Tweeting, flashing and something else.....

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Monday, 30th January

          Pity I didn`t know how to use wiki when I started  this course. (But then again, I didn`t know many other things either.)  I could have recorded all my misfortunes as they were happening to me. So to change it, and to return to the true meaning of the word logbook,  I will write here about my first tweet meeting, which happened yesterday.

          First of all, I did have an account even before BaW but I used it only for direct messages to my friend Natasa and nobody else. And yesterday, quarter of an hour late for the beginning, I jumped into the conversation Bawers had already started.  The messages were flashing and disappearing quickly, I was trying to at least decipher them as half of each message was not in English at all (they were in symbols and codes).

          After five minutes I dared to send a tweet myself. It was something like Hello I am here! Can you see me? Surprisingly it did appear among other messages, but it looked so misplaced! Everybody else was talking about tools they use in the classroom and I was checking the connection! Really funny! At that moment I decided not to tweet anymore!

          Another pitfall for me was the fact that I don`t use any tools in the classroom. (Never have but will definitely. Actually, I won`t use them  in the classroom but OUT of the classroom!). Therefore I had nothing to say to other tweeterers (I haven`t checked this word out).

           And then Marijana sent a tweet `Can the newbies follow us?` Ha, I thought to myself, this is my moment. So I quickly and carefully typed the answer - I kind of can but do not use tools in the classroom. Hope to use. And sent it! So again after enormous number of tweets mine appeared, totally unrelated to anything miles around it. This was not funny, this time it was hilarious!

           I felt like in a conversation where a group of  philosophers discussed the meaning of life  and one particularly frivolous girl kept interrupting with  comments on  Lady Gaga`s outfit. Only  in this conversation I was the party breaker.

          To conclude, I spoke little, but in  the wrong place and at the wrong time. However, I learnt a lot! I realised people use the button `Reply` when they want to reply to somebody! Great! Then the beginning of a message shows the person you are replying to! Even better! Also, the links are not the original ones but coded versions. Anything else? Well, Rome wasn`t built in one day!

The first blog post

          The first blog post ever! It should be something really special!So what should one write in one’s first blog post! Something interesting, charming, witty! Something about oneself as well!

          I was thinking about it a lot! I was thinking hard and  I had some good ideas! And then one moment I realized I had already posted my first blog! Really! I am not joking and it is possible, at least, for me it is possible!

          How did it happen? Where? and why? (you may wonder).  As a matter of fact, that unfortunate  moment I disovered  that Posterous is a blog!And it happened last August when I was attending a teacher refresher course in Oxford and my dear teacher Jane wanted to teach us some technology. She opened a Posterous account for our group as well as for each teacher in the group!

          I remember very well that Thursday morning when the 12 of us were in a computer classroom struggling our way into doing something with our blogs. Had I but known I was doing something that important! I would have tried harder! I would have thought more! But that morning , totally confused and lost in the digital sea, unaware of the importance of the situation, I wrote my very first blog! It was absolutely nothing like the first blog posts should be like.

          Hello! I have forgotten my password!

Yap! That was it! Nothing more, nothing less!  I don`t find it witty, charming or interesting. It does say something about me, though. It says a lot, if you have time to think about it.

          The most obvious thing it says about me is that I am forgetful! How very true! I forgot the password I had just invented! It was the matter of minutes! And I am getting more and more forgetful as my head is running out of memory capacity! It also comes with getting older!

          It also sends a subtle message that I am not on very friendly terms with technology! Or better said, I am trying hard to be friendly with her (in Serbian language the word technology is feminine gender so I can easily imagine her as a kind of modern wisewoman). But she doesn`t seem to return my tokens of friendship. She keeps giving me puzzles. She keeps speaking in riddles!

          Another thing my first blog post says about me is that I speak my mind! I say what I think! Especially about myself.  I admit my mistakes. It can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing. That`s me!

          And if I connect that first post to this post, it says I don`t give up easily. As my dear friednd Victor used to say: If you can`t make it the first time, try, try, try again! And I`ve kept trying! I`ve travelled a long way from that simple message to this not-the-first blog post. It`s been a bumpy ride! I`ve had my ups and downs!

          But I`ve come to the perfect place! I have met some wonderful, outstanding, unbelievably good people here. They were so helpful, supportive , friendly, encouraging! Now I understand the meaning of `Proud to be a Weabhead!` The pride is well deserved! And for the end I would just like to say: Thanks a million for everything you are doing! J