Twitter The Good!
Posted By Kristabella on January 13, 2010
So remember yesterday when I blamed Twitter for my lack of posting? TWITTER IS THE DOWNFALL OF BLOGGING, I said. TWITTER SUCKS MY CREATIVITY, I lamented. 140 CHARACTERS IS ALL I CAN MANAGE, I whined.
Well today Twitter redeemed itself.
That’s not actually true. I actually love Twitter. I might be addicted to Twitter. (Might. HAHAHA! That’s rich.) It’s the only way I’ve been able to feel connected to the blogging world when my posting has been so infrequent. So it is like a damn double-edged sword. Zaps my creativity, which makes me blog less, which makes me tweet more, just to be a part of the blogosphere. That might be the lamest, nerdiest, saddest sentence ever.
Twitter is good. I can get the weather every morning from the local news outlets. I follow one of the Chicago weather guys, who actually tweets more about golf and his vacations to Florida than the weather. I know of events happening in the world, usually before a lot of non-tweeters. I can warn my mom when there are delays on the train and when she should take the bus instead. I can share with everyone this creepy photo of my cat so that if I wake up and somehow my brains are eaten, WE WILL ALL KNOW WHY.
See? Twitter can sometimes serve a purpose. Like it did today.
I’ve been thinking about starting to babysit in my free time. Mostly for the extra money (to start a laptop fund) and also because I’ve really started to think that child care might be in my future, especially if I have no kids of my own. So I figured that stepping my toe into the babysitting waters, babysitting people not related to me, would help me realize if I would like to go into child care or if I should just stick to becoming a best-selling novelist.
I don’t really know how people find babysitters. So I figured “a lot of the people I know on Twitter are moms and I think they have babysitters, I’ll ask them.”
I actually didn’t think I would get any responses. But I did! I got LOTS of responses! And people told me about SitterCity! And then SitterCity followed me on Twitter! And I started a profile! I just need to write a bio that doesn’t mention snark or booze and take a photo the exact OPPOSITE of the one I use on Twitter, Facebook and this blog, and I’ll be all set to go! People will love me and clamor for me to be their babysitter! Because I am like a child myself! I’ll be the star of SitterCity! And you cannot tell me otherwise!
On top of it, I didn’t actually expect for one tweet to lead to an honest to goodness babysitting job this Saturday! For a blogger! Twitter FTW!
I’m excited! I enjoy babysitting. I love kids, so I’m really looking forward to taking this on as a side gig. Because it forces me to do something on the weekends and not spend money, and I get to make money money, make money money! So maybe I’ll have a new laptop sooner rather than later.
About the author
You know what’s so weird? A few months ago I was talking about this same phenomenon….Twitter killing the Blogging Star. It’s like, as soon as I said that, I stopped tweeting so damned much and started blogging again. Wonkadoo!
.-= Hilly´s last blog ..Hilly’s Wide Wide World Of Weird… =-.
I am only a fledging twitterer (I really hate the “tweet” thing so I won’t say it) so it hasn’t affected my blogging yet. I figure though that if FB hasn’t stopped me that this won’t either, I guess we’ll see.
I’d let you babysit Sprog, mainly to piss him off (he’s SO GROWN NOW MOM) but you’d probably have too much fun and that would defeat my purpose.
.-= Raven´s last blog ..wanting wednesdays =-.
I think you will really enjoy doing this, Kristin!
That’s awesome!! And brilliant! And it’s too bad you’re in Chicago and I’m not or I’d totally have you babysit the little one. Only I’d have you do it while I was home so’s we could hang out and drink wine. She’s pretty self-sufficient anyway, for an almost 3-year-old.
.-= Missy´s last blog ..How do you do it?? =-.
Simba looks regal in the cat photo. Not scary at all.
You will be such an awesome babysitter that you’ll always be in demand!!!! Those kids are going to just love you!
First – way creepy cat picture. I can read his/her mind – mmmmm fava beans. And second if you were in NJ I would totally let you baby sit my 6 year old daughter – I think you two would have a blast. Good luck!
If I lived near you, I’d let you babysit. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if your love of kids and babysitting dwindled considerably after.
.-= C @ Kid Things´s last blog ..Giving Credit Where Credit is Due =-.
I’m gonna tell Annie about this – maybe she’ll want you to come and babysit me.
.-= lceel´s last blog ..100 Word Challenge – Nervous =-.
I’d hire you if you were in the NYC area 🙂 I use SitterCity and I’ve had better luck with them than Craigslist. It seems like when I post an ad on craigslist, only the crazy and the illiterate (or both!) answer. I got a response once that said “I live in your house you pay me $500 week very happy.” Um…no.
Congrats on getting a job already! I’ll talk to the team about making you the “Star of Sittercity”.
You’ll be an AMAZING babysitter! If you weren’t a four-hour flight away, I’d totally hire you. Then stay up talking with you when we got home. 🙂
.-= Angella´s last blog ..Competely Unbalanced =-.
Wow that is really great! Twitter saves the day!! I have a side gig too (I work at a jewelry store) it is really nice to have a job where you can have pure fun and not have to worry about things you normally would in your day job.
.-= Sensibly Sassy´s last blog ..Please Hold =-.
How about you just come back to Atlanta and babysit me? After the hangover I had yesterday, it’s obvious that I shouldn’t be allowed out without parental supervision.
.-= Darcey´s last blog ..Insert Foot =-.
I’m just so happy about this. You know since I worried about it for like 2 hours yesterday like what if you two end up hating each other. OMG. Panic.
It will be fine. Her kids are lovely. She’s lovely. And her daughter is like a younger version of Emily. So I do think you’ll be ok.
Are you going to bring a Kid Kit, like in the Babysitter’s Club books? Because THEN you will definitely be the star of Sitter City.
I mentioned this yesterday and I’ll say it again. As long as you don’t mind the drive to the boonies, I would love to have you watch the little one. Especially since the husband and I won’t have a ton of time to get out with the little man coming this May. So…how does February look? 🙂
.-= Kristin´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday =-.
Seriously…you are SO ridiculously good with MY kids….I’d hire you in a heartbeat!
.-= ali´s last blog ..Scavenger. =-.
If I ever have a baby, screw babysitting. I WILL JUST GIVE IT TO YOU!
.-= slynnro´s last blog ..Hotlanta? =-.
Don’t say stuff like “if you don’t have kids.” it will happen. I don’t know when. But I just can’t in my heart believe otherwise. It is just wrong.
I thought you were on to something with the cop idea. It is a new year. New opportunities abound.
But what a great idea for a side job!
Good for you, being all proactive! Incidentally (I didn’t read the other comments so forgive me if I’m repeating) netbooks are really coming down in price and they are just as awesome as full sized laptops. Awesomer, actually because they are far easier to carry around than most laptops nowadays.
.-= Erin´s last blog ..De-Lurking Day =-.
oh, i wish you were in florida! but good to know about that site, i hadn’t heard of it!
1. I think this will be fun!
2. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to find the Goo on my nightstand sitting JUST like that staring at me. She is creepy.
Sitting’s a great idea! If I had money to pay you and somewhere to go, I’d hire ya.
FYI to the other bloggers here: I know Kristin from waaaaaay back when. She’s fairly normal in person. You can trust her. 🙂
.-= Tracey´s last blog ..Recently overheard in the house of JAMB… =-.
Ummmm HELLO — I would love for you to babysit! I am DMing you…
.-= Snarky Mommy´s last blog ..Puke-tastic =-.
I’m not a mom but I’m a babysitter! I’ve had great success with Sittercity! I’ve found a few jobs through Craigslist but use sittercity more b/c Craigslist here ends up being home daycares for the most part. Enjoy!
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