Stalling for Time

Procrastination, par Franck Vervial (Photo credit: Franck Vervial)

      I was scheduled to participate in a Deja Vu blogfest event today and then I discovered it was called off.  The story of my life.  That's kind of deja vu in itself.  I don't know how many times I've been expecting something to happen because it was on my schedule, only to find that it wasn't going to happen after all.  Since I don't want to be the only one putting up some forgotten post from my blog's past, I'm not going to do it.  Instead I'll stall for time.

      Stalling for time is something I frequently do on my blog and in my life.  I can always find something to do instead of what I really should do.  It's kind of the way I've always been I guess.  When I was a kid in school I'd put off projects to the last minute and then stay up late slapping something together. Perhaps to my detriment I'd always seem to come up with A grade work which only reinforced my bad habits of putting things off.

       When I learned the word "procrastinate" in my senior year of high school, it became one of my favorite words.  The word procrastination made my habit sound more important.  Now I could justify my behavior by proclaiming myself a procrastinator.  With smug satisfaction I felt comfortable with my poorly justified excuses.  Stuck in a rut I am.  I still procrastinate much of the time.  Eventually I might be able to use the excuse of senility or something like that, but I'll put that off for as long as I can.

       It's probably better to dump the excuses and just say things as they are.  But who does that when excuses are so easy.

        For the next few weeks on my blog I guess I'll be stalling for time like I've done for the past holiday seasons.  I'll be trying to slap up something on my sites.  If I don't make it I guess I won't be the only one, the difference being that many of you have already scheduled blog vacations.  Why would I want to do something like that when I have an opportunity to screw up?

        So some of the things you will be seeing in the next three posts are my Battle of the Bands post on Sunday December 15 ( I have planted some clues in this post), announcements on Monday December 16 (a Roast winner and an event to come), and on Wednesday December 18th I will roast myself as requested by Sydney Aaliyah.   After that anything goes, but I will try to bring you something as I travel to places afar.

       For now I think I've stalled enough for time.   Happy Friday the Thirteenth!   I'm outta here.

       Are you a procrastinator?    Why do you think some people tend to put things off?   Do you have any helpful hints to help us procrastinators?   Any idea what Christmas song I'll be using in my Battle of the Bands post?

Related articles

• 5 Steps to stopping your procrastination
• You Will Stop Procrastinating After Reading This
• "Procrastination is opportunity's natural assassin." ~ Victor Kiam
• How to Overcome Procrastination
• On time management

We've Had a Roast and Now a Toast!

     Thank You for the CheerFest Fun!


        Monday's Cheersfest was a great time and I want to thank all of you who turned up with posts and to those who left equally fun comments.  I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.  The whole event made me feel all warm and roasty.

         A special thank you to the Cheersfest hosts  Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King, Stephen Tremp and  Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

         This year I had about a quarter of the roasters that Alex had last year which actually was kind of a blessing to me.  It's going to be tough enough to judge the best roast entry out of those who put me on the spit.  I don't know how Alex managed last year, but I never know how Alex manages to do what he does.  I still say clones.

       There were plenty of commenters to make up for the lack of official entries.  It's a good thing I don't have to include them in the contest.  I'd be sweating over the decision for days to come.  I'll be announcing the winner next Monday--a day with more than one special announcement.

        I'll also have a special Ask Arlee follow-up post next Wednesday in response to Sydney Aaliyah's request that I roast myself and answer the questions.  That's when the truths will be revealed!

A Toast to Jeremy Hawkins

       Many comments were made about my new cute logo BlogMan guy.  When I first laid eyes on him I had a nice laugh and I still beam every time I see him.   My very special thanks to Jeremy Hawkins at Being Retro for designing the little fellow.   Additional thanks to Mark Koopmans for turning my thoughts into contacting Jeremy about this.  I think Jeremy did an amazing job.

Who is Jeremy?

        Many of you are already familiar with Jeremy Hawkins as one of the A to Z Challenge co-hosts for the past few years.  He designed the official Challenge badges for 2012 and 2013 plus many other banners and badges associated with the Challenge.   He also did much of the work on the A to Z Blog page.  He is a quiet behind the scenes guy who has played an important role in adding to the success of the annual A to Z Challenge.  
 
        But Jeremy's influence in the blogging community extends far beyond this.  The header to Tossing It Out was a custom design by Jeremy.   And that very cool animated header as well as other artwork on Alex J Cavanaugh's blog was also created by Jeremy.

        Some of you have Jeremy's artwork on your own blogs and rather than me just listing through them I'll let you tell about what he's done for your blog or other artwork he's done for you.

         A talented artist, graphic designer, ideator and renaissance man, Jeremy is a multifaceted dynamo who also designs book cover art, t-shirts, and promotional specialities.   He even has his own art related books that you should check out.  After all Christmas is coming and there may be that unique gift for someone on your Christmas list.

        For the full rundown on what Jeremy has to offer go to his main blog Being Retro and click around to see Jeremy's talent for yourself and find out some of the cool things he has on display.  Of course you'll be clicking on the link that says "Don't Look Here", but if you are one who is obedient this is one case where you shouldn't be.  Literally you could spend hours at Jeremy's site  

        If you have a Cheersfest entry you definitely want to visit Jeremy's site in case you are the winner of the prize he is offering to one of my chosen favorite roast posts.   Jeremy is going to be designing a personal graphic for one of you lucky folks.  Visit his blog and other sites so you can start dreaming about what you'd like to see him design for you.  Maybe you can have your own character logo like my BlogMan.  Or a new blog header?  The winner will be announced on Monday December 16th.

        So I hereby propose a toast to my friend and talented artist/blogger, Jeremy Hawkins!

         Thanks for everything my friend and may we have an ongoing friendship for many years to come!



         Be watching for a special announcement next Monday from Jeremy Hawkins, Yolanda Renèe, Alex J. Cavanaugh and me.   We've got something planned that you may find very helpful and fun.

           Has Jeremy designed anything for you or for your blog?    Tell us about it in the comments and provide links if you have them.

Related articles

• Roasted Bird
• Cheersfest 2013 - Arlee Bird
• Star Trek Christmas Gifts, IWSG Update, CheersFest 2.0, and Ninja News!
• 'Cheersfest 2013' (or, 'Bird Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire')

BlogMan Is Here!

Logo designed by Jeremy Hawkins
 at Being Retro
and other places

       As if you haven't heard enough about me already.  You've seen my photo so there's nothing to hide there.  I've even made some public appearances and have met some of you in person.   And I've certainly rambled on about myself plenty on my blogs.

       Yes, that's blogs plural.  My name shows up on eight blogs, but I don't post regularly on all of them.  In fact I only have regularly scheduled posts on three of them besides Tossing It Out.   My other active blogs are Wrote By Rote, A Faraway View, and A Few Words.  If you don't know about these blogs and are curious about them you can click on the links.  Those are my neglected children and they love having visitors.  

       Why so many blogs?  It came as a result of my wanting to cut back on the seven day posting I was doing here on Tossing It Out.  But I had so many things I wanted to write about that I instead started more blogs.  A totally self-defeating move by some estimations I suppose.  Others may consider it a good marketing move or SEO strategy.  Personally, I think it's kind of wacko, but here I am.

       And that's how I became BlogMan.   The nickname came from the post My Brain Is A Blog. You can go back and read it if you're interested.  Just more silliness from me.

       And to think I could have named myself anything at that time.  I could have proclaimed myself "King of the Blogs".   A bit pretentious I guess.  BlogMan is more generic.  More of an "Everyman" title.  After all, you too can be a BlogMan, BlogWoman, BlogBoy, BlogGirl, BlogDog, or BlogWhatever.   I am Blogman!  We are all BlogPeople!

        So I'll keep it simple and end there.  After all we need to see what you have to say on this special Cheersfest Day.

        Enough about me already--from me at least.  I'm ready for a roastin'.   Now excuse me while I go hide under my desk.

Visit CheersFest Sites:

        For the Linky List of participants and a few words from our sponsors, be sure to visit the blogs of  Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King, Stephen Tremp and The Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh.  The fun has already started!

 
      Oh, and not to forget the next Battle of the Bands post coming Sunday December 15th, there are some clues in today's post as to which Christmas song I'll be using in the next match-up.  Can you guess the song?

Related articles

• What Five Failed Blogs Taught Me about Blogging
• My Brain Is a Blog
• Labels, Labels, Labels!
• Blogging for Beginners