Anne Mollo

Writer, Raconteur, Thespian. In no particular order. My posts are friends-locked. If you'd like to connect, follow me, and I'll add you in and follow back.

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PSA: cheezy cat circus is in town Anne Mollo 6/21 '24

The Acro-Cats have released their tour dates for this summer. So if you're into cheezy circus routines with cats, rats, and a chicken (Cluck Norris) that often go hilariously sideways (because cats), this may well be the event for you.

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6/21 8 Comments
WHAT? You can even volunteer to help with load-in or load-out!
Lindsay Harris Friel
YUP
Anne Mollo
There is also a Netflix show called Cat People, and one ep is all about the Acro-Cats.
Anne Mollo
I’m regretting my decision to cancel Netflix.
Lindsay Harris Friel
I am here for the Cluck Norris.
Rob
They used to have a trained woodchuck rescue, too.
Anne Mollo
Honestly considering the drive to Madison, Wisc., for this.
Chris Herdt
Eeee! They're coming to Philly in September! Hunter will be so down for this ...
Shelle Klein Houser
 

The great culling Anne Mollo 1/6 '22

Except for this and maybe one other post (?), my OPW entries are now locked to mutual followers who also post here from time to time. Sorry lurkers. I know you mean well, but I'm weary of the take-and-never-give aspect of our "relationship."

Also ditched my dopamine--I mean Twitter--account. No amount of curating the feed can make up for the level of poison. I've loved some of the connections I've made there but few (some, but not many) are local, which isn't a healthy balance, especially in the 'Rona Times.

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1/6 '22 19 Comments
I sometimes forget to check here (and Dreamwidth, the other longer-format social blogging place I haven't entirely abandoned) for days to weeks at a time. Writing about my life feels pointless with the dwindling of call-response, but I have a couple of dozen mutuals in the Dopamine Central the is Twitter.
When I can't even summon the commitment to thank someone who has been a friend for years and says "I see you" in response to a dithering update that necessarily lacks critical detail* I know I need something I'm not getting regular access to.

*I don't think I'm being actively stalked any more but stuff I learn about while within these concrete walls reminds me that people who may wish me harm are never far from being able to do so.
Dawn Keenan
What I've realized is that I don't use this space for blogging. If I wanted to blog—to make a public billboard of my thoughts and opinions with the goal of collecting readers or making a statement or promoting myself or my work—I'd just make a blog.

For me, this space is for staying in touch with people I already know, hopefully getting to know them better, and meeting new people I'd like to know better too. I was pretending that other outlets were providing the same benefit. In small ways, they have.

But in general, the rest of "social media" is one long, loud paid advertisement—in fact paid for with my valuable time/scrolling/clicks. I've grown tired of shouting over the noise just to say hi to folks; my time is more valuable to me than that. I've had a better time chatting with the pickle ball players who come to the tennis courts next door, even in the dead of winter. (It's quite a sight, people dashing back and forth on the shoveled courts in full winter gear; so cheerful and somehow hopeful as well, humans playing together despite the elements.)

Anyway, I ramble. I always look forward to your posts and enjoy reading them, however vague you need to make them for safety's sake.
Anne Mollo
Every time someone mentions pickle ball (there was a group on the Ottawa campus of my workplace, before all this) I look it up, think "him, interesting, not likely to the it up" and continue on with my life.

I'm starting a new work assignment this month and the shift in social norms (more social loafing before getting down to meeting business, apparently email more strictly business, lots of immediate feedback) is a little jarring. Which it shouldn't be, but I get so little practice, as do we all.

I think after the plague, if there is an after, I will miss the fellow who lives in the same building as the local welfare offices spewing random comments about poop and farts whenever he sees someone on the street wearing a mask.
Dawn Keenan
I get that.

I culled my Twitter to people I know and People to whom I can remember what my professional relationship is a couple years ago but it’s time for another go.
Thomas Boutell
I just needed a Big Break, to focus on other things. I may reassess in time, but for now this is what feels best.
Anne Mollo
Ah, that explains why my followed accounts no longer number a nice 420.
rone
Truly harshing your mellow, I guess.
Anne Mollo
I am most grateful to have passed the test.
Lindsay Harris Friel
Oh jeez. It's not a test. It's just... if someone can't be bothered to post here at least once a year, what kind of connection is that.
Anne Mollo
No, you're right.
Lindsay Harris Friel
I tend to divide up my output into mental channels - I'm sure I'm not unique in that - and post to the relevant one according as the mood takes me. The waider.ie stuff tends to be minutiae of nerdery and movies with occasional forays into other stuff; Twitter is largely a vent, sometimes a means to prod a service provider (usually with limited success, tbh) and sometimes a means to boost things I agree with; I have a /very/ limited WhatsApp presence (not even using any readily identifiable means of connecting it to me) that's used solely for keeping in contact with my Sanctuary Runner peeps; and here is for... stuff that would go on the waider.ie site if I'd bothered to implement user access and granted same to a small audience of trusted friends and acquaintances. It's hard to describe its category, exactly; it's one of those "I know it when I see it" things.

I've thought from time to time about the question of /why/ I put the stuff on waider.ie; long ago, I started it because I was reading Alan Cox's (Big Linux Nerd) version of the same thing, and some days it was "wrote arcane kernel code" and other days it was "went to get icecream" and I think the whimsy of it struck a chord with me. I also harbour the occasional notion that something I write - of a nerdy nature, typically - might be of use to someone facing the same problem I've just solved. At this point, a lot of it is just a diary, but eviscerated of overly personal detail. I do periodically go back looking for something from an old entry and usually wind up reading through The Partial Story of My Life Circa 2006 and the like, which is often fun. But I can't say I've ever had a specific audience in mind, and I'd be hard pushed to explain exactly why I write about the stuff I write about. I mean, really, who cares that I just finished installing a new dishwasher, exactly?

Hmm. This comment is at this point long enough to be an entry on this site... sorry. Got carried away :-) As I said before, I love what you write here, and the sheer joy of your family life (with all the attendant bumps in the road) always shines through.
Waider
I adore how long and rambling your comment was! I also love hearing some of the day to day things that go on in your world (I still dream about visiting someday) and ALWAYS appreciate photos of black cats.
Anne Mollo
Yaaaaay! Thanks for keeping me in the Cool Kids Club! I promise to make my way back to posting here soon.

And good on ya for dumping Twitter. I similarly dumped Facebook and it has been so, so, so good for my mental health.
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
Yeah, I left facebook... wow, a long time ago now. Years! Ethically, I just couldn't participate any more, and I stand by that. Twitter was just annoying the living crap outta me AND hoovering up a TON of my TIME. Because these things are in fact designed to be addictive. I felt constantly distracted and bored, the day would zoom by, and I'd have nothing to show for it but a head fulla noisy thoughts. I may go back at some point, but for now? Good riddance. I've had such nice productive days since, and my down time is truly down time.
Anne Mollo
Yeah. It has been pointed out that twitter is taking up some of my attention lately, like "ooh I should tweet that" about things that aren't related to my profession, and I'm trying to dial that back or take it here where it can be properly appreciated by six people who know me 😄
Thomas Boutell
Sorry to see you go on Twitter, but I totally understand that feeling. In fact, I told Patch yesterday that I go there so sporadically to tweet, like going back to an old ex that quickly reminds me why I left. *le sigh*

I've been away from OPW but am always glad for our interactions, so your content here is very much appreciated, love.
Karen Kuhl
As is yours!
Anne Mollo
I do really enjoy reading your posts, and knowing what youse guys are up to.

I hardly ever post here myself...not because I spend so much more time on Twitter (tho somehow I have over 1160 followers now {shock emoji}) or FB (which numerous friends of mine use as their sole mode of lengthy communication with numerous other friends, and asking them to communicate in other ways is Not Going To Happen). I stopped updating my blog a couple of years ago for lack of anything non-repetitive to say there, though I'm going to take a stab at it again this year. Perhaps if I do I'll cross-post here once in a while.
Elena Gaillard
I would LOVE that. What might seem dull or repetitive to you is of the greatest interest to ME!

Throw me a bone, baby.
Anne Mollo