Spamming By "Friends"

After I had uploaded my first videos to YouTube...I received the first request from
someone...who wanted to be my "friend". I confess to being completely unprepared for
this cyber age request. Up to that point...I had felt that friendship was something that came about organically...in the fulness of time...accompanied by mutual respect
,,,some common ground...and some shared history. I was touched by the request...and
telling myself it can be a cold world sometimes...so try to be open...I agreed to this
sudden...and not very organic...21st century "relationship". This first safari into the unknown...hasn't really produced anything of note...but then again...friendship at its best...doesn't have to produce anything that can be measured...but you can still know it is in place...and that can give you at least a warm feeling. As time went by and more "friendship" requests came in...I saw that it was usually linked to someone wanting to send you a video...and that by agreeing to their request...that would make
them technically able to do so. Didn't see too much harm in that...so I agreed to
several more requests that came in. For some time now...I've been inundated with videos from online "friends"...in a way that in millitary circles would be called
"friendly fire". My own name for it is "spamming by friends"...with the spammers in question...at times sending several videos to me in a day...with no consideration for
the fact that I prefer smaller video doses...so that in my video viewing...I am not
looking at videos at an undignified...and grossly consumeristic rate. Perhaps...even
more important to me...is people keep sending me videos of cover songs...when my own
channel on YouTube features only original songs...poems...and talks. I would have
thought...that a real friend...would stop to consider whether the video they wanted
to send me...had a chance of fitting my area of interest. Anyway...I think I know
what I'm going to do...about the flood of video notices I have been receiving...but I
think I'll keep it to myself...and wish my online "friends"...a happy emergence
from "under the covers"...into the liberating land...of "creativity exercised"...
knowing we each have that potential inside of us...waiting to be unleashed.

Changes In My Blogging

I was thinking the other day about changes in my blogging since I started. At the beginning...I recognised what a gift it was to
write something and post it online...where others could possibly see it. For someone who had been writing for years...but had
been painfully aware...of the long periods of time that could elapse before anyone laid eyes on what you had written...given the gatekeepers between yourself...and venues where your work could be seen or heard. Over the years I'd found a way to create...regardless of the presence of gatekeepers...or not...having decided...not to give away my power to forces outside of myself...to define...my work or myself. Anyway...being able to write something and immediately post it online...was a great liberation. Once the dam blocking my way had been broken...many things that I had wanted to say...were now being said online. I even got into posting something every day...for long periods of time. A change in my blogging happened...when I started to make videos of my songs...poems...and other subjects...and upload them to YouTube. Since then my contact with the outside world via my creations...has flourished. I started hearing from people in far flung places...even gradually becoming friends with some. There were hundreds of encouraging comments coming my way...because of my videos on YouTube. Making videos became...and still is...my primary creative preoccupation. With all this...writing for my blog suffered...and I began to go for longish periods without posting anything. As plentiful as there is evidence that there are people watching my videos...there has been a scarcity of evidence about people reading my blog. Anyway I'm writing this to express my thanks for the privilege of still having a blog...and hoping I can get a post or two in...without eons of time going by...and also without the stress of trying to be daily about it...but more posting entries when I feel I have something to say...without waiting for it to be earth shattering...before I decide to do so. We'll see how it all shakes down........................Quester.

Thanks For Beautiful Things

The closest I first came to being a "collector" of anything...was years ago...
before I started painting myself...as I started acquiring paintings I could afford...at auctions...or directly from painters I knew...without a thought about them being good investments...but simply because I liked them. Then...in the nineties...I started my "picture making" [a term I prefer to use instead of "painting"]...chapter. It took a while...but I finally reached the point...where I felt I could hang some of them in my home...without having to apologise for them. I remember strongly...the day I took my "bought" pictures down from my walls...and put them into a cupboard...and hung in their place some of my "created" pictures. There was something significant for me...if not for anyone else...something just about ceremonial...in what I did that day. I remember thanking the pictures I'd previously had on my walls...for what they had given to me...as they'd kept my company...and were a large part...of my making of a home...over quite a few years. I believe in voicing my appreciation of things that
have beautified my life...whenever I can remember to do so. This was one occasion
when I did...I can certainly remember................Quester.

Evaluating Incoming Overtures

Went to a gathering of friends the other night. Many of them were poets and writers.
Actually the warmest times I had with some of those present...had nothing to do with
their "credentials"...but with some quality or qualities they each possessed that
caused me to like them or feel affection for them. One of them was particularly warm
and affectionate to me...and I'm still processing what went into that...given the
"level of warmth" had been turned up several notches above how it had been in our many
previous meetings. In this life...evaluating what comes to you or at you...is an art
on to itself. Even the comments or other overtures I get about my videos on YouTube...
have different energies that come from them. Some pass the sincerity test with flying
colours...while others have a whiff of someone else's ambitions coming at you...in order for them to be furthered in some way. What to do about these different vibes
coming from others at you?. Looks like you want to remain open overall...but still not
be too easy a mark for wool being pulled over your eyes. What you don't want to do
is get bogged down in your suspicion of all you interact with. That is a "vibe" too
they are certain to pick up..................Quester.