#BlogLfe933 - Less fluey, more active

It's satisfying that even after reporting the bugs to the tutor and her saying she's accessible, zero was the response ha.

They don't give a damn, as I suspected, it's pretty much, you're on your own type of place.

Samsung had a mini security update that managed to crash the clock, so I just deleted it and re-added it which made it start working again.

Oh good grief. It's ridiculous, now the course has got in touch to say they haven't got the passport proof of identification picture.

You accepted it earlier and now there is an issue again? This is what I was having problems with, it would not accept the upload.

Then it did and everything seemed to be fine and now they are hounding me.

I wonder if it is because it's expired but it still proves it is me. It has my name, it has my picture.

I'm not shelling out nearly £100 to renew it, when I'll never travel again.

I'm going to resend it via email and if they kick me off the course, I'll do a happy dance. 

I never wanted to do it, in the first place! Ugh now they are asking me to get a copy of my birth certificate which is £16.

I'm still thinking about that. I've made a start in my to do list. I had some things that I was dreading.

I just had to get on with it and stop using the flu as an excuse. My heavens I wasn't expecting the costs but hopefully I'm paying for a premium service.

I changed the sheets and just the washing to do now now.

I don't remember if I mentioned the first rating I got which was positive and now received one in star form...

Which was negative 2/5. It makes me laugh though because I've helped many people that haven't bothered to give me feedback but I have got a lot of thanks.

I suspect the negative was from either those requesting unsavoury chats/topics of which I dismissed.

Or from someone who talking too, was like pulling teeth, every which way I tried was just long pauses and nothing that I could entice them to elaborate with.

And I was starting to get annoyed with my time being wasted. I wish people would get to the point, sorry but if you have a queue of people you're ignoring to speak to a non chatter, as it were, it's frustrating.

I hate those types of chats. In the end I just apologised I wasn't able to help and referred them to another Listener, there is only so much I can do.

If a person doesn't wish to open up or give details, I'm not a mindreader.

The only time I'll have patience is if there are wifi problems or it's a sensitive topic.

Otherwise don't use the service if you won't share, it's pointless for both of us.

I know volunteering is thankless at times but you know what, if someone spent hours listening to me and helping me unburden, de-stress, make sense and lift my mood..

I would give them positive feedback, you've no idea how a lil unexpected kindness and appreciation can make someone's day.

I just have to add this as it made me laugh, I got an email to say I had positive feedback but there was none.

Then later I saw the 2/5 rating, how was that positive? Ha!

#BlogLife108 - Is my criticism constructive?

Being someone that could never seem to do anything right, no matter how hard I tried, it is a difficult concept to be critical of someone else, even if they ask me to be. 

My intention is always to help them improve and feel more positive. However I think carefully before I speak or reply and read it or think about it a few times before I give my responses.

I still feel guilty though, that I am being harsh or that anything I say could be taken in a mean spirited way. I don't want to hurt someone's feelings, the way mine were constantly dismissed.

I just think I have a different perspective that they can delve into or just reject because it isn't what they are seeking. I find it admirable that they are willing to open themselves up and ask for help.

I would struggle with that and cringe before listening to anything. I would probably do anything to avoid it, purely because I would be convinced that someone would say something evil for the sake of it.

I have been following a rule of mine for some time to soften anything harsh that I might have to add. I start off with the negative side, things they can consider altering and I close with the positives.

Even if they find me a bit blunt with my ideas, at least they can be comforted by the genuine praise of what they are excelling at.

Hopefully in the end that will lessen the shock value and they will just see that I am merely trying to give them what they asked for, some objective input.

Does that sound reasonable?

Figuring it out/Medium content

Oh no! A sudden realisation just hit me, now that I have dismantled my relationship with Bloglovin. I never set up a Blogger Follow Me button and have just now set up Follow Me By Email. 

I'm such an amateur I don't even know if I set up the feed thingy correctly. No wonder people are just bookmarking the site and not signing up. I didn't even set up my site professionally. Ugh. So many settings to take care of. 

Hopefully that will just provide a link back to my blog and not the whole post, else I will never have visits whenever I post and visitors can read at leisure knowing there is fresh or classic content ready for perusal. 

I had a little competition win today so a positive start as I'm saving up for some perfume. I made a new writer friend and it was fun and daunting comparing writing styles but it is all good experience to build my confidence.

All the fiction posts I put up on Medium have finally had some feedback, well two have. Annoyingly, the post with actual reads had no feedback but the post with zero reads had the claps (likes).

I shall just press on and hope it improves.