, though it’d be limited edition because I only have one pack of the blue paper. Or maybe if other bloggers who can also claim blogging superiority wanted, I could do a custom thing and put their logo where mine is and send them it in nice paper? Let me know your thoughts!

Oh by the way, there will be a cool thing on Christmas Eve. Ahh, I am so ready to eat my weight in turkey. Don’t let me forget about the Awards either; my friends have suggested some excellent people – if I’m not in a Christmas coma, the post might even be out before next June…

COFFEE · Holidays · Indifferent Ignorance · Internet · July 2013 · My Family and Other Animals · School *choke*

The Tentative Return of Rambling Posts

FrancescaLeave a comment

I must say, I’ve quite missed Sunday blogging. There’s nothing like sitting amongst Saturday’s mess with a mug of coffee and half-hatched weekend plans, writing nonsense and posting it on the Internet for your friends to read. Although it’s been a while since I’ve sat amongst Wednesday’s mess and written to you all, actually, or Monday’s mess, or Friday’s… I’m not even sure when to start a new paragraph, if I’m honest.

Let’s do it now and start another straight away for kicks.

It’s been a while since I’ve been properly focussed on Indifferent Ignorance, and she’s starting to feel like the spare room in our house that my brother just moved out of in favour of better lights and warmer radiators. Not that her lights were faulty – and I like to think she’s always been cosy – but she’s feeling as though she has that unique spare-room quality of dusty door frames, dead flies on the windowsills and stuff that never quite got sorted out. It’s probably my own fault; partway through what was proving to be a crap year I thought “let’s give her a facial and buy some customisation tools from WP”, not realising that I was fast losing my money, my time and my will to do anything except play with Fred and Donnie. So as I lost motivation, she lost her once-frequent updates and here we are four months later with my first post in a fortnight and a serious need to open an Internet window.

Now, though, things are slowing down. I only have two pieces of homework to do (and a shitload of extra-curricular and/or exam-based admin, but we’ll take that slowly) and when we go out later to celebrate Ellen’s birthday I won’t be stewing over my Psychology coursework in a corner, because that was last weekend at a different birthday celebration. By the last academic year’s standards, I’m basically on holiday. Which I actually will be soon!

I’ve been concentrating on a lot of different things lately, from school to physiotherapy to my lack of post-school plans to trying to find some sort of job that doesn’t involve retail or administration (hint: there are none) because it was sitting and typing and pressing cash machine-like screens that made me need physio in the first place… I’ve been getting so frantic that writing that sentence actually made my heart rate increase. And if I’ve learnt one thing this year it’s that short-term stress is good but long-term stress is bad. I’ve also learnt that Islamic fundamentalism was started by an Egyptian teacher who went to the US and basically pulled a Holden Caulfield, but I think that’s an anti-racism rant for another day.

I just went downstairs to take a photograph of Sprout for this post, but he’s looking very much like my mum got a bit overenthusiastic when she was watering the plants so I think it’ll wait until he is restored to his former glory. I should also make a start on clearing Saturday’s mess, which is nearing the ‘health and safety issue’ end of the untidy spectrum. So, hopefully there will not be another two weeks between posts – I’ve had two or three in my head or in draft form for a while that I just need to write, goddamn it – but the weather’s been so pretty that they might have to wait for me to get bored of sunshine.

In which case nothing I do on the Internet has any hope of being worked upon.