Day 14- Trying to Blog Here!

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The trouble with high tech... is that it is not meant for those who can't see.
The old typewriters were great... you could hear the clickety click, and you could nearly feel the words... With braille typewriters, you could...
With the new computers, you almost can't hear the keys. You can not see what you have typed unless you have the screen set to high powered magnification.... but oh, the ease at which you can change the typing!! Spellcheck is marvelous!! Spellchecker just told me that was the wrong spelling...
Sometimes when I am really tired, I don't even see the squiggly red line under a word... and in some fonts, I can't tell that I have made a mistake... I tend to have all the letters blur together into a blob of black and white..generally, I don't reread the post and  don't know that it is unreadable until my friend tells me.
And so it goes.
 I thought keeping a diary was cool... I just never could do it, I couldn't keep a daily diary for the life of me.  I liked journaling (spellcheck  told me I spelled that wrong) because it seemed a bit more relaxed, kind of... you don't have to write every day, but when you do, it is good to just let it flow.
With a daily diary, I tended to just put down the facts. I look back and think what a waste. I didn't put down why the day was bad, or good... just that something happened. Or if I put down the happening... I didn't elaborate on if I enjoyed it or if it was horrible...
So with blogging... it seems that I can decide to write once a day, once a week, once a month, or once a year if I want to, and if I don't post... I am not going to look back and say... oh, look at all those blank pages... but I do look at the blank time and wish I had written something... even just a bit.
It means something to me to look back and read...a snippet of my life, or of my kids... and it is good.

Books I want to read!

Blogging is hard though. To post something interesting and factual... you need to do a lot of research and thinking.  You need to read a lot, you need to study the facts and see what is relevant. Cut out what is irrelevant and to try to capture the feeling that you want to convey. If you are visually impaired, that is tough. I have bookcases of books I want to read and I end up tiring my eyes so much on the computer that I don't even try to read a book.
I use the National Library Service for the blind for any actual "reading" that I do. I "read" audio books... which is wonderful, since I haven't been able to actually read printed books for a while now. The service is wonderful! I have a special player that uses a decoder to play back books that I have downloaded from BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download). They have thousands of books to choose from. You can also get titles sent to you, and they also have braille and large type books and media.

  Larger font is helpful to be able to see more clearly on the computer, you can use the reader that actually will read to you what has been typed...  If it is something like a blog that you have written, it is good to have a friend proof read. Sometimes I find that having someone else read my blog is best. If you have a friend that has time for it...
Asking someone else to help all the time is taxing as well... not to just them, but to yourself as well. I am embarrassed to ask... all the time... to be helped. ergh.

This would be a blog today, full of pictures, jokes, music and some facts and figures

I feel like I owe a lot of favors.
You need to reciprocate with the people that follow you as well, you need to read their blogs and comment to make it equitable... I know some of my followers don't have blogs, but most do, and they want me to read along... and that is hard.  After a couple of blog posts.. I am done for the day. I feel guilty that I am just skimming so much, and that I do an injustice to writers out there.

Care and planning that went into this

Is it just me, or does anyone else have that strong desire to hold a book?
I mean, the only drawback to blogging... is not having that physical journal in your hands. I love the smell of paper. I love the smell of books...especially old books. I want to be able to hold a book in my hands, to smell it, to caress it... and... well, fondle it.  I love the old books for their jackets as well, the binding.. the care that was taken to make them nice.


This 31 Days series has been tough so far, reading and researching for the posts has been taxing. Looking through thousands of pictures has been fun but a real drain on my energy and sight. I have thought about dropping out, I thought about changing my subject to something a bit easier... and I am not alone. So many have gotten behind and try to catch up or beat themselves up... or do like I have done... I am cutting back at least once a week. I will post something that is a bit lighter... something a bit easier to handle...
I am not pushing facts and figures so hard... as I had planned on doing in my outline... I realize that nobody is going to be reading this anyway, so why not just do what feels right anyway?

Is there something that you would like to know about blindness? Is there a question on being Visually Impaired?  Don't be afraid to ask... Now is the time to do it. Just ASK!! lol... If I don't know.. I will find out!