On Not Blogging And Mediocre Creatives

I remember reading a joke somewhere that went along the lines of: are you even a blogger if you don't start a post with apologizing for how long you have gone without blogging. Ha ha ha. That is so funny, considering how long I have now gone without properly blogging. I mean, I have posted Friday Reflections, which let's face tend to be more interesting than whatever I might actually post. I digress. I was saying it's interesting I saw that joke since I was going to start this post talking about how long it has been since I even thought about blogging. Only, I was not going to apologize. I was just going to acknowledge. There. Acknowledged. Moving on.

When I was on my Internet hiatus (and by Internet, I mean social media), I saw this video by Ropo Demure about the thirst of YouTubers and how YouTube has changed. In it, she talked about the desperation for fame, the need to have all the attention, and the suspicious behavior and general untrustworthiness of YouTubers, who now basically lie just so they can get paid by advertisers. This behavior is obviously across board. There is an ardent need of people to just broadcast their entire lives to strangers; to do the most ridiculous and insane things, just so they can trend: whether on YouTube or Instagram or Twitter or Snapchat or even Facebook. Thankfully, it's not as bad on the blogoshpere, if there is even anything such as that anymore. After finally getting back to social media, I saw many people begging us to please subscribe to their channels because YouTube made a new rule of decommissioning folks with less than a thousand subscribers...begging us as if their lives depended on YouTube; complaining and crying about what they would do if YouTube took away their accounts. The first thing that came to mind was, why don't you get a regular job like the rest of us mere mortals? Get out of here with bugging us, please.



Gosh. It's too much. Everyone is begging you to follow them ON ALL THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS, to like, to subscribe, to comment...their job basically is to ask us to validate them, validate them, validate them. In other words, there is a sub section of folks out there, who instead of working hard and hoping their work speaks for them, clamor for fame and engage in popularity contests. People with no talents, no creativity, so called content creators, whose only creations are false reviews for products, then put up ludicrous videos that are, in Ropo's words "embarrassing to watch". Obviously, and this should go without saying (but I will say it anyway because many people lack common sense), this doesn't apply to everyone. There are true creatives out there, doing the work, and getting the coins they deserve. Many others though, just want to do little to earn plenty money in ad revenue so they can buy expensive leather jackets and weaves, and then post on YouTube for us to see. Yes, shade.

I say all this to say, no one really appreciates creativity as much anymore.   Like Ropo said in the afore-linked video, it's uninspiring. If you don't do crazy stuff, the truth is no one cares. I am feeling the bug too, and not very inspired to put out anything. People probably still watch videos, but not many people read. Luckily for me, I don't live and die by this Lol. I would be bored to death if I did. True story: I literally sometimes get depressed if I have nothing challenging me. Anyway,  I am not too bothered about blogging anymore. When I can, I will. When I can't, I won't.  I definitely will not compromise on my values, and since I hate attention of any form (I kind of like being in my own corner) you will not see me displaying foolishness for fame. I don't even know that my friends know that I still blog, much less read this blog haha. Oh, definitely Evuas. Hello Evuas lmao. That one always reads (love ya girl!). So yes, this year, blogging is not my priority. When I need something creative to do, I will do it all by myself. Tell stories. Read good books etc. Write good books? Haha.

Long way to say if you see me, you see me. If you don't, kisses! But seriously, someone needed to call out all the mediocrity we are seeing these days abeg. Yeah, you're welcome. Maybe next time, if I'm still feeling this sassy, I will talk about those who use their kids for fame :-(. Maybe not.

Love,

I

Friday Reflections

1.) I have a dream that one day we'll truly live in a world that stands against injustice and fights for the poor, oppressed, and marginalized.

2.) No matter how hard we try, we (black women) can't escape the fact that our hair is political.

3.) Also just peep that video  [in number 2] if you wanna see how gorgeous black women are.

4.) Ellen Pompeo is the effing QUEEN of T.V. and I'm here for it. I also love the confidence that comes with age and just generally knowing your shit.

5.) As a stakeholder in Grey's Anatomy (YES, with the amount of my life I have given that show, you bet I am), I 'm so here for all the female empowerment and friendship involved in the creation of the show.

6.) See this essay on the truth about money. I told you, finances are a major part of this year for me. I wish I began this path (of financial literacy) before I turned 20, but I'm GLAD to have started before turning 30.

7.) Hahaha. Whose woke kid is this? The boy was like "I like to have Columbus day off, but I want you to not tell me lies." bloooop!

8.) The right way to negotiate your salary. Speak up, ladies.

9.) Police brutality, religion, domestic violence. To say the most recent Grey's Anatomy episode killed it would be an understatement. Spoiler alert for that link, by the way.

10.) What to say to women who are not feminists or who believe we live in a perfect world in which women and men are equal.

Friday Reflections

1.) This  story on how Kelly Marie Tran used her salary from the Star Wars film to pay off her student loans actually brought tears to my eyes.

2.) I am extremely committed to getting my acts together financially this year; like, the adult way. I want to be financially smart and think in long term, and then somehow, very randomly, I stumbled on The Financial Diet on the very first day of the year. No kidding.

3.) Check out their YouTube page with a boat load of content. See for example, this video on bad (BUT extremely common) career advice you should run from. Or this on eleven things she cut from her budget and doesn't miss.

4.) I know I don't like money talk and stuff, but now I'm getting some inspiration to talk about my relationship with money. Hmmmn

4.) Resolutions are not entirely bad, and saying you hate resolutions but then going further to list your goals for the year is somewhat counterintuitive. Stop being cynical.

5.) What you should however not do is to have vague goals/ambitions/resolutions: a la I will live  a healthier lifestyle/lose 50 pounds this year. NO. Instead say [for instance], I will exercise everyday this year. I will make healthy food choices this year, like stay off xyz.

6.) Sorry, there is nothing magical about breakfast. As someone who has gone years (decades, even) without breakfast, that makes me chuckle.

7.) Okay one more thing from TFD: 6 dumb quotes you should never listen to.

8.) It's so inspiring to see this kind of positive news about black boys in the news.

9.) Watch Ray Romano get a date for his son on T.V. Hahahaha. The son was clearly embarrassed, but I swear, it was hilarious.