Sits Down and Gets Serious About Writing....Oh Look, Google!

This morning I sat down to my computer and continued a story I was working on. 

I just had breakfast, had a warm, half drunk tea on the table, the curtains pulled back and I was rugged up, ready to go. 

I was in the zone. 

My head was buzzing with ideas but still had a focused mindset. I managed to string out a few paragraphs too. 

Then I got stuck. Not dramatically; my character needed a hat - I was determined on it. But What type of hat? I'm not an expert on hats in general, let alone men's hats, but I needed a specific type of hat this character needed to wear. 

I'll Google it, was my first instinct. 

Big mistake. 

I then spent 15 minutes...longer, trying to find the perfect hat for this character - a tangible detail that's not even important!

But I did find a hat. 

While I may have digressed, I clicked back onto word to continue. 

But it was gone. 

My focus, my ready mindset, my ideas, my inspiration and my motivation. They had deserted me. 

That small amount of time digressing had cost me. 

I looked at the words at the screen and went 'meh.' In frustration and sadness I then jumped on here to tell you about it - another digression. 

I find it happens to me all the time - and I hate it. We all do when it happens. But that's just it; it happens. 

If I take one thing from this, it shouldn't be negative. 

I chose to take from this that, even if it stopped my flow, my character (even if he has a smallish part) now has a hat. 

It's a Stingy Brim; if you were wondering. 

Dangers Of Technology: Instagram

I'm not one who is attracted to the app, Instagram. 
Mainly because people my age use is to take 'selfies' (pictures of themselves) and post them for people to see. I never look good when I take a selfie - I think it's my short arm span. 
It has attracted 100 million users as of May 2013, with 4 billion photos. 

Like any piece of technology, if you're a user you need to check your privacy settings, amongst other things. 
Blocking - if you find someone is taking your images and using them for use you don't like, you can block them. You can block anyone who you don't wish to be viewing your profile. 
Geotagging - it is turned off by default, but if turned on it automatically sends out the location of where the picture was taken to your followers and the public (if you don't have privacy settings). 
You can also report a photo - more info for protecting your privacy can be found here. 

While Instagram is used as a tool to take and manipulate amazing, beautiful photos and share them with the ones you love, there are always going to be people who abuse the app. 
With the certain 'anonymity' that comes with Instagram (well the Internet in general, really) it's not surprising that it is used to display sexual photos and content. 
There are even hash-tag terms #instaporn and #instasex, for people who want to find and spread the content of these types of images. 
More about this can be found here.

Then today I read an article on NineMSN. It can be found right here. 
Reading the title, I thought it was going to be about a teenager who was abusing the app to get attention from boys, but was horrified when I read what it was really about. 
This scares me more than anything. That there are some sicko's out there who would steal pictures of a baby/child and use them for a 'sexualised role-playing' game. Urgh, the thought sends shivers up my spine. 
This is a complete new danger that isn't thought about. It's one that is so sick, the thought that someone would create this (then have people play it) is just....urgh, again I'm disgusted. 
The creators of Instagram have since deleted the sicko's account and search and delete others they find.  

I believe it is unfortunate that an app like this, which is clever, popular, fun and easy to use gets manipulated and abused, becoming an app used for the wrong reasons (by some). 

While I may not have Instagram I believe it's still a great tool, and if used correctly a total time consumer of entertainment. 
If you have Instagram remember to check your privacy settings on occasion (and make sure geotagging is turned off!)
If you're a parent remember to warn your teenager of the dangers - of the Internet in general really. Also I read that the terms of use say that if you're under 12 you can't actually join anyway; something to ponder. 

I believe people need to be wary of the dangers that Instagram (along with other Internet sites) pose. 

Singles And Dating: A Never Ending Problem

This post is simply about Yahoo Answers.
But let me start at the beginning.

                                                                                *
Recently I have found myself scrolling down the pages of Yahoo, obviously it's answers section, where the internet world can vent their woes to the public.
I find it very entertaining, in particular, the Singles and Dating section.
I found out pretty quickly, that this one was the category to go to for A-class entertainment but also filled up pretty quickly.
Every 30 seconds or so, a new question is asked. And because it's worldwide, it never stops.

The whole world seems to come across obstacles on being alone - then once they do find that special someone, they either have trouble keeping them or are having other troubles in paradise.

This post doesn't have an ending (believe me, I wish it did) but I guess it ties up with the title; that the human race will always find dating/singleton, a confusing place.

* I'd like to note that my intentions weren't to write about this.
That for a while (OK, this evening) I planned on writing about love, and if it's achievable and how.
And I do plan on writing about that, however I need more planning time.
So keep posted on that, and if you find yourself bored in the meantime, you'll know where to go.