This Week
I’ve had a lot of thoughts bounce around in my head this week. I have to make a decision about an important topic and have other thoughts that are clicking around this empty head of mine.
Influencers
People that matter behind the scenes with me know I absolutely dislike this word with my name associated with it. When I started this journey back in 2008 as a fun hobby and then translated it to a business in 2010. I never considered myself as a person to influence others. I’ve always seen myself as a global educator of crochet. Of course, with sponsorship, we have bills to pay but my contracts are about teaching and showcasing ideas which are where my passion resides. So my pay isn’t reflective of selling anything as I am just building content of resources which is what I love to do.
I was reading an article this past week where Influencers are being banned from certain venues as a result of selfishness and just plain being rude. Someone has a large following base and they want free stuff or services because they have a large following community that may buy into the notion. Some of these people project themselves as living a dream life and if they truly have a perfect life, good for them. Something in my heart of hearts tells me it’s a lot of hokie pokies and that it’s easy to project an image that doesn’t really exist. How does one differentiate the truth from the persona of what is an illusion?
A question that is bouncing in my head lately. Will ‘so-called influencers’ one day be the shame of society and trust is breached because people have clued in that what they are seeing isn’t reality? I wonder what others think of influencers?
In Kitty News
We’ve been watching a series on Netflix called Kitten Rescuers with host, Jo Brand. A delightful series of animal rescues with great editing and storytelling. It’s a fun watch as I crochet. I find myself staring at the TV longer as I am captivated.
Puss Puss was involved this week in a scrap fight somewhere. Both of our cats are rescues. Puss Puss has already had a litter of babies and they both love to go outside as I talked about before. They clammer to get outside at first light in the morning and go run to the sand pile for their morning relief. We don’t mind so much as it saves us buying litter. So Daniel is monitoring Puss Puss as she has a scratch behind her ear. Keeping the cats inside when they know what it’s like outside would be super mean, even for their own protection. If I were to say they could laugh, they chase each other and have each other’s back. They are comical to watch.
Metrics
This week, we are trying some new techniques for our website programming. Last week, we changed the website and I am closely monitoring the motions of the visitors to see where they are landing on the website. I am doing test trials of certain elements that I don’t wish to reveal yet as I am unsure, metrically speaking if it’s making a difference as it’s only a week. I need a longer length of time to watch the graphs build.
With Thanksgiving for the Americans, it changes consumer behaviour erratically for two days. It’s predictable with my forecasting but if you want to measure changes, you cannot have a blip of a holiday right in the way of the test trials.
Idiosyncrasies
While I am transparent in many ways, there’s a topic that I don’t like to discuss. If you guess Medical Talk, you are right.
Daniel and one of our friends get together. They are cross comparing medications and talking about issues. Meaning, I am singing songs in my head. They actually know the names of the medications they are taking. That’s pretty awesome but hopefully, there’s never a test for me to actually be listening. I don’t mind talking in general terms but I tend not to ask leading questions as I find it’s so personal.
I dislike taking medications of any sort. However, if I crack I will turn to him and ask him “Doctor Dan, what do you recommend?” He loves it when I do that even though he tells me to read the package on my own. We walk to the bathroom and look through what we have.
A Social Metric Boost
Recently, I heard something that really was food for thought. I am looking into fixing some social metrics issues and came across advice that really leaves me in a query in my head.
If I want social attention, I just have to misspell and the obvious word in which people will respond to correcting the person to give the person a lot of attention which alters the metrics of interest of the post.
That’s pretty sneaky eh! Now, I have spelling issues. Recently, I misspelled Missouri as Massouri but I was spelling it the way it sounded in my head. I was trying to figure out the Postal Abbreviation for it. I was confused with MA was for Missouri, Maine or Massachusetts. However, it’s honest to gawd mistake.
This call to intentionally misspell something leads me to wonder how many times someone is actually misspelling something in social media on purpose for social attention. It leads me to think they didn’t proof their work, spell check didn’t catch it or maybe the person is just trying to get attention. Things that make me go hmm. I would rather my work be the reason people click, not for me having to misspell something to boost my own social properties. It’s a great topic for discussion.
What do you think about this topic? Honest mistake or attention needy?
Plastics and the Environment
One thing that I have never understood is how so much garbage is getting into the oceans. In our last Crochet Cruise, one of the excursions we were on a major river doing a tour that was downstream of a major city. The waterway was on the way to the ocean.
Totally disgusting was the water. I have never in my life seen trash like this ever in a river. Not just one or two bottles but 1000’s including clothes, lawn furniture, toys, buckets and gawd knows what else. We are there to observe the natural beauty of the rain forest but in the water was endless float garbage passing by the boat. My seat partner, Rachel, and I were just disgusted. We thought to ourselves, how in the hell in 2019 is this even happening? Is there no catch nets to stop this catastrophe.
So over the past week, we have been watching documentaries on environmental considerations in relation to plastic. Now that we have seen this just one single river being a cesspool of filth heading to the ocean, where else are their rivers like this?
I saw an ad on YouTube about changing our habits in Nova Scotia about being more conscious about disposable cups. I know they cannot be recycled. Nova Scotia is asking its residents to consider the environmental impact of buying beverage containers at any restaurant or food service.
Garbage Day here, while I don’t toss out my cups onto the ground, with our garbage pick up is every other week, I have a lot of cups to throw out. Daniel always complains about it. He’s just as bad as I am but he does small cups and I use a large cup. So between the two of us, there is a minimum of ? (I’m too embarrassed to share the actual number) cups. Between the 2 of us, we can use ? in a year that is staggering for a beverage that lasts us about 30 minutes each time.
This isn’t including any fast food restaurant joins we visit where there are cups too. People are recently doing a look back of 10 years. So I looked back on 10 years of cups we have used and thrown away. The number is jaw-dropping.
The day after the commercial, I went out and bought a reusable coffee cup. With using reusable cups at Tim Hortons, I save 10 cents per cup of tea, it will take a few months for the savings of the 10 cents to pay for the reusable cup. However, we don’t have any more cups going into landfills.
Tim Hortons sells 2 Billion Cups of Coffee per year in Canada alone. Put that in perspective. The savings of what Daniel and I can prevent going to landfills are so insignificant. However, this week, I noticed there was more than just me with a refillable cup. Change happens when there’s a movement to be the difference.
I have to admit, I had to get used to washing out my cup after usage and let it dry. Then when I go back for a cup of tea, it’s ready to use. So I have to think ahead after I am done instead of just tossing the cup into the garbage and then going back for another cup.
When I really think about it, this is something many people can do if they are thinking ahead. There are initiatives to recycle coffee paper cups but wouldn’t it be better that we didn’t use them if we didn’t need to?
With my 10 cent savings per cup, I can actually see the savings in my account.
It’s just something to think about next time you go and get a cup. I should have been doing this years ago.
Plastic is going to be our epidemic in the future but there are things we can do today. While I’m not going to guilt anyone to do the switch, I think the decision has to be personal and meaningful.
One thing I did notice as I told my friends, some complained they think it’s gross that people touch the tops of the cups. Meaning the servers to touch the tops of the reusable cups. Here is what I solved for myself:
- Take the top of the cup off and keep in your hands and just hand them the cup.
- To prevent contamination, I noticed they are opening up a plastic straw to stir my tea. Such craziness as I am trying to do my impact on the environment by not using a single-serve plastic item. So I am giving instructions NOT TO STIR my tea.
- When I get my cup back that is full, it’s not right to the brim. I put back on the lid. I swish the cup in circles to be the motion of stirring. Problem solved.
So these are just a few things bouncing in my head this week. My issues are minimal in comparison to others but still occupy my mind. I hope you had a great week.
I want to hear from you about the issues I opened up about. What’re your thoughts? Leave them here in the blog for me to read.
No Blue Button
Oh my, that was a lot of meandering thoughts. My husband and I are both big water drinkers, several years ago we were going through a couple of cases of water a week. We now only have them in the house to grab quickly once in a while as we are headed out the door. We purchased plastic bottles and a few glass bottles too and now use these 95% of the time with water from the refrigerator which is well water that goes through the house filter and then through the filter in the refrigerator, probably better for us than what we were buying. We can all pick something small and it will amount to alot over time.
Kitties – I always had outdoor cats when i was growing up so i can appreciate your desire to allow them outside. I had a cat return home after being gone for a day (which was highly unusual) with a bare spot on her tail, the vet assumed it had been caught in a trap, and while the cat was pretty much fine after a couple of days it was a scary reminder of what can happen. We live now in rural NH in the United States and have Fisher Cats, Deer, Foxes and much more wildlife strolling through our yard as well as living on a pretty busy street so our 2 cats (Bay and Goose) are indoor cats. They go on road trips with us and travel pretty well. Good to hear yours was only in a minor scuffle.
Misspellers. Hmmmm is that even a word. Yes there are honest mistakes. But i do believe some do use it as a tool for attention. Enough said. Spellcheck is our friend but not infallible.
Hope you have a great upcoming week.
A most appreciative thanks for all you do, your tutorials were such a help when i started crocheting again.
For me, the “title” of Influencer has a negative connotation. I have never viewed you as an “influencer”, but as a “Cyber Crochet Mentor”. I leaned to crochet from your tutorials, as well as, gotten good tips and pointers from your FB page followers. I appreciate the fact that you turned a hobby into a business (I am sure you saw some lean years and thinking “OMG what have I done”. And I realize that you do have sponsors, but you have never once said anything negative about their competitors, like a majority of influencer do. Keep teaching and mentoring you are great at it!
Thanks for your thoughts Mikey, I feel like we are drowning in rubbish over here in Australia. So every little thing we do must help. I myself have gone to reusable cups, I take my esky and containers to the butchers, and I invested in a shredder for paper and light cardboard that is then composted. All this as made a big difference to what has gone out in the bin. I will try to fix the rest so I will have less to give to my bin. Cheers Mary
A couple of thoughts:
‘social influencers’ are divided into two group, those who want the fame and attention and those who love what they do and want to help/educate people. Those in the first group need to be banned.
As for waste, too many people buy disposable items and bottled water is the WORST offender. Get a bottle and fill it up with your own water and skip all the waste with not just packaging, but processing and transport (shipping it to the store, going to the store to buy it and then the recycling).
With reusable mugs, they are great. When you use them, you should NEVER give the lid to the person who is filling up the coffee. First it isn’t hygienic for them to handle it and it is just as easy for you to hold onto it while they fill it up leaving their hands free.
I hope Puss Puss behaves herself and doesn’t get in any more fights and her ear heals quickly.
I am truly VERY concerned about the Earth and our environment. I wish people were more astute to what’s happening, more concerned. It’s so unbelievable the amount of trash in the oceans or anywhere for that matter. The life in the ocean is having a difficult time surviving. You hear or read about scores of fish or mammals washing upon shore or a poor mammal or sea life caught up in plastic somehow or finding plastic debris in their stomachs! It’s just horrendous and can be eliminated if we all do our part. There should be a ban on plastics for starters. That ban can only be possible by people educating themselves and really being determined to make it happen and make a real difference. The pollution of oceans is also detrimental to humans as is other pollution. We need to care and stop it now. I am sincerely grateful that you are taking part in this effort. How do we get others to seriously do their part.
I applaud you and Dan for taking a major step to helping our environment. When I was a long-term substitute teacher for a high school Environmental Science class a few years ago, I learned about a fantastic organization that not only actively promotes solving the plastic problem plaguing our world, but they do a great job in educating us about the problem. When you get a chance, check out their educational videos. I like to begin with “The Story of Stuff” (https://storyofstuff.org/movies/),
but their newest addition is very eye-opening— “The Story of Plastic” teaser (https://www.storyofplastic.org/?akid=147290.1640240.EhAkEY&rd=1&t=7).
Mikey, thank you for all you do for the crochet world! We greatly value your contributions!
I am not a good speller at all but sometimes spell check will help me out and put a word in it thinks it needed! Then what I have posted is not right and I go back and fix it! I don’t do it to get someone to have something to say about it! It just happens!
You have got me to thinking I don’t use paper cups! But we get a glass we keep all day from the start of the day! We drink mostly water!
We use Styrofoam plates that would do the same thing as the cups! I use them mostly because I dislike doing dishes so much! I need to start doing my part! If we all did our part to help out the land fills and water ways! By doing that one think I could save some money for something else! We need to be reminded of that is important and how little thing we do can help out the big world we all live in.
Mikey, you are an inspiration to me in more than just crochet… I simply adore you and love you for putting yourself out there with honesty, character, and humor. You awaken my brain and make me think about things other than my own issues.
Spelling in our group I think is an honest mistake. The most common ones I see are border vs boarder & verses vs versus. Of the b’s, one is the edging on a blanket or piece of property. The other is someone who rents a room in someone else’s home. Of the v’s, one is the lines in a song or poem & the other is opposing ideas or teams. These are not picked up by spell check as their spelling is correct but their grammar usage is not. However in context, we understand what is meant, so I just go forward with the flow of the concept presented. The content is so much more interesting than a typo or grammar error.
Interesting and viable thoughts roll around in your head… Everyday that I go to work I buy my lunch at Subway and purchase a large tea in a plastic cup… I’m going to ask the manager if I can start bringing in my own 20 oz mug instead of using his plastic cups all the time… thanks for bringing this up… I don’t use single use plastic cups at home so I’ll see if this works…
Another great gab session, Mikey. Don’t let the business of business get to you. It really is getting big, isn’t it.
I suspect that there area some people who intentionally misspell stuff on FB just to stir the pot. I also believe auto complete is a culprit but there surely are a lot of people who just plain can’t spell – period. However, it burns my but when I see someone correcting the spelling. It’s not an essay being turned in for marks. They’re (now there’s one that is often wrong!) – they’re just fleeting comments that will be gone I a flash. I try to avoid confrontation on social media but every once in a while…….., lol. So, ’til next time Mikey and Daniel, keep the faith, keep it fun and show us the way.
Just keep being you, Mikey—the right things (social media-wise) are gonna happen for your site. By the way, it’s “clamor”, not “clammer” when a cat yowls to go out (was that completely unintentional? How perfect, right?). I’m as sick as you are of influencers and the fakey-est of perfect bloggers. Aren’t we all?
What you’re doing is working great so far, and while there are lots of frustrations in building a business “your way”, it’s the only way that’s worth it!
We love what you’re doing! You’ve built an incredible resource for crochet crafters everywhere! You’ve given us so many patterns and how-to videos that help us learn skills to advance and be better crochet-ers. We’re loving it—thank you!
Hubby and I have made so many changes over the last decade…we all need to do better or leave this word a big trash heap! I often think even about yarn….and use natural fibers whenever possible! Thanks for making changes that make a difference!! <3
There’s a family on YouTube called “the bucket list family and on their website they sell a non plastics kit that would be interesting for everyone to see, so important for our oceans, replacing everything that we used to use plastic for, check it out
Put in wrong email in last comment
There’s a family on YouTube called “the bucket list family and on their website they sell a non plastics kit that would be interesting for everyone to see, so important for our oceans, replacing everything that we used to use plastic for, check it out
I applaud the changes you and Dan are making to reduce your impact on the environment as well as spreading the word about the impact small changes can make.
I’ve always been impressed by your kindness, generosity, creativity and thoughtfulness.
Thank you for all you do!
Thank you for sharing about yourself. Makes me feel like we are friends. I live in Colorado, near Pikes Peak. I was watching TV show called “The Curse of Oak Island” and I always think of you because it is filmed in Nova Scotia. They took an artifact to the University in Wolfsvill, I said oh that’s where Mikey lives. My son looks at me like, “who do you know in Nova Scotia?” The guy who teaches me crochet. Oh, CNN of course.
There are movements here to save on plastic also. Bring a cup from home to reuse is very popular. I crocheted the holder for my water bottle.
As for miss spelling when writing a blog, I dont know how you do it! My fingers hit so many random letters. I try to read over before sending, but sometimes I just hit send and you get what you get.
Thanks for sharing and “listening”, I needed a break from crocheting Christmas stockings.
Love all you do to teach new things. Thankyou,
Eileen
I agree about the paper cups. I have several reusable cups for my coffee. That makes it very easy to always have a clean one at the ready.
It is not super mean to keep kitties inside…I have 4 rescues…all ferals and they don’t even want to go out…will jump back
when I open the door to go out myself. We have coyotes here and dangers outside are immense. I am with an animal rescue group and we all advocate spaying/neutering and keeping your cats indoors for their own safety.
You have given me a couple of thoughts immediately. I don’t like the idea that people or web designers give one misspelled word just to generate or bump their numbers. With all the great add-on apps that check your spelling and grammar it shouldn’t be happening. Now I am not talking about someone typing a comment about a blog but the blog writer itself. As an ESL teacher, grammar, spelling and punctuation are super important to me. I get that as we type we make typos but you always should read what you have written and I tell my students to do it out loud. You hear the small words you have missed and as you are reading slower and more carefully the spelling errors jump out at you.
Next thought that came to mind was your comments on plastic and it being out downfall for future generations. I remember as a little girl people fixing small appliances if they broke instead of throwing everything away to get a new one as we do today. We throw everything away instead of actually thinking about what we are doing to the environment. I am from Michigan and in the late 70s early 80s they brought back the bottle return law that paid you 10 cents to return your pop and beer bottles. It was amazing what that did for cleaning up the roadsides, parks and natural areas. People understood that they could make some money by cleaning it up. I remember going to Tennessee soon after and thinking how dirty it looked because of the bottles and cans thrown everywhere. Then in the 90s we had to have bottled water. These plastic bottles have not been added to the return law, so they are now everywhere. I know there has some effort to get them placed on the law but big companies are fighting it. I don’t have anything against the bottles per se but I use my refillable cup with water from home. And if I do have a plastic water bottle it always comes home to be recycled in my trash. And yes I am good about recycling. I also have reduced the amount of plastic that I use coming from the grocery store. Not only do I try not buy in plastic, I have crochet (funny Huh) about 8 shopping bags that will take care of my monthly shopping trip. I can walk out of there with all my bags filled and not the 30 plastic ones the store would have given me. Having lived in Europe for 20 some years I got into great habits that help reduce waste. I have hopes that other countries will follow suit of countries like France, Germany and Spain.
Mikey, I really enjoy getting to know you through this blog. Third thought you should know what meds are being taken by you or Daniel. If you don’t want to remember have Daniel type up a list with all prescribed meds and supplements that you both take. It could be a lifesaver in time at the doctor’s office or in an emergency.
Till next week.
Christine
I live in the desert. It’s disgusting how much litter, tires, appliances are dumped. For my other volunteer work I walk the roads and pick up trash. One of the members picks up my bags of desert trash to take to dump.
Regarding restaurant trash, I even try to bring my own to go container for leftovers.
You are a positive influencer with your love of teaching crochet, your empathy for all, and the emotion and passion you share!
Well, I think the kitties are special and are lucky to have you and Dan for parents. As for the misspellings on purpose… that annoys me. Perfectionism comes out in me. I know people and places do this, but not me! On to the medical thing… I read and study natural healing as well as new found studies, etc. (Call me Dr. Patty!) Plastics… I know we all can be more thoughtful of our surroundings. I believe we all have a great impact on this global warming. Trash is only part, not saying it is small, of our issues. It amazes me how early ancestors got along well without all this technology. Technology has created how many plastics? Well, now for influencers… How do you think colleges came about? One man sold his ideas to others and therefore created a paid for educational study. Crazy, huh? Well, I say keep studying Mother Earth, correct spelling, medicinal applications and keep sharing your passion for crafting. One person can make a difference in anything done! I appreciate you and your affiliates at the Crochet Crowd! It is nice to know someone has some of the same feelings as me! Love ya!
I want to respond to the plastic issue you raised. While I’ve been carrying around a metal water bottle for years now, I don’t always (ok, almost never) hand my drinking vessel to the barista to use instead of giving me a plastic cup with my beverage. I agree that is one habit I need to change. It also brings to mind – how much other unnecessary plastic do we use on a daily basis? I’m thinking food containers for doggie bags at restaurants, the containers we have at home to store food and leftovers, plastic straws and cutlery. How much more damage to the environment could we avoid by changing those habits too? Including reusable containers, dishes, and cutlery in the lunches we carry to work, and taking our own food containers with us if we anticipate wanting a doggie bag at a restaurant? Real food for thought. How much can each of us save by just considering the plastic used for our food and beverages? I intend to do better.
Influencers. I have never understood this. To me they are like movie critics telling you which movie to go see, what is bad and what isn’t. Well, I am going to go see any movie I like – good or bad. And to expect free stuff for yakking about “stuff” – what the heck! In that case everyone on any craft blog should be getting free stuff! We all talk about what we like and don’t like! And I think some people just live their lives through other people. So maybe this is why they are so popular. My belief is – go experience life for yourself.
Cups. I make all my coffee at home. So I use an insulated mug. Nothing like homemade!
I love your misspelled word discussion. I have been using that line for years. I used to edit a couple of newsletters for schools. I have to mention, no matter how carefully one attempts to proofread, something will slip by. My response when this happened was, “I did it on purpose to see who was actually reading the newsletter.” I really didn’t, but it soothed the irate complainer and did let me know my efforts weren’t in vain. Someone was reading the thing. 😀 As for today and social media . . . Who knows? Could go either way. For me, I tend to be in hurry and don’t always proofread as carefully as I should. Mostly, folks understand the hurry and overlook the mistake. They are busy too. But there are the ‘trolls’ who have to make an issue of anything and/or everything. As for doing it on purpose, maybe. Or like me and my newsletters, it is an excuse for making a mistake in the first place.
I do enjoy these chats with you. I like getting to know the authors of the blogs I enjoy. Thank you.
I love that you have gotten a personal cup. I have used one for years. I also do not use paper plates at home and I use reusable bags at the market. I have been concerned about landfills since I lived next to one back in the 80’s. The mountains of trash is unreal. Anymore, drinking from a styrofoam cup is . . . *shudders* Awful. I don’t like the flavor. My reusable cup is porcelain too. I don’t like plastic, or paper, anything. My preference.
Cats outside. Okay if one has a barn for them to live in. But, I was raised on a farm where all animals had jobs. Cats were mousers in the barn. When I moved to the city, cats became house animals for me, if I had one at all. The one I let out was killed by the pit from across the street, in our yard no less. I was livid they let their dogs out to run wild. He wasn’t a nice bit like my daughter has now. People don’t always consider neighbors when they let their animals roam. My kids were devastated to loose the cat. Yes, it was reported to appropriate authorities. So, I guess it depends as much on where one lives. In the country, okay. The city, not so much.
All valid points….the one I respond to at this time is the cups. I applaud your decision to switch gears. Those people who say …”they are touching your cap”……they touch the cap even if you use the throw away cup. Ever watch them put a cap on? Touched all over. As a former waitress, we were taught to NEVER serve a drink with our hands hovering over the top. Always serve it with hands holding it like you would if you were drinking it…on the side. Rant over, now I will endeavor to use my reusable cup when I get my Starbucks tea, thank you for leading the way.
These are deep thoughts. I always try and use cups and also dish towels instead of paper towels to reduce. the impact. We need to think about these things. We humans impact this earth so much more than the animals we are supposed to take care of. I just enjoy you and Dans thoughts. We are all responsible. I don’t drink coffee so don’t use much paper. It’s good you are thinking about these things and raising awareness. You have a HUGE following and can really make a difference. Take care and give yourself sometime to relax and don’t worry about what others think. Do what you think is right for you.
Bad spelling really IRKS me! For one, I sometimes have to read a sentence 3 or 4 times before I can understand it if they use a word that has 2 or more different meanings depending on the spelling! For another thing it only takes a quick look to check your spelling before hitting the send button! (I have actually fixed several typos already in this post!) I understand a typo here and there, but some people just do not even try! AND, If I am reading an article that has a LOT of typos in it, I dump it. I figure that if they are too lazy to correct they don’t have anything I need to know! On the other hand, I will not correct people. They do NOT like it. They snarl at you like a tiger!!! They LIKE to be ignorant and again, to each his/her own! That being said, THANK you for all that you do! I am a lurker mostly but I do love to crochet and to learn new stitches and find new patterns although I usually only do afghans. Have a great day and stop and smell the roses! We only live once, lets make it the best life ever!!!!
Great topics for discussion. Reusable vs disposable is a huge issue for all of us. I love my reusable cups, and even use reusable straws when possible. The amount of trash we have let migrate to the ocean is astronomical! Every one of us needs to become an environmentalist to protect this planet for both the people and the wildlife that live here. Now, lets move on… purposely misspelling things to generate clicks is… clickbait! Don’t do it. I love your articles, and I would hate the distraction of such nonsense. Stay the wonderful teacher you are! Thanks for the wonderful videos, patterns and articles. You and Dan have helped so many people find the joy in crochet and knitting, I hope we have you keeping us motivated for a long time to come!
Thanks for the read. I’m glad you are using your new cup and thanks for the tip about the covers.
Good on you for stopping with the disposable cups. I recently started using a stainless steel water bottle (faucet water is of great quality in The Netherlands). It makes a great difference. Now if only supermarkets could get onto the no (or less) plastic band wagon.
Here in Europe a law is coming to ban single use plastics like disposable plates and cutlery. That will probably help a lot as well.
BTW, I really enjoy these sort of rambling peeks into your life and thought processes.
Wow, a lot of thoughts running around in your brain this week.
Some of my thoughts on your thoughts:
Influencers – never thought of you that was, when I think of that word I think Kardashian’s and other crap on TV. I just have learned so much about crochet since watching/listening to you. If you’re an influencer, you are definitely a good one!
Kitty News – glad they like to be outside, hope they stay safe.
Metrics – don’t understand so really nothing to say.
Idiosyncrasies – after Thanksgiving dinner I was talking with my son’s in-laws and we started talked about medicines we take. I thought – yikes, we sound like old people (we are; but, seriously).
Social metric boost – see above about metrics – except if someone misspells on purpose, I feel bed that they need that kind of attention.
Environment – the older I get the more conscious I become about what I put into the environment. I recycle what I can, take reusable bags to get groceries and try to remember to take my reusable mug with me.
Thanks for your post.
Living in California, there are a lot of environmentally conscientious people. In many communities certain things are outlawed. Many counties/cities “ban” plastic grocery bags and encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags. If you forget your bags or don’t bring enough you can pay for a heavy duty reusable plastic bag, or paper bags. I’ve been using washable reusable bags for 8 years now and it feels so nice to not see piles and piles of the plastic ones in my house. Plus the reusable canvas ones I have hold alot more than the store provided bags. I’m a big reusable cup user. They actually came to my life before reusable bags and I can’t remember the last time I used those thing flimsy produce bags, and in my opinion, one of the biggest wasteful items on the entire planet. I don’t use straws either. I’m not a die-hard environmentalist but I am trying to be a more conscientious purchaser because I hope to have grandkids one day and I don’t want them or their peers to live in a worldwide garbage dump.
My thoughts on influencers? Don’t really have any because I don’t follow people that imply I should be using a certain product whether directly or by subliminal messaging. I’ve never thought of you as being an influencer, just a man passionate about teaching his craft. To me an influencer is in it for the recognition. They are attention seekers looking for ways to feel validated and I feel like maybe their actual sense of self-esteem isn’t nearly as high as they make it out to be. I just prefer genuine people and I don’t include anybody in my life that isn’t genuine.
That’s all from me for now 😉
When I found your site I read posts and comments to get an idea of your style. I felt as though I found family members and non judgmental friends!! I have to have my hands done due to major carpal tunnel.but I’m currently snowed and can’t get anywhere. We moved to our cabin that’s 8;300 elevation!? Why!?!? I was getting UPS but I wonder if I still can. My hubby was rude to the guy that plowed our driveway so he told others and eventually I overheard that he would double the price but said he still doesn’t want to do it. We aren’t in Las Vegas anymore…This would be a perfect time to crochet then! Lol. Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us!! I’m so happy I found you!! I appreciate you sharing your story!! When you made the flamingo I knew I found the place for me!!
I so agree with you on “influencers”! While I realize it was just a TV program, Chicago Med had a recent episode in which two 20 somethings lived their whole lives based on what their “followers” voted for. They actually made money on this. However, when the man got appendicitis, the followers did not vote for immediate surgery, and it burst, spreading infection. It really gave me something to think about.
People need to be able to think for themselves and make their own decisions. While it was just a TV show, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was loosely based on a real situation.
While I too worry about the environment I do find myself using some items out of convenience. If we at least try our best to be more environmentally friendly that’s a start. I’m going to begin that now and hopefully others will join. I all ready have been using the reusable coffee mug so I am on the way.