Another OD Defection in Scottish Meanderings
- Jan. 30, 2014, 5:18 p.m.
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- Public
Well here I am.
And very grateful to the 2 ODers who sent me Facebook messages letting me know of the imminent demise of OD which, although not entirely unexpected, still came as a shock. I would have probably seen it before the final day as I’ve been doing private entries in there quite a lot but I’d been falling behind with that because of starting my new job and the couple of times I’d gone in recently it was playing up so I’d been writing them in WORD instead ready for transfer at a later date. Could’ve missed the boat there.
Although I very much appreciate this place exists I’m not keen on the layout so far but I realise it’s a work in progress and will probably evolve just as OD did. I’m having problems formatting though - none of my formatting buttons seem to be working - do I need something different than just click on them? When I do all that seems to happen is I get a shaded background but can’t change anything. Also I can’t find a facility for asking a Help question? I just see specific entries for specific things in the Help books but nowhere to ask anything - am I not looking hard enough?
So - 2014 is bringing a few new things to get used to and get my head round.
New bloggy place which I hope to be writing publicly in a lot more than my OD efforts recently.
New job which is a bit stressful at the moment as every new job is at the start but which will no doubt settle down in time.
New course which might be happening in March for 2 days a week lasting 5 weeks but will depend on being able to change my working days because it clashes.
New name which doesn’t mean anything exciting is happening - just that I’m trying to revert back to my maiden name. I thought this would be complicated but my sister who’s already done it said ‘och no it wasn’t any hassle’ and I believed her. Ha! I should go with my first instincts that’s all I’m saying ......
New systems - the job involves quite a few different systems than the ones I’ve been working with so it feels like there’s a lot to take in just now - I don’t know if it’s something about getting older or just my current state but it kinda feels like my brain isn’t too keen on all this new information whereas 10 years ago I would have welcomed it. I did some training in Mailchimp today and had to get used to a whole new language involving segments, hard bounces, soft bounces, chimp rewards, double opt-ins, autoresponders, campaigns and floats to name but a few. It all looked rather wonderful with many bells and whistles and I’m looking forward to trying it out, the only problem being that I’m not back at work until Monday so the likelihood of any of it remaining in my brain until then is decidedly iffy!
New health state - well it’s not entirely new but I suppose it’s my first year completely codeine free although that’s a lie because I had a relapse a fortnight ago after 3 months! However strangely it turned out a more positive experience than I expected and it was almost as if it had to happen to completely shut that door whereas before it sort of felt like it was still ajar, ready to tempt at any moment. Anyway hopefully the REST of the year will be codeine free and eventually I’ll start to feel better. I’m still really struggling with low mood and most days feel like I’ve just had a steamroller run over me so my mission this year is to try and get to the bottom of this once and for all and get my mojo back!
Interestingly recently I was looking for spare polypockets for work and knew I had some in my own folders at home which I probably didn’t need any more - ones I’d used for coursework and suchlike which were useful at the time but the contents could now be stapled instead. I came across my Open University folder and in the course of taking out the stuff in the folders I glanced at the top sheets. It was honestly like the stuff in there had been written by someone else. Similarly there were some in my CRUSE Bereavement Counselling course folder and that felt exactly the same. Looking through what I’d written was like it was someone else’s material not mine. I don’t mean that in the sense that I was high or anything while undertaking these courses - I’ve never taken any substance to get high in my life - only to feel normal - but I just mean the way I feel about myself right now, it doesn’t seem possible that I could produce stuff like that.
Anyway I’m on the case and expect to be feeling a hell of a lot better this time next year - if not I’ll have A LOT to say about it!
Ok that’s enough for now until I figure out how to use the site - I’ll hopefully expand on some of these things above as I write more but I didn’t want to write one of my long, rambly entries for the first page. No doubt that’ll change soon enough!
I’ve missed you guys. It’s nice to be back.
Last updated October 24, 2015
Steven the Rill ⋅ January 30, 2014
Welcome to the new place. :)
Marg Steven the Rill ⋅ January 30, 2014
Thank you Steven!
S Epiphany ⋅ January 30, 2014
It is sad OD is shutting down entirely. But so good we all have somewhere to be still :) x
Marg S Epiphany ⋅ February 01, 2014
That's true! :)
Ceylon Sapphire ⋅ February 01, 2014
Yeah! Glad you made the move. Im kinda excited that I get to start fresh here..... but yeah, the colour schemes suck!
Deleted user ⋅ February 01, 2014
Yay, glad to see you again!!!!!!!!!!! Well done you on the codeine thing ... I'm having a huge struggle with eating at the moment. I'm tempted to say it's shaming, but I know better - it's just annoying, because someone else takes over at times when I am trying so hard. However, I'm exercising and that often wins out. To get red-faced, sweaty & leaden-legged after such a pitiful little bit of exercise and then LOSE it again with a few chokky mouthfuls - how stupid! I have many backslides, so I am very impressed by your determination. Well done. And I am sure the new systems will start to make sense in a while. I've got new stuff to learn at work, but I am by no means keen ... however, at last I have learned that it is better to ask for help ... (Looks back at 40-y-o me and shakes head.. "Oh dear, you poor little mite!")
Well, how far off the track am I! Must dash off, and hope all is going to be good in 2014! Oh, and I didn't think in Scotland people were so keen to change surnames? Maybe that's changed in the last 100 years: I know my ancestors stuck strongly to their "maiden names".
Marg Deleted user ⋅ February 02, 2014
Oh that's interesting - I didn't know that about the surnames thing - I thought that was a recent development. My niece has kept her maiden name as part of her married name but it's a bit chunky in my opinion. I'm with you on the eating thing - I've put on a stone in the last year and it seems to be taking a gigantic effort just to maintain my weight at the moment - I'm sure there's something in the saying that your metabolism slows down as you get older no matter how many health freaks tell me otherwise! :)
edna million ⋅ February 01, 2014
Oh, you're here!! Yay!!!! And we'll be cheering you on this year, keeping codeine-free. It sounds like you've done amazingly well with it -- a backslide is nothing unusual.
I'm sure the new systems will make sense too. It's funny, since getting a smart phone I've downloaded several organizational apps, and have really started to fear I've lost what brain I ever had... they DO NOT MAKE SENSE to me. It's like they are so complicated that I can't unravel them. And I can't decide if they are REALLY that complicated, or if it's that my brain just doesn't work like that. And then I get annoyed and give up.
I haven't had any problems with the formatting here- could it be your browser?
edna million ⋅ February 01, 2014
OH!!!! Just realized while making an entry, that when you click on the formatting button ( the italics for example) and you get that shaded area between two asterisks --- just keep typing what you would like to be in italics, and the shading vanishes and your words appear. That is quite confusing. You can also just type an asterisk and then what you want in italics and then another asterisk (with no spaces between the asterisks and the words) and you'll get italics. I actually find that easier than going up and clicking the formatting bar. There's a bunch of formatting tricks like that on Simple Minds' tutorial pages.
Marg edna million ⋅ February 02, 2014
I did have a look at the tutorial pages and tried both methods but nothing seems to happen when I do it. I don't get a shaded area or anything else - didn't think about the browser though - maybe I should try through Chrome - I'm sure I'm using a pretty ancient version of IE when I think about it. I don't even possess a smart phone and am still using a Granny slide thing with actual raised keys that wouldn't know an app if it met it in its soup! :)
Marg edna million ⋅ February 02, 2014
You've hit the nail on the head Beth - I've just opened it with Chrome and haven't tried to write anything yet but even just looking at the site now makes me realise my browser was definitely causing a problem. No wonder I didn't like it - my version was all over the place with menus on top of one another and about three-quarters of the page taken up with all sorts of crap before I got to an actual entry! Now I'm all excited it looks so much better :)
edna million Marg ⋅ February 02, 2014
Oh good! I use Chrome for everything except a couple of work-related applications that only work on IE. You'll probably still have that weird grey box when you do bold or italics, but when you start typing it vanishes and you get the formatting. I bet the whole site does look WAY better now!
Marg ⋅ February 02, 2014
Hi M - glad to be here and that's so true - I think I've shared more with you guys than I've shared with many people in real life and that's probably true for a lot of us on here! :)
Deleted user ⋅ February 03, 2014
Yes, my ancestors simply ignored the husband's name, as far as official documents went, as well as their own records etc. Most confusing. You don't know whether they mean Jessie Ower who was born a McEwen or Jessie Ower who was born an Ower. There was one of each of those at the same time (and similar examples) for a few years in Australia, goodness only knows how many there were in Scotland. Elizabeth, Jannet/Jennet / Jane and Jessie .. pluss the odd Mary .. hardly any names for women other than those. Oh I beg their pardon, Margaret. :-) In both Husband's family & mine. Still, it's better than today's K'ristel etc
Kimber ⋅ February 06, 2014
Hello :)
Marg ⋅ February 07, 2014
Hi Kimber - glad you've found me! I'm still getting the hang of the site and find catching up with everyone (especially in a new place) as much of a problem as ever :)
Glad to be here though.
Ainetheon ⋅ February 13, 2014
Hi Marg. ditto on the layout and getting used to change etc. I've been a bit slack here (just as I was towards the end of OD) and hope that I can get back into the swing of writing ..... (come back Muse, I miss you!!!!).
I reverted back to my maiden name many years ago and understand your frustrations - one young bank clerk couldn't understand me wanting to withdraw MY money from MY account (maiden name one) and insisted I produce a document from the courts to say I had changed my name!!! Grr.... one is entitled to use the birth name without legally changing anything etc. Och weel..... they dinnae ken whit they dinnae ken! best, ~A~
Marg Ainetheon ⋅ February 13, 2014
It's such a hassle isn't it - I can't work out if it's better to do it all at once or gradually - I'm scared I'll need the married name for identification or something and catch myself out. Also can't get used to a different signature. A couple of folk thought I'd got married again - didn't think of that one! :)