Bird of Paradise bloom
I’ve been joining forums for so many years I can’t remember how long. It started with old BBS and one of those incredibly slow modems. Then, sometime in the late 1980′s I found The Well and that was my biggest intro to online forums. It had a really complex command line interface and it took some time to learn how to use it, that might have helped actually. People there were so smart, so witty, such good writers… well, many of them were journalists, unix geeks or tech writers so I guess that is part of the reason. The other part is that it could be very intimidating to jump into a discussion with such wizards so the timid, the slow and the dull stayed on the sidelines. I kind of eased in through the women’s conference, they were smart, fast and snarky too but I felt more comfortable. Eventually, I meandered out into the regular forms and had my first experience with a flame war directed at me. That was tough but I learned a lot and it tuned up how I wrote and what I wrote.
I’ve spent time on Usenet too and that will keep your skills honed if nothing else. Then MexConnect in its old version when it was wild and wooly. After it became tamer (and cost $) I stayed for several years but eventually it just irritated me more than it amused me. I think that is my criteria, if I am irritated most of the time when reading a forum then why am I reading it? Especially, why am I responding?
Fast forward through numerous RV forums, Mexico forums, gardening forums, pond forums, etc. It’s a bit of an addiction actually, I check my forums more often than I check my email. Sadly I’ve run out of forums lately, there aren’t any that I find really worthwhile and I am kind of angry with myself for hanging around some that irritate me just because I have nowhere else to go.
I enjoyed the old Merida Insider but I can not get into the current local forum, Yolisto. It’s mostly oriented to those who live out on the Gulf beaches, rows of concrete boxes occupied primarily by gringos on a rapidly disappearing beach. Mainly what I find irritating about it is that most everyone on there is trying to sell real estate or rent their house or in some way make money off new people coming in. Can you believe that they aren’t particularly honest about life here? I have a vision of them all standing around in dirty sand, holding hands and singing kumbaya to the arriving planes overhead. As you can tell, reading that forum just makes me feel snarky, not a great trait on a forum that wants to be the love child of the Yucatan. So, I read it occasionally but I don’t post anything. I’m trying not to make everyone hate me all at once.
The last one to go was a pond and garden forum that I’ve been active on since it began probably over 5 years ago. I made myself ignore the born again idiots who had rotating bible quotes as their signature line and the dementia of the owner who liked to post really questionable pictures of young girls. There were good gardeners there, experienced ponders and some very nice people. Well, the demented one couldn’t take the uppity woman who actually knows plants but won’t bow down to him and he banned her. She was one of the best, always had the right information, the ID of almost any plant, great pictures. She was a bit abrasive, she dug in when confronted and battled it out. He couldn’t take it and neither could some of the jesus freaks because she had a big signature file that said she was a pagan. Hell, I felt like saying I was moslem just to get under their skin. Religious nuts are the worst on any forum, logic is irrelevant by definition and there is no shutting them up. So, again I discovered that it was irritating me more than it was amusing me and I stopped visiting. I never make big announcements, I just stop showing up and stop posting and make myself delete the link. It’s a personal decision and I don’t think it is anyone else’s responsibility.
Now, I find myself a bit bereft with nowhere to talk about ponds and plants and soil and water. Nowhere to post pics of my gardening successes or ask questions about my failures. Please don’t suggest Facebook, I have no intention of ever joining that, um, let’s just call it a time sink. Thus, my blog is going to take on some of the stuff that I need to write about and bounce off the universe. Don’t be surprised to find a lot more garden and pond posts and probably more snark too, hope it doesn’t irritate you more than it amuses you.
**This evening we had our first rain since my last post. I waited about a half hour before putting out the plastic cup to get a “clean” catch for testing, alas… the rain stopped. Maybe later.
Maybe it’s time for you to join San Miguel de Allende’s Snivel List. See http://richland.wordpress.com/category/the-civil-list/. There you will learn about the necessity of adding Microdyn to Ciel and Santorini water before boiling it, how the clerks at Mega are hand-in-hand with the Colombian Mafia to clone your credit cards when they’re not busy putting their thumbs on the bakery scales, and everything you never needed to know about living an organic, socially relevant, politically correct and productive life. And once you’ve been thrown off the list, you’ll feel like you just moved out of a bad neighborhood.
Oh God, don’t go to the Snivel List. I can only read it once or twice a year. IF that is REALLY who is moving to San Miguel, I’ll join you in the “snarky aisle”. The MOST aggravating stuff I ever read…………in fact, when I meet someone who suggests I read the Civil List, I immediately cross THEM off my list. Ha.
Here am I in my concrete box………….want to buy it ? Merde I am not a realtor. But if I hang around here a little longer I could be…….whoops sorry would love to contribute something deep and meaningful but my beach is washing away as I speak. Later!! Hope you find what you’re looking for!
Jonna I will happily spend time reading anything you write anywhere you write it. I am in agreement with you about yolisto and most other places.
See you guys in early November
Ron
Jonna, Keep up the great writing. I don’t care about gardens, ponds, or RV’s, yet find your perspective and style so enjoyable that I always read to the end of your posts. Even your “snark” is amusing because it’s not personal or mean-spirited.
You go girl! Yes, start a gardening forum for the Yucatan — or clone this site into topics. I’ll gratefully learn from your experiences. All of my gardening has been done near Buffalo NY, for farm stands. I can tell I have a lot to learn if my wife and I are to winter down there. Gotta keep my hands in the dirt.
~eric.
RIGHT ON ABOUT “YOLISTO”! MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY. AND THAT IS WHY I DON’T BOTHER WITH IT EITHER.
I’M ENJOYING YOUR BLOGS MORE AND MORE, AND YOUR ATTITUDE, TOO! I RESPECT SOMEONE WHO ISN’T AFRAID TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS.
Even your “snark” is entertaining to me, love the writting and the stories. I am always looking forward your postings.
Jonna, your blog is so great. When you don’t post for a while, I start to wonder if you are okay. Yet I think that we are opposite of each other on many things. However, I do love a good snark. Spare me from some Pollyanna with a silly grin on her face. I love women that tell it like it is. Don’t ever stop.
True confessions – I live at the beach. We mostly keep to ourselves and I do agree that collectively the foreigners at the beach can be a bit much. One on one is different and there are some great people here. I’m not sure that I would like gatherings of foreigners in Merida either. You gotta have something more in common than just being American or Canadian.
Jonna,
My favorite line . . .
Can’t you just be satisfied that if I’m wrong about God I’ll burn in Hell?
Kate
http://cholulared.blogspot.com
Of course, the thing about using gross generalization to move a story or get a laugh is that it is also a form of stereotyping. I’m not sure there is really a difference except in tone and intent, one is considered a short cut and the other lazy and negative. When I wrote that about the posters on Yolisto I knew it was not true for all, certainly not for all who live out at the beach, but that it had a thread of truth that I found amusing.
I like looking for those threads of sameness in groups of people, it doesn’t define the person but it does define a flavor of the group. It’s probably one of the key elements of what I call ‘snark’, that precise filleting of the faults in behavior, logic or belief that paints a quick and dirty picture.
There are equally funny snarks about expatriates in general, those in México, those in Mérida, etc. I’ll probably get around to those too
I would love to read more about your gardening and pond and snark and well, I just like your writing style.
Your snarkiness always gives me a chuckle…the snarkiest blog on Mexico that I have found is The Gangs of San Miguel one….he is running out of great topics and is getting less interesting, but it still has its moments. I can only imagine how infrequently he is a guest at the home of an expat there.
You keep writing and I will keep reading.
Interesting…we’ve talked about this before! I’m pretty sure that I read, and occasionally comment on certain forums so that I can enjoy the feeling (delusion?) of moral and/or intellectual superiority. Whatever.
Gardening…when there was a gardening topic on MI, very few people seemed to post much. I do hope you start regular gardening posts — perhaps one a week, or every couple of weeks. I think there’s enough English-speakers here with interest in gardening that some useful discussions might develop.
Now I’m inspired to go post a comment on your alkaline rain/mint post!
That photo of the bird of paradise is a stunner. I’m impressed.
Big hugs, you two.
Cristina
I am happy that you’ll be posting more because I don’t hear your voice in all those other forums – and I love it. And I love that you do consider people’s feelings (aka the beach or Yolisto) but then say what you feel. In a world where so many people are either blazing away at people without cause or too timid to speak their mind, you are a jewel.
Thanks all. I do have some gardening successes and I will post some about those too, got to keep it even.
Cristina, coming from as good a photog as you are that is quite a compliment, thank you. I kind of loved that picture myself
Nancy, thank you! You made my day.
I would enjoy a yucatan gardening forum–or at least more posts on the subject. We’re in the last phases of renovation and the garden will be a big undertaking so I’m anxious to get it off to a good start with choosing plants that will work well…plus looking for some varieties for fragrance as well as flowers and foliage…Lots of challenges ahead!
I would too Bettye, and there are some excellent gardeners in the expat world here. Working Gringa started a small forum for Yucatan gardening but I don’t know if she wants it publicized or not. There is very little activity on it now. I’ll see what I can find out.
Meanwhile, back at the science fair. It rained steadily but not heavily yesterday from afternoon in the evening. Several hours after it started I put my clean plastic cup out and caught enough for a PH test. It was 9 again although it was a lighter color, not light enough to be 8.5 but lighter than the earlier test from a first rain. Still, I have no idea why this is or whether it is my problem.
I checked the Reverse Osmosis water we make and it was 6.5. The water from the city came in at 7.5. It is a puzzle.