A Facebook Rant

There have been recent concerns and reports regarding private messages on Facebook being publicly visible on peoples' timelines. The issue was that there were claims of a glitch on the system causing all private messages dated from 2010 and before being displayed on the a users timeline for all to see. This was obviously quite shocking for many, as things could get very awkward very quickly if this was the case. Users scrambled through their timelines and panicked as they saw fragmented, embarrassing conversations on their walls. My friends started posting status updates like:

"Alert: Facebook has douched it up again.
Your private messages from 2010 and earlier can be seen on your timeline. This is not a hoax- it was true for me. Go down to the part of your timeline and hover your mouse over the posts and click "hide".

Guess what though, even if you hide the posts on your own wall, the messages that you sent in 2010 and earlier will still be visible on everyone else's wall. So, in other words, boooooooo Facebook, BOOOOOO. Everyone hide."

and....

"Guys, if you haven't heard yet, all of your private messages prior to 2010 are publicly accessible on your timeline. Facebook have obviously stuffed up on their privacy settings when they switched to timeline view.

If you go to your timeline and use the year nav on the right to open 2010, you'll see a box on your timeline with "friends have posted to your timeline". That box needs hiding, cause it's got all your messages in there.

Do that for each year prior to 2010 and you should be sorted."

I quickly followed such instructions, worried about ANYTHING I might have said to my friends in confidence being exposed to unintended audiences but I was still really peeved about the possibility of my posts still being visible on other peoples walls. 

There has since been a lot of coverage about this issue:

Forbes
Guardian
Sydney Morning Herald
Wired

Some of my friends are still convinced that their private messages have been exposed. I think this is silly in light of all the information that has been given to us and by the fact that Facebook has not seen any serious lawsuits or at least taken any action in 'fixing' said 'glitch' or 'problem'.

Facebook used to be a much cosier place where we would share a lot more information with each other without worrying and without realising how long that information would stay there. I still have a lot of private messages on Facebook but they are private. I do, however want to delete a lot of them and this in itself is an issue. 

You can permanently delete private messages from your profile (however you get through the process) but unless the recipient of those messages also permanently deletes them, they will always be stored somewhere in their archive of messages. This concerns me very much, but there is nothing we can do about it so I have resigned myself to take a lesson from all this and that is to reconsider the consequences of communicating using the internet. Once it is out there, it is out there forever. 

What I also hate is how whenever I tag a friend in a photo of mine, I suddenly get a bunch of strangers and randoms interacting with this photo. DO NOT WANT! I was quite sure I had everything on my profile, photos, posts, the lot - set to 'friends only' definitely not 'friends of friends'. If anyone can help me with this little issue (without the obvious- don't tag anyone) then that would be peachy.

So my rant comes from:

• being annoyed at stupid friends still worried about old private messages being exposed (they were always visible on friends walls - now timelines).
• being annoyed at myself for initially getting caught up in this panic
• my frustration at Facebook for repeatedly overhauling the site sparking these panics and issues. "WE DON"T LIKE CHANGE!!"
• The complexity of the privacy settings on Facebook and how to change/navigate these settings
• Not being able to properly delete messages or anything you post off the site. (It will be deleted or 'hidden' from your timeline but will still exist somewhere else).
• Having to keep my Facebook profile because I will miss out on so much (events, business offers, news) if I delete it. Without getting into the 'discovering who your real friends are' discussion, the reality is, no matter how close or distant I am to my 'friends' or 'aquaintances' my social life and relationships WILL suffer if I don't use Facebook. Even if I DID delete my profile, it will always be sitting there in cyberspace waiting for me to come back and reactivate it.

Argue with me, agree with me, add to anything I have missed....vent away!

September Bellabox

This month's Bellabox came with some interesting goodies! Along with a bunch of great new samples I received a $15 voucher to use at theiconic.com. I haven't tried everything yet so instead of doing full reviews of each product I will just do a quick share and if your have any questions or are particularly interested in anything here in particular then ask me in the comments and I will be sure to get back to you.

I got a cute little sample of the 'It's potent!' eye cream from Benefit. I usually use 'all about eyes' from Clinique but am really looking forward to trying something new when my next pot runs out. Actually, I am saving this sample for when I go travelling in December, along with a heap of other sample pots of my beauty regime products. I was more than impressed with the 'porefessional' from Benefit so am looking forward to giving this one a spin.

This concealer kit from saviour faire contains four different shades of concealers and two powders to go along with them. I have gotten into the habit of using the darker shades to give my face contour and the lighter shades for highlights. I am still experimenting with some ways to change the look of the shape of my face using this kit but so far so good! I'm hoping to get a bit more confidence using different coloured concealers to shape my face before buying some full sized foundations in different shades. 

These were two samples I got from Bioderma. The blue one on the right was a facial wash cleanser. It was really small and I was a bit let down by this because it was only enough to use it a couple of times, especially when Bellabox has sent me plenty of full-sized similar samples before. Not really enough to get a good idea of wether or not a facial wash will work for me. I have been using the one on the left as a spot treatment for acne and it seems to work quite well. I am still going through a similar sample from my last Bellabox and with all the great products I am receiving I don't seem to be getting as much acne as I did before!

I was not really a huge fan of the last product I got from this brand but am yet to try this one. It is suppose to be a sort of all-purpose styling product. It smells nicer than the grassy one from the last Bellabox. I am thinking I will try it in my future attempts to replicate a 'Kristen Stewart' hairstyle, using it to pump up the roots of my fringe and hair around my face before letting the rest of it drop down and flow to my shoulders. Only time can tell!

This was a really interesting find! It is a body moisturiser but it comes in a spray can and comes out of the can like hair mousse. You spray it into your hands or straight onto your skin like any other mousse and spread it around. It gets absorbed by my skin super quickly and leaves my legs feeling fresh and moisturised. I think you need to use it quite liberally because it gets absorbed so quickly it can be hard to spread but not if you use plenty. Something I have never seen before and I do quite like the idea. We may or may not be seeing a lot more products like this one in the future. Keep an eye out and try one out if you get the chance!

What are your most recent favourite samples?

September Wishlist

September Wishlist by pilar-kim featuring too faced cosmetics

Mid calf boots
myhotshoes.com

Tech accessory
shopthetrendboutique.com

Too faced cosmetic
sephora.com

Urban decay
$58 - debenhams.com

NOTD - Australis Aqua

A friend of mine was wearing this shade recently and it immediately caught my attention. This nail colour from Australis is called 'Aqua' (funnily enough). I think this is such a great unique and bold color. I didn't have anything like it and wanted to try something new so for just $3.99 I snapped up this little bargain.

The bottle says 'streak-free' and when I tested this, comparing it to the application of some of my other nail colours, I found that it doesn't look streaky at all! It seems to spread out evenly on my nail when I 'glob' it on. The colour is a tiny bit transparent on the first coat but as you can see it is bright, matte and solid with two even coats.

I have been getting so many compliments on my nails since wearing this colour as it is such a standout! I am so glad my friend was wearing this that day I spotted it because this is a colour I probably never would have even looked at on the shelf otherwise. Just goes to show you should always try new things (especially if they are cheap!). 

I was looking around and found a lot of minty green colours that I liked but I think this one is slightly more unique being more on the blue side. I think I might look for a nice pastel violet/lavender colour next!


What do you think of Australis Aqua? What is your favourite nail colour at the moment?

Month of Squee

So lately I have been doing a LOT of job applications. I am also looking at my options for rural positions as well as moving interstate but the next couple of months will reveal what happens for me.

Anyway, you would think that after hours and hours of writing cover letters about how great I am, and what I fantastic employee I would make, I would be feeling pretty great about myself. After all, positive affirmation is key to confidence and self-esteem. Well no. I feel tired, worthless and pathetic. Job hunting and making job applications is draining to say the least. I feel like every resume I send out takes a piece of my heart and soul away with it and I'm not sure how much I have left in me. <-- dramatic moment. 

Feeling this way I decided to do a post on a couple of things that have been keeping me happy recently despite the struggles. Little 'squees' and big 'squees' if you will. Don't worry, I won't sit here and brag about how wonderful my boyfriend is and how great my friends are, even if they are always forefront in helping me through the tough times.

New IKEA catalogue, yayy!! I was so happy to get this in the mail recently. I love flicking through and deciding upon things I really need, things I kinda need, things I don't really need, and things I definitely don't need. (It doesn't matter which category I put the things in, I end up buying EVERYTHING! IKEA is deadly!) For example, I really need a new quilt cover set as mine is quite torn up. I kinda need new pillows, as a couple of mine are looking a bit yellow inside their cases. I don't really need a new bed frame with awesome shelves on the head and super-fantastic hidden pull-out compartments underneath. And I definitely don't need a "SLARGFHARST" carrot-man plush toy, but hey, it's IKEA, and since when does anyone go to IKEA for things they just really need.

Play sessions with the ferret-man Ace always cheers me up. He is such a crazy boof! He gets so excited when he is jumping around going crazy he'll often bump into or fall off something in his crazy dance. He is not normally allowed inside but when I took him out today he darted through the door and started going crazy so I took some shots before I promptly lead him back outside.

Two of my very talented friends recently wrote two separate plays for children and they cast me in both of them! These performances will go up in two weeks for the school holidays at a local community theatre so I am keeping very busy learning my lines and practising my singing and dancing once again!

This is a photo and two of my girls last weekend at 'Lost Society', a great little bar in the city of Perth. I think we look a bit like Charlie's Angels here don't you? It was such a great night getting the VIP treatment with our own private retreat and free cocktails all around! Might I just add that the bar staff at this place are fantastic and amazingly talented and creative. Definitely a place to try out and keep coming back. Looking forward to visiting 'Lost Society' to check out the daytime atmosphere! (By the way, on my lips I am wearing MAC Vegas Volt but somewhere along the night something went wrong. I think my lips were still burning red from the curry we had at a restaurant before drinking!)

I am getting a lot of relief work all of a sudden so will be keeping quite busy for now, especially as the job applications keep piling up *sigh*. If for whatever reason you are just feeling physically and/or emotionally tired like me at the moment, no matter how hard it may seem, just try to focus on some of the good things around you. There WILL be something.

50 followers, wohoo! One more thing to cheer me up! Thank you everyone for all your support, it really means a lot for me and my fresh little blog! xxx