Welcome to the Nest!

McBirdie's Nest is where I bring together all the things I'm writing, doing, or planning. 

Well. 

A few things remain private, but you know what I mean.  I have been writing online for a few years now and it was getting cumbersome to find everything on their respective sites—when you add in my photography, recipes, and a few other bits, it just made sense to bring them all together in one place.

On the left hand side of the site is the main navigational structure.  Divided into the main sections of Read Stuff, Review Things, Look at Stuff, and Write Things, they then get more specific with individual categories. 

Read Stuff houses all of my written articles and blogs.  Usually, an article is a longer bit of writing—though that isn't always the case, as you'll find with some of the blog categories.  In short, they are:

Academic Papers- When I've kept copies of my academic papers, they get shifted over here to keep forever.  These are of varying quality, since they come from as far back as 1999—expect that in the next few months you'll see new entries as I begin some new courses in Cognition, Social and Developmental Psych.  In the meantime, you can find papers on psychology and sociological issues now.

 

Adult Articles- Occasionally, what I need to say can't be contained within a shorter blog. I'm wordy, I can't lie. Long before I started blogging for Sexshop365, I submitted articles a few times a month and I still do when I've got the time or when enough people ask for advice on a bigger topic.  The 'Adult' in the title means just that—expect sexual topics of a mature nature.  No smut, just advice.

 

Current Blog-  This is the section for the real stalkers.  These are posts that keep you abreast of site problems and improvements, what I'm doing, and what I'm planning to do.  Not always terribly interesting, but usually needful in some way.

 

DearCupid Advice- People write in questions, I give them answers.  I've been writing over on DearCupid for donkey's years and even moderate over there when I find a spare moment, so you'll find plenty to keep you amused if you enjoy reading advice columns.  Topics cover relationships, sex, health, and other problems.

 

Etiquette- Manners are a personal soapbox of mine and I've recently parlayed my discontented mutterings into written work.  This section moves at varying speeds depending on what I see happening around me, but if you have specific questions you want to see addressed, drop me a line.  Make sure your email is polite.

 

Love Project- The Love Project is my baby.  Stemming from discussions with friends on the similarity of the love experience for all of us (even though it always seems like we have loved and hurt the way no one ever has before), these are a series of letters that people have written to lovers early on, in the midst of, or at the end of their love relationships.  This one moves at the speed of submission and of my finding old letters—if you want to see fresh content, please feel free to send me in some of your own letters.

 

LoveHoney Blog- LoveHoney is an online sex toys merchant that gave me one of my first paying gigs.  I no longer write for them, but you can find the archive of my posts here.  Some product spotlight blogs, some write-in questions answered, some longer series on sexual topics, but all is adult oriented.  Please be aware of that before you go in.

 

MySpace Blog- I just barely keep a MySpace blog.  I'm not a huge fan of the setup, but when I need to post something that isn't appropriate elsewhere (read: it's snarky and likely about a group of people who read me elsewhere), it goes here.  These are invariably shorter and snappier.

 

OkCupid- My OkC journal was the one that got me started with really writing journal style articles.  Here you'll find blogs of differing length, but are usually on topics that warrant discussion—social, psychological, and media issues are the more prevalent themes.  Don't expect too much of a personal nature, but this is where I get as personal as you're going to find.

 

Sexshop365 Blog- This is my current paying gig, so this is one of the most active categories on the site.  Come here for up-to-date toy discussions, sex and relationship advice, and longer series on sexual issues.  Do I need to mention that this is adult-oriented?  Because it is.

 

Thriftiness- I have a strong love for bargains and for re-using items that would be thrown out otherwise.  If I find a new use for something or I'm trying out a new money-saving project, it goes here.  If I'm not too embarrassed by my...um...thrift, that is.

Review Things is just as it sounds--I use, watch, read, or play with things...and then review them.  I'm not a particularly fussy, precious reviewer, but I am a useful one.  You should come from these knowing pretty definitely whether or not you want to give something a go.

Adult Reviews- One of the ways I was 'discovered' by the sex toy sites was through my reviews of sex toys.  I joined a free toy review site and got inspired to write up ever more reviews.  Here you'll find the good, the bad, and the ugly—more than 150 reviews at last count and always growing.  Where possible, I try to provide a link to where you can find the products.  Please note: while the topic is an adult one, these reviews are not smutty.  You should be fine reading them so long as you don't mind toys in general.

 

Movie, Book, and Game Reviews- I am not a critic by nature and I'm far from any sort of literary, game, or movie geek—when you read my reviews, you'll just find a clearcut answer to the question of “does she enjoy this?”  I'm not the critic to go to if you're looking for use of the terms oeuvre or nouveau, but I watch, read, and play some pretty interesting things.  You might stumble across something you'll get a kick out of.  Where possible, I try to link the product to its relevant Amazon page, so you can easily find it if you wanted to.

Look at Stuff is a menu collection of things that aren't proper bits of writing—usually they follow me doing things.  Online people doing stuff other than playing online?  Go figure.

Photography- I fell in love with taking pictures a few years  back, thanks to a particularly bad breakup.  All things considered...the best thing to come out of that relationship, really.  I don't use fancy equipment (I shoot with a SuperZoom) or take particularly artsy shots (I prefer to be able to tell what the subject matter is and the only post-shot editing I do is a bit of colour correction where needed), but I make up for that by going to really beautiful places.

 

Recipes- I cook, I bake, I share the recipes with the world.  My cooking is predominantly healthy and cheap, though some of my pie recipes make lie to that statement.  You'll also find submissions by other cooks, though, so you are bound to find something in the style you like.  I take food shots of all of my recipes, so you always know what you're going to get—or can tell when something goes horribly awry.

 

30th Year of Greatness-  This is the year that I finally turned 30.  I figured that rather than getting all upset and spending my spare time looking for new wrinkles (and not finding them, I assure you), I should spend this year doing all the things in life that I've wanted to do but haven't--some things that scare me, some things that seemed too outlandish, some things that are just out of my usual world.  Please come take a look and feel free to express an interest in joining me for any of the activities.

Write Stuff is the area for your participation—this is where you can get in touch with me, comment on the forums, recommend the site to someone else, or submit your own article or recipe (please note that you must be registered and logged in to submit an article.  Registering is free, of course, and completely spam-free.  If you have any questions or problems, just let me know).

Once you register on the site, there are a few other things available to you.  Under the User Menu, you can choose to take a look at and edit your own profile  (either upload a picture for yourself or prepare for me to do it for you—yeah, that is vaguely threatening...what of it?) or your details, view all the registered users and see who is online, try out the messaging, or submit your own pieces. 

Do More—on the bottom of the right hand side—gives you the chance to add this site to your RSS Feed or to donate to the running of the site.  Or pay me to dance like a monkey for your amusement—whatever floats your boat.