"Watch Yourself!" (Zeus to Narcissus)

Not a day passes when I don't read at least a handful of questions at Quora relating to narcissism. For example :

Are relationships with narcissists doomed to fail?

Does a narcissist know they are a narcissist?

Do narcissists know when they are wrong? Mine never admitted he was wrong and never apologized.

Why is there so much unreliable, erroneous and opinionated information about narcissism on Quora?

Narcissism. Can we lay blame on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others, names of which escape me? People use those tools because they are like mirrors - all about them, their need for an audience . Blogging filled that need for some people, for years. Blogging was but the overture to the full-blown symphony!

Is blogging a symptom of chronic narcissism? Is using Twitter and/or Facebook et al a sign that the disease has become acute?

Blogging, for me, is and has been simply a way to experiment with a girlhood dream of being a writer or a reporter or journalist. Maybe there is some retro-narcissism going on.

I've always found Facebook a wee bit creepy, though was never quite sure why. I opened an account early on and almost immediately deactivated it, re-opened it years later, then deactivated it again. As for Twitter, I can see that for some people it could feed incipient or rampant narcissism (and that is a very awkward word to type, I'm finding). Looking in on Twitter has, very occasionally, led to information I'd have otherwise missed, but beyond that, I'm not enthusiastic. If Twitter is a narcissistic pastime, I fear I'm not doing it right!

Here's a ponder-worthy topic on which to close: is perusing one's astrological natal chart the ultimate in narcissism?

Saturday and Sundry Visuals - Then & Now

He ventured to wonder if they ever thought back to when things were just old-fangled or not fangled at all as against the modern day when fangled had reached its apogee. Fangling was indeed, he thought, here to stay.

That was what technology was doing. It was your slave but, in a sense, it might be the other way round.
(Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett)

From amendmentgazette.com

From Twitter:

Feudal Internet

From College Humor.com (Caldwell Tanner & Julia Lepetit & Jacob Andrews) :

Nightmares...then and now

From Thinks Happen (one of husband's blogs)link in sidebar:

No pics, but a link to these revelations:
http://starhooks.blogspot.com/2015/11/then-and-now.html
Lots of photographic comparisons of "cebebrities" we know and...well, something....

Most surprising were then and now comparisons of Ryan Seacrest and of Russell Brand. Have to say that Tom Cruise having his teeth done was one excellent decision! How about Simon Cowell's great hair! Some of the best looking guys, initially, have managed to age gracefully: Robert Wagner, Morgan Freeman, Burt Reynolds, Colin Firth. Women - at least those pictured here - not so much.

Closer to home - here's your friendly neighbourhood blogger, first in the early 1990s, before living in the USA was even part of a wildest nightmare; then in a London hotel, the summer of 2004, just after she'd received her first visa to come live in these "United" States; then just after receiving US citizenship in the summer of 2008; and last, a pic taken earlier this year. Well...I survived, the hair dye didn't!

Saturday & Sundry Thoughts on Blogging

What am I doing here, blogging still in mainly empty halls? Am I trying to re-create a Tinkerbell (or Tinkerb-log) Effect keeping alive the belief in blogging by... clapping blogging?

As long ago as 2009 I was lamenting the decline in personal blogs; seven years down the road and, though my own blog, now over 10 years old, is limping along and lonely, many more have gone to the bloggy internet graveyard to rest in peace. In allegorical terms I guess one could say there has been an ever-widening pandemic - of blog flu - better known as Facebookitis, with side effects known as Twittering or tweeting.

In 2009 I wrote, among other things:

"...Perhaps blogging, as practiced by The Great Unwashed, has now passed its peak. Each new internet activity tends to do so with increasing rapidity these days. Message boards, though not completely extinct yet, are much less used than they were a few years ago. Blogs aren't likely ever to disappear completely either, but the number of small, personal blogs is certain to shrink in future, with other enticing options now available.

Facebook and Twitter have been upstaging blogs to some extent. Internet communication is evolving ever more rapidly as equipment becomes slicker and possibilities more exciting and inviting. Bloggers, too, are evolving, having honed their skills over two or three years, they may be feeling now that it's appropriate to post less frequently in order to maintain quality level, or so as to leave time for newer interests. "

Among a number of comments (yes this blog did, once upon a time, have commenters!) was one from my husband "anyjazz":

...This is a thoughtful observation on the direction of blogging and the web in general. I don’t know the culprit either but I bet it is a combination of several elements.

The original ambition wanes when realization sets in that having something pithy or indeed anything to say on a regular basis is really difficult. We are faced with the fact that we are not as deep, not as multidimensional, not as funny, as we originally fantasized; what we say is somehow not as interesting to every one else as it is to ourselves.

The shorter moment-to-moment systems have a broad appeal now. It is the convenient, instantly gratifying, worries free, one shot, conversational, language-crunching, grammatical disasters of Twitter, Face Book, texting, et al, that seem to be emerging as the popular communications mode. Communicate more, think less.

Maybe there is some good in everything. Granted, it is hard to see here. With humanity seemingly headed for disasters on several levels, (climate, religious and/or ethnic wars, pandemic disease, grand-scale greed and political implosion, for just a few examples) perhaps we are experiencing close-up an evolutional movement so grand we don’t recognize it.

The key to all of our human foibles is communication. If not the total solution, communication is at least the first step in any solution. Think of solving any problem, from vacation schedules at work to saber-rattling between continents that can be sorted out without communication.

Perhaps we are headed for a communications level heretofore unimagined in our world.

Another, from old blog friend from early days, Anthony North:

I think a major problem is people are realising what hard work it can be building up a readership on a blog. Social networks seem to offer a faster growth of readership. I think the future should be a merging of website, blog and social network, thus satisfying a whole package in one.

Another blog friend, Ron Southern, who has since died wrote, with regard to encroaching Facebookers:

Will it be as hazardous as a shiny black Cadillac going North moving over into my southbound lane? I just hate it when that happens......most writers in the world burn out after a while. Only "the great authors" want to die with a pen in their hand or their fingers on the keyboard! And, lately, I'm not so sure about them!!!

From Sparrow Chat blogger RJ Adams (link in sidebar) occasional commenter in 2009, and still in 2017; he and Mrs RJ have since "upped sticks" from the USA and moved to France. In 2009 he wrote:

I'm guilty of this myself, I'm afraid. Sparrow Chat is nowhere near so prolific as it used to be. Partly, because the demise of George W Bush and his not-so-merry band left a vacuum - the arrival of a sane US President being less newsworthy, even if the the rest of government still stinks to high heaven - but mainly due to other interests crowding out the blog writing. I've been very busy of late on other projects and keep promising myself I'll return to SC as soon as the pressure is off. Unfortunately, it never does. Meanwhile, I'm truly attempting to maintain at least one post per week.

And from the gals, in 2009, for whom I sadly have no photographs:





Elsa (astrologer and astrology blogger (link in sidebar). Elsa was first to welcome me to astrology blogging, back in 2006):

I've noticed the same thing. I chock it up to harder times myself. I think we are going to be paying for content more and more, going forward.

Tuikku said...

I have a history related blog I haven't been updating for months. Life has been hectic, true. Also, I've had Saturn on my Mercury, so expressing my ideas in writing hasn't been that easy. I'm still on someone's blogroll though, so I guess I should make an effort to start writing again.

Wise Webwoman (of The Other Side of Sixty blog - link in sidebar) wrote:

I haven't noticed this, T, maybe my blog buds are sticking to the knitting. I did drop a couple in the last few months, not updated since May in both cases. I do write them to see how they are but never a response....
Disturbing.

From Jennifer:

I loathe Twitter. Really, being able to write one sentence at a time is THAT FABULOUS? Really really? I feel like people are going to lose their interest/ability to write anything longer and thoughtful, and it pisses me off.

So...as 2017 continues to unfold, what will I do with Learning Curve on the Ecliptic? Carry on carrying on, or put the blog to sleep forever? Tinkerbell survived, maybe this blog, and a few others still extant, can survive too. I'll continue logging on and blogging on...until I don't.

It's All About You

Remember that old Seekers' song?

I could search the whole world over
Until my life is through
But I know I'll never find another you.

But Facebook and Twitter and other cyber associates have, it seems, managed to find lots of 'em.


They Have, Right Now, Another You
by Sue Halpern.

Discomforting ain't it? I doubt that it will stop the average Facebooker or Twitterer from Facebooking or Twittering though, or that they'd even stop long enough to think about it.

Music Monday ~ Neat Tweets

I have a Twitter account, but don't use it much for its main purpose. I've recently been reading threads in the # hashtag menu where a kind of game is sometimes played using song titles, book or movie titles - there's almost always something to bring on a grin, and occasionally a LOL.

At the weekend a # "Songs with Lower Expectations" appeared. I decided to borrow a few Tweets from the long thread for this Music Monday. I feel sure there'd have been an easier way to copy Tweets than the way I did - ham-fistedly, but here are some I enjoyed, followed by a few I made up myself (but didn't Tweet).

My own ideas for Songs With Lower Expectations:

Fools Saunter In

Half an Hour in the Life

A Half Litre Bottle of You

Stranger in a Boring City

The Night They Invented 3.2 Beer

Send in the Cleaners

Eddie Izzard & Twitter

I've been following Eddie Izzard's tweets on Twitter.( I'll never feel comfortable using those silly terms!) Eddie is currently on a marathon run around the UK, for charity. He aims to cover more than 1000 miles in 7 weeks, at a rate of about 30 miles each day. For some athletically inclined personalities this might not be a daunting prospect, but it's said that Eddie started running seriously only 4 weeks before his marathon for charity began.

Yesterday he posted a photograph of his arrival in Wales.



Eddie, for me, will forever be "The Celebrated Mr. Kite", after having seen his performance in "Across the Universe". There has never been, and will never be, a better representation of that character.



Eddie has Sun in Aquarius - more than Sun though, he's one of those people born when a large cluster of planets bundled into the sign of Aquarius, in early 1962. Astrologer Barbara Palliser wrote about Eddie's natal chart in her blog, here, Silverwheel Astrology, some while ago.

It's interesting that this very Aquarian Aquarian is attempting something quite excessive and travel-related at a time when Jupiter (planet of excess and travel) is conjoined with Neptune (planet of dreams and imagination) in Aquarius.



I'm still experimenting with Twitter, without much enthusiasm, it has to be said. Input from people like Eddie Izzard is always worthwhile though. The "social" networking bit tends to get lost in most cases. Well-known people have too many followers for them to be able to take notice of messages and responses sent to them - so it becomes a one-sided affair. On the whole it's just dissemination of information, rather than a social network. But that has its uses, I guess.

Whereas I enjoy and learn from preparing my blog posts, whether comments result or not, the same cannot be said for Twitter posts. These tend to have a cold and empty feel to them - whether via input or output.

Jury's still out.

TWITTERPHOBIA

I got me a Twitter account a short time ago, but it remained dormant. I've picked it up again to "follow" one or two Twitterers whose tweets I felt might be of interest. I have to say though that I don't feel at all "in the zone" or on Twitter's wavelength yet. Maybe the stars are not aligned for me at present. Mercury, the communications planet is travelling through Gemini - great for communication in general, but not for me in particular. I don't have Gemini emphasis in my natal chart. It could well be a better astro-atmosphere for me when Mercury reaches Virgo in a month or so. I have Mercury hooked up in a Grand Trine with Neptune and Uranus in Earth signs.

I've been reading up how best to use Twitter. There's some good advice around the net. I'll link to a couple of examples at the end of this post, in case a passing reader might find it useful.

Having waded through several helpings of advice though, I still feel.....I don't know....pretty worthless Twitter-wise. Who would want to follow me in 140 character bites? I'll follow a handful of well known people out of curiosity, or to pick up information about upcoming TV shows or concerts, or political rallies. I have no such interesting tidbits to promulgate to the Great Unwashed. Maybe a few potential new blog readers, who could accidentally stumble upon my tweets, would emerge if I were to tweetingly "pimp" Learning Curve on the Ecliptic. But astrology isn't univerally appreciated, and I could get myself labelled as some kind of weirdo, tinfoil hat-wearing twit, when venturing outside of our cloistered astrology-blogging world. (Slapped hands! Re-read your yesterday's post, Twilight!)

I'll continue treading the Twitter waters, perhaps something will occur to me as to how best to proceed - whether 'tis nobler to dive right in... or not.

The Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers
Twitter Tips for Bloggers
How to Get Followed on Twitter(Video)

And interesting views on
Blogs vs. Twitter? It's the Interactivity (blog + comments).

If You Twitter Are You A Twit?

Yet another mode of communication is rapidly gaining a head of steam on the internet: Twitter. Blogging buddy Robert Phoenix must have been writing a post on the topic around the same time I was drafting this. Robert's excellent assessment is here: "Is Twitter the Killer App for Jupiter in Aquarius?". I had already decided not to post my somewhat jaundiced views and scrap my draft when I came across Robert's piece yesterday. But what the heck - let's celebrate synchronicity!

I have trouble in seeing Twitter's value. When do folks have the time to Twit - or is it Twitter, or it is Tweet? They already seem to be speaking on cellphones for much of their waking lives, writing or reading blogs, or contributing to message boards, Face Booking, My Spacing, instant messaging, and/or chatting in chat rooms.

As far as I can tell, Twitter is something of a hybrid of message boards and instant messaging facilities, miniaturized to 140 character bite-size.

Much of Twitter's charm appears to be in catching "followers" or in becoming a "follower". Here lies my own initial feeling of antipathy to Twitter. I dislike the "follower" idea. It smacks of schoolyard cliques, which I avoided like the plague, and still back away from anything similar.

Let's consider who, astrologically, would be most inclined to gravitate to Twitter.

Lots of Gemini input, of course would be any astrologer's first thought on the matter. Not necessarily Gemini Sun, but Gemini (or 3rd house) somehow prominent in a natal chart would propel a person towards Twittering.

A glut of expansive Sagittarius influence could do it too - excess of communication -enough is never enough!

Prominent Leo and Aries natally, natural leaders of the zodiac, would love to gather lots of followers, so Twitter might appeal to individuals with those signs featuring strongly in their charts.

Followers might come from the soft-hearted, empathetic or diplomatic groups - those with Cancer, Libra or Pisces-heavy charts would enjoy the following aspect of Twitter, I suspect.

Although Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the communications planet, I doubt that 140 characters would be sufficient to satisfy Virgo-led personalities for long. Their search for perfection and accuracy would soon gain upper hand.

Capricorn-led folk, down to earth as they are, would be likely to see Twitter as a waste of valuable time; in some circumstances though, they might see it as a PR tool to drive people to their own websites or businesses - so could swing either way. (Don't let a Capricorn boss see you Twittering in his time though!)

What's left? Aquarius, Scorpio, Taurus - three Fixed signs. Some with these signs prominent in their charts might initially be drawn to Twitter for a variety of reasons, of course, but in general I suspect they'd be less likely to be attracted to the idea. Aquarius, though amused by its novelty, is too analytical to be satisfied by 140 characters for long. Scorpio's too intense, and likes secrecy - again, novelty might attract, but not for long. Taurus, who would rather be doing something more sensual, might use Twitter as a tool for flirtation.

As for me - I already spend enough time on-line, researching or writing my own blog posts, and reading those of a select few others. I doubt I'll be Twittering any time soon....but maybe that makes me the twit!