A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

writing

Secret Subject Swap: Favorite holiday

This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “What is your favorite holiday and how do you celebrate it?” and it was submitted by Wandering Web Designer.

It seems odd to be talking about certain holidays in April. 

Alas, such is the world when you are in a secret subject swap. 

I’m sure I share this with a lot of people, but my favorite holiday is Christmas. And it’s not just Christmas day, it’s everything surrounding it. The festive look and feel. The music. The smiles. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I dislike the idea that stores start doing Christmas sales in like October or earlier now, but the overall feel is what I like. 

I love seeing the look on the faces of kids during that time, especially the innocence of what it is. 

To me, it’s the perfect time of year. 

Family time during that holiday season is usually pretty good. As I’ve grown older, I’ve tended to appreciate the whole season a lot more. It was always my father’s favorite holiday as well. And I think most of my family is usually in the spirit. 

Christmas candy and foods are always amazing as well. From my mother’s homemade caramels (family recipe) to cookies from friends and other things galore, you can’t go wrong with the season! 

I even enjoy a cup or two of store-bought eggnog each year. 

And though I know there are plenty of people who do not enjoy the Christmas holiday, it’s a season I find to be enjoyable and carefree. Innocence only goes so far these days, and I feel as though you can still capture it quite well during Christmas. 

And yes, I like snow during those holidays as well!

Five others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen at A ‘lil HooHaa, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! We also have the Food Photo Challenge (current theme listed at end of post) and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

The world as we know it …

Does anybody else feel like they are living in a reality movie?

This is like The Truman Show, times a million.

A few months ago, we all heard about this COVID-19 coronavirus. It was pretty spooky, but it was far away. Though it didn’t seem those in charge were too worried about what it could become.

But, now it’s here. And it’s downright scary.

Now, let me preface this by saying I think the widespread panic is a bit crazy. We’re in a panic stage, which is never good. If we all use extreme caution, don’t put ourselves in bad spots, and use common sense, I think we’ll be fine in the long run. We can’t go bonkers.

But you have to be smart.

Hoarding toilet paper or hand sanitizer, and then trying to mark it up to ridiculous amounts of money doesn’t help. Not one bit. People need to be able to get basic supplies. Stocking your freezer with enough meat to last two years doesn’t help anybody.

It honestly makes me wonder about society as a whole.

This is a crazy illness going around. Things are being shut down. Businesses are closing — and many likely can’t afford it. People are alarmed and in a panic — and that definitely doesn’t help. We’re in uncharted waters here.

I work in two school districts, handling PR. That includes maintaining social media and websites at each. Each are putting out information as fast as possible. Most people have been thankful and appreciate how much each district is attempting to do for their communities. Some are negative and it makes me wonder about things. This is new for the schools, as well. Usually, they aren’t told to shut down to students for this long — especially now in the day of social media.

Speaking of that, the media and social media are hard to watch and look at. A human’s mind can’t grasp everything that is going on and process it that well. It’s impossible. Rumors become “truth,” and and the truth and facts gets questioned by people because they don’t want to believe it.

We have to practice self care. For me, it’s trying to process things and remain calm through it all. That doesn’t always happen. I’m a human just like anybody else. Despite thinking this reaction could be way over, I understand it. And I have fears and caution just like anybody else. What we’re doing is being done for a reason. Yes, it will inconvenience people. Yes, people will suffer. But in the end, we will get through it.

One way or another.

So practice some self care. Go for a walk and try and avoid close contact with people. Get some sun. Show social distance. Try not to feed into the hysteria and breathe. Play a game. Video chat with an old friend.

And if looking to help small businesses, see if you can buy gift cards. Or go get some takeout.

We will get through this. It might be faster than they thing; or it might be longer. But we will get through it.

Most of all, be good to one another. Basic human kindness or a smile from six feet away can go a long way.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Secret Subject Swap: Life as a musical

This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “If your life was a musical, what genre of music would it be and what songs would be featured on the soundtrack?” and it was submitted by Southern Belle Charm.

This is a tough one. 

First, allow me to say, I’m a fan of musicals. Alas, I’m not sure there’s any musical I am a fan of that would allow me to say “that’s my life.” 

I’m a fan of more classic musicals – ones such as Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, and Damn Yankees. It’s not that I don’t like more modern ones – I just haven’t seen many. 

So trying to put me in a classical musical might be hard. 

The same goes for genre. 

Much like a human personality, it’s hard to stick to one set track. I couldn’t, for example, say I’m all rock. My musical tastes and likes are a wide range – anything from a little classical to rock to country to modern pop to 80s anything and then some. 

It’s just how I am when it comes to music. 

So to have a soundtrack would be a wide range as well, and one I’m not sure I could fully come up with. 

Instead, my soundtrack would vary quite a bit. Keeping that in mind, I’ve opted to find a soundtrack of songs that either might be part of my world as an explanation of who I am, or songs that might have been important during a time in my life.

I’m not going to go too deep into what the songs mean to me and such, rather I’m just going to link up some YouTube videos and let you all (if you want) listen to the songs that have been important to me at one point or another during my life – and yes, songs I would thing would find a way to be on the soundtrack of my personal musical. 

1. Pachelbel’s Canon 

2. Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole 

3. Bittersweet – Big Head Todd and the Monsters (Live version)

4. Life is a Highway – Tom Cochrane 

This is just a short selection of songs that might be in a musical about my life. I’m sure I’ll think of more later in the day or this weekend and just be like “d’oh! That is one!” But this is a good clip on the start. 

A musical, of course, isn’t just about the music though. I’m not sure I’d want to attack the other parts of a musical if it was about my life – that would be a hard thing to make sense of!

Six others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen at A ‘lil HooHaa, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! We also have the Food Photo Challenge (current theme listed at end of post) and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Secret Subject Swap: The new position

The post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “You get to bypass the job application process and start your new position with your favorite company, which is …” and it was submitted by Tamara over at https://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/.

This is my first time taking part in the Secret Subject Swap. It’s an interesting concept for blogging and it really can make you think outside the box. 

Of course, my first theme is by a blogger I know, so a bit more interesting. And the theme is a bit longer than my headline … it is “You get to bypass the job application process and start your new position with your favorite company, which is …” 

Interesting, right?

This can go so many ways. Think about when you were a kid. What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you want to do? 

Did you want to be a fireman or a policeman? Go to the moon? My imagination as a kid likely had me doing different things every day. I know I wanted to do all the things most kids wanted to do and I wanted to drive a school bus or a garbage truck; I wanted at one point to be a teacher or a baker; there were so many things. Heck, being a professional wrestler was high on my list, so much so that I looked into training schools for it when I was a junior and senior in high school!

But I always wanted to be a baseball player. 

Keeping score… this would be my type of job!

My skills, of course, never matched up with that one. I was average – at best – in high school and when I graduated, I didn’t want to attempt to be a bench guy on the local two-year college team because they practiced at 6 a.m. 

No thanks!

It’s almost ironic now that as I get older, I find myself up at 5 am most days to go for a walk that ranges from 1.5 to 2 miles … 

Anyway, I digress. 

When I was younger, I found my talent somewhat was in writing and photography. Maybe that’s the imagination thing again. I loved newspapers and the whole news thing. My first story, along with a photo I took, appeared in a newspaper for the first time when I was in seventh grade. 

I always dreamed of being in public relations. A sports information director at a college was the ultimate goal. Note – I never reached it. But it was one of those things I aimed for. Believe me, over the years, I applied for these positions but they never panned out. 

Now, I like where I landed. It’s in PR and there are massive amounts of benefits that go along with where I am. 

That being said, if I could skip the interview process and such … 

I’d be heading to the Philadelphia Phillies. Baseball is my sport. The Phillies are my team. And that would be the place I’d consider my favorite company. The position? Could be in public relations, or it could be some sort of in-game announcing. But I’d truly love it to be the scorekeeper. That, to me, would be where it was at. I love the nuances of scoring and have done it for years and years. 

Especially if I could skip the process and start right up. 

Alas, we know it’s a dream world. So, I’ll have to stick to my amateur scorekeeping and carry my book along with me when I go to games. The dream never dies!

Eight others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen here, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! Starting up is the Food Photo Challenge and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Shaping things up

The first step of getting myself back into blogging is complete – a reinvention of the look and feel. I’ve branded the site to a point, changed the look fully and got it to the spot I think I want it to be.

I’m still debating whether to keep full posts on the main page or a “read more” link, but in the end, I don’t think it’s bad as it’s currently set up. We’ll see as I keep moving forward.

Now, it comes down to shaping things on the blog itself, which is mainly recurring features, “whatever” blog posts, and challenges.

My issue over the past couple of years has been pretty simple, in all honesty. I’ve been so backlogged with work that when I get home, I just don’t want to read and write. I may mess around on the computer at home, but it might be a goofy game, or social media, or things like that. Blogging at times has been tough.

But I’m going to change myself up a little (been working on it a little at a time). I recently purchased a Google Chromebook. For those who don’t know the Chromebooks, they operate the Google system and are great for internet etc, but not really to add more things. The one I got was cheaper (after some Dell discounts and such, I paid much less than $100), so it’s not like it’s some speed demon of a computer. It will, however, do exactly what I need it to do.

I have it set up so I can access all of my Google items offline, so I can take this to a park or some other place, access my files, and write. My hope is it will give me some inspiration to write and have fewer distractions. I mean, if you can be in a place where you don’t have the normal distractions, it would seem like some writing could be done.

I hope, anyway.

I really do miss the blogging community. Not just the writing aspect, but also reading and commenting on other blogs; seeing different styles and items; and just being part of the community as a whole. Since I’ve reworked the look and feel here, I’ve also been working “behind the scenes” to change other aspects and “brand” things a bit more.

Let me share what types of items are going to be new to the site, still staying around, or even making a return. Keep in mind that some of these items (more specifically the features) are not scheduled, per say, rather are some items I will be doing when it fits.

CHALLENGES

I’ve found, in the past, challenges have been good for me. But that’s only when I really put my mind to it.

I’m sure many of us can say the same thing.

What I mean is, when I have blog challenges to work on, I usually find a way to write. And that’s a good thing. I haven’t been as diligent every month visiting others with the Photo Blogging Challenge (I am working, slowly, to catch up), but I miss the confines of some other ones in the past.

So I am going to be starting a few other smaller and easier ones in the hopes people might enjoy them, as well as keep the ones I’ve had. And, hopefully, it will get me to go out and visit blogs.

Maybe this, mixed in with a few challenges, can give me what I need to get into it.

You can also join the HooHaa Challenges page on Facebook to keep up to date as well.

So, what is already set and what’s coming up?

+ Photo Blogging Challenge (ongoing)

This will continue. Despite all the linkup issues we’ve seemed to have recently, the challenge will go on!

I intend on this continuing for years to come and hoping that I will get a lot more traction myself.

I keep trying and hoping to get more ambition to use my main camera and not just my phone, but it’s so easy to just use the phone, especially when you are up against the clock toward the end of the month!

This challenge is monthly. Themes are (usually) posted on the first of the month, with the linkup scheduled for the last day of the month. Sometimes those deadlines aren’t hit, but if that happens, I will get things up as quickly as possible.

You can follow this link to see more on the history of the challenge, as well as past linkups to see the themes we have done and what people have done with those themes!

+ 20 Days of Chill Challenge (each January)

Sometime in December, I have a post with themes for 20 days in January – all weekdays. The themes are loose and open for interpretation. You participate in as many or as few challenges as you would like.

This has been a fun challenge in the past, but has been rather quiet the past few years. I want to try and get the word out a bit more this year in the hopes that things will be a bit more active and fun. Themes can be all over the place and, usually, give other bloggers several different ways to go with it.

The days you participate, come to the blog, link up, and hopefully visit the others. Often times participants will check out the linkup on the following day with the hopes that everybody has already linked. The linkup is usually only live for a couple of days.

+ Food Photo Challenge (not started yet)

The idea will be simple – one photo per month food-related.

I haven’t decided yet if I want to have a theme each month, or make it random or something else. I just know I’d love to do more food photography, so this seemed fun to attempt.

If I do themes, it will be very broad, such as “dinner” or “candy” or something along those lines. I want to see how people take photos of food, as I think it could be fun.

It will be like the others — we’ll have a date when the post is created, and then people can come link up to it. Hopefully, it will be pretty simple.

More details when they are ready.

+ Also … 

If I can get fully back to where I want and plan to be, I might bring back a few other challenges. These are the ones I might consider, so let me know thoughts. Would you join if any of these were back?

  • 10 Days of Heat Challenge: Similar to 20 Days of Chill, but held during a summer month and only 10 days. 
  • Story Cube Challenge: Utilizing story cubes, I roll nine and you make a story out of what comes up on the dice. This would likely be a monthly challenge. 
  • Can of Corn Challenge: A baseball-based challenge, covering nine months of the year (February-October) with one baseball topic each month to write about.

FEATURES

Features are something important to most blogs. Look around the internet and you’ll find every blog has some sort of weekly or monthly features they do. It might be something silly, or something more serious. But it’s a great way to keep content on your blog, as well as give your readers certain things to watch out for.

Below are some of the features I will be doing on the blog. Some of them have been done before or are ongoing, and some are ones I am planning to do moving forward.

+ Living with Diabetes (ongoing)

Part of the hard part of not blogging was not doing this feature. This was always something that helped keep me in check, which is needed.

I have battled Type 2 Diabetes for several years and some A1C tests are better than others. Recently, I’ve started to really kick it into gear again and I know that having this feature will help me stay on task.

When I do this feature – which is usually monthly – it allows me to keep myself in check and see trends and patterns I might be able to catch. It keeps me accountable for what I eat and how I take care of myself.

+ Notes from my Noodle (ongoing)

This is something I used to enjoy doing.

Basically, it’s when I see some crazy news and such out there and I have a mish-mash of things to just write randomly about. So if I see a bunch of different and funny things on the Internet that gets my juices flowing, that’s when this will show up.

There are no set times for this – just when I feel like being really random. Could be weekly, monthly or some other random time.

+ Put it on Repeat (coming soon)

Since I’ve really pushed myself more lately to try and get myself into better shape, I’ve also started to (finally) utilize my iPod.

This, combined with my Apple Watch and not having it hooked up to cellular service, allows me to unplug a bit while out walking. It allows me to not have a phone with me, which I like.

Sometimes I listen to podcasts, other times I play music.

This feature is going to cover music that I might be listening to, so maybe I will talk about the lyrics and things like that. Basically, it’s music that I might want to repeat a few times.

Hopefully, this is something I can work on every 3-4 weeks.

+ Podcast Review (coming soon)

As above, my iPod is becoming part of me a lot more, and I’m listening to more podcasts.

The odds are my tastes in podcast don’t match some others, but that’s fine. I enjoy listening to podcasts while out walking, so every once in a while I will work on a review of a podcast, giving it the goods and bads and an overall rating.

From my eyes, of course.

No set time on this one, just when I feel I have time to give a good and honest review.

+ Snapshot Saturday (ongoing)

I haven’t done this in a good while, but it’s something I always enjoyed doing.

And, honestly, it could be planned out a year or so in advance, so there’s no real reason to not do this.

Basically, it’s a weekly snapshot from the family and friends photo album. It’s always a lot of fun and family and friends have always enjoyed. It’s a little more personal in nature, too, which is never a bad thing.

I am going to be having a lot of photos scanned, and once I get them back, I will start scheduling these quite a bit in advance so it’s always publishing on Saturdays. I hope to start this back up in the next couple of months.

+ One Meeple

One Meeple is a feature I’ve only done a few times, but it is one I want to start doing more.

I own quite a few board games and many of them are able to be played solo. I enjoy the solo aspect of board gaming, so this is a spot where I can talk about those adventures.

I’ll talk about the game, have some photos, and any other thoughts. In a perfect world, I’d like to do this every 3-4 weeks.

+ On the Trail 

The idea of this is to allow me a spot to blog about things I’m exploring, be it a park, or a rail trail, or something else. It might have to do with geocaching, or something else with getting out.

But this isn’t just walking on a street, rather getting out into nature and seeing different places and such. This feature might also include going out for a paddle or a bike ride. It will encompass things, though, more in nature or “on the trail.”

There’s a lot of places in my area, and within a couple of hours, so it’s time to start exploring and seeing what’s out there. There will be no set timetable for this one, rather it will be just when I have some place I’ve explored!

I really want to make sure there’s a lot of photos to go with this as well.

+ Walking with a Purpose

A simple idea, actually. This is more about me and, again, a health kick. The thought process is to talk about things with walking.

I try and walk as much as I can, so I’ll cover topics from a random person’s eyes about walking.

It could be about times to walk, items I use (sneakers, trackers etc.), and different ways of staying motivated. There is a whole range of topics. I might even throw in some stories about seeing others out walking etc., or just random observations from my own walks. I assure you I see a lot with the times I tend to go out!

It’s just another way for me to take control of things and hold myself accountable.

+ DayZero Project

I am attempting the DayZero Project for the third time.

The basis is to complete 101 goals in 1001 days. I haven’t completed the past two attempts (though I made a good dent), so I decided to give it a go one more time.

So far, I am doing OK, but I need to push myself to check in on it more, set goals, and get things finished.

There is no guarantee how often this feature will be done, being it is based on when I actually cross off a goal.

+ Also …

I am still debating a few other features. Some could include baseball stadium reviews, photo of the week, some travel things etc. I first want to see how all of these do, and then I’ll eventually reevaluate features and if they need to be shaped up or not.

The basis for the way I am doing things now is to somewhat “brand.” Even though I may never profit financially off the blog, I do like things having their own look and feel. It sometimes makes it easier to not only write about certain things, but also always have an image associated with the feature.

REGULAR CONTENT

This is the randomness that is a personal blog.

I’ve always said it’s hard to build a following based on my own personal wanderings of life as I am not sure I am that exciting to want to read about. So mixing in some features as well as some of my own adventures seems like as good of a mix as any. 

I’ll still have things like this within the blog, but I’m going to try and shape and find a path and get myself back into blogging on a semi-regular basis, and not just when I have the Photo Blogging Challenge.

Some of these things will take some time. Others I’ll break out sooner rather than later. We shall see how it goes!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!