What is a blog? Who is a blogger? Is a blog still a blog if it doesn't have the ability to interact? Is a blogger still a blogger if she never writes new content? Does owning some space on a server with blogging software make it a blog? make you a blogger?

First rule of blogging: create and post original content.

Second rule of blogging: create and post ORIGINAL content!

Third rule of blogging: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ORIGINAL!!

Dear Dairy, forgive me, it has been too long since I told you anything. You must be hungry for stories, for tales, for words to fill your long, lonely, lines. Thirsty for the quench of your curiousity. Nibbling at the edges of my life, trying to get a bite on what's going on, what's the haps, who's the whatsit.

I looked around my computer just now. I'd been watching the crowd sourced Star Wars remake, revelling in the wonders of amateur content, the way that if you pile enough crap ontop of each other, it turns into something wonderful. Not that I'm saying the aforementioned video is crap, it's not, it's brilliant - but take any one of those homemade sequences on it's own and you'd be super critical of the production values, I'm sure. But as a whole, it's breathtaking in it's wonder, it's effort, it's achievment.

And I wondered why I not creating my mediocre content. Oh I've been writing - lots of words in text documents - but thinking and whining to myself at the same time about it being all a bit too pants for publishing. And to be fair, I'm probably right. But piles and piles of this kind of content already make my blog what it is, who am I to stop writing, drawing, promising to do stuff I never do, and all the other stuff I publish here? I am not that person. It is not my job. My job is to make it. Publish it. It's your job to stay or go. It's the internet's job to exist or not. My job is just to keep plugging away and publishing stuff to my little pocket of the internet. To outlast everyone. To one day, when all else has faded away and the aliens dig up the Haley Joel Osment doll and find out that THIS is what the human race was all about. THAT'S my job.

So looking around my computer, let's see what's going on.

Kickstarter et al

A million years ago, in 2010, Fox and I went to Austin, Texas to experience the South by South West Interactive conference. Fox and I aren't the world's greatest minglers (to be fair, she does more 'fending off' than mingling). Upon having that very conversation one night in an Austin bar, we decided to mingle where upon we set about talking to a lively bunch of people who turned out to be from Australia (can't fight nature).

One of these lively souls was a dashing young man named Josh Kinal who was actually from Melbourne (see? we're just terrible at it). We all got along splendidly. Especially because we're all boisterous know-it-alls who love to drink far too much!

So a few weeks ago, when Josh said he wanted to attend SXSW 2012 but didn't have all the funds needed for him and his Boxcutters team over there, he opened a Pozible account and asked for donations towards the cause. Which was awesome because a lot of us wanted to help him out and this made it super easy.

There are a number of sites like this on the internets besides Pozible, such as Kickstarter or - okay those are the only two I know - but it's so neat to be able to give a few dollars to help people get to do what they want to do, or make what they want to make. Giving a few dollars towards Josh's goal of getting to SXSW this year, along with all his other friends, fans and fanatics, means that is now 'pozible' and he's off to the March event.

Another really great spin on this crowd sourced micro funding is Kiva. You can invest in people, rather than projects, through Kiva. Your contribution helps to fund real change and to alleviate poverty. Helping real people with real loans to make real change in their lives, and the lives of their communities. And you get your money back! Once the money has been used to achieve the goal, the loan is repayed.

Get involved with Kiva, you'll feel connected and good about affecting real change.

Juicing!

This juicer has been sitting in the cupboard for the longest time. For some reason I thought it was broken, but upon being informed this assumption was incorrect, I have been a juicing crazy person.

I can now have a carrot, celery and ginger juice any time I want. ANY TIME I WANT! I don't have to be in a cafe, I don't have to be at a juice bar, I can be in my own kitchen and drink from my own glasses and what's more, the whole glass is full of juice, not half ice cubes and some juice. It's wonderful.

Coffee

Making sure you all still know that I love coffee.

Toasts

My favourite thing to have on toast at the moment is ricotta cheese, sliced tomato, salt, pepper and basil leaves.

Passport

My passport expires at the end of this year. Isn't that crazy? I renewed it after I first came to Australia (what a pahlava *that* was) and here I am in the year it runs out again already.

When I got my first passport I could hardly imagine that it would ever run out. And here I am in the year I get passport number 3!

About time too, really. This photograph is just terrible. I mean, I know everyone says they hate their passport photo, but this one is particularly bad. I have no idea how the face recognition software at the airport even makes a connection.

Either the software is super smart, or it's broken and they just let anyone in. No, no you cannot consider that I actually *look* like that photo, that is *not* a possiblity.

Camera

I bought myself a new camera for Christmas. Did I deserve it? not particularly. Could I afford it? well mostly if you don't count all the other things I could've spent my money on like new tyres for the mini or prescription sunglasses to help stall the rate of glaucoma growth in my baby blues and such.

Yeh, I knew you'd agree, the camera was a good choice.

The D5100 is the newest of the domestic range of cameras from Nikon. It's smaller and so much lighter than the D70 I've had since 2004 (well, 2004 and 2010 seeing as I upgraded my broken D70 for an as-old, second-hand D70S but I just count is as ONE camera as they're practially the same vintage).

I bought the D5100 specifically because it records 20 minutes of HD video and has an articulated screen, like a typical video camera would. The idea of the screen means that I could see myself while making vlogs i.e. filming myself, by myself. At the moment, when I film myself with the Flip! I never know how I'm framed in the video. Sometimes I cut the top of my head off, or am too left etc. While I didn't think I was too fussed about that generally, the thought of actually thinking about the framing in a video post and being able to manage that because of the articulated screen sold me on the deal for the D5100.

And while yes, it does do a good job of filming video, with nice depth of field and beautiful colour, I'm still getting used to the actual 'camera' part of D5100 and using it for taking photos. As I mentioned, I've had the D70/D70s for a long time and could just pick the thing up and take a photo. Nine times out of ten I took a decent shot - with this new camera those odds have inversed. Mostly I'm underexposing and generally blurring everying I point the camera at.

It has put me off using the camera, and I'm not taking photos very often, but I really do need to get back on that horse and get used to its settings.

Oh wait, are you wondering where the vlogs are that I'm making cos you don't see any here at thejamjar.com? well I'm vlogging with my sister on youtube.com and she's not a fan of strangers seeing her videos so we're not sharing them*. But I will be making some for here - so watch out, they're coming.

*she was recently freaked out that one of her videos on our channel had over 300 views - which is quite a lot of views for a video that isn't sposed to be seen by anyone but me :) (no, I didn't watch it 300 times, she just has a decent fan base)