Recently, I've noticed that my "Frequently Used" emoji list consists of one or two emojis that I have never, ever, ever (ever!) used. It has bothered me before, but the recent bouts of security breaches around the world had me Google-ing reasons for such occurrence. There were a couple of forums, but not one of them had definite answers.
So, as silly as my reason was, I contacted Apple through their chat support. It is quite bothersome to have some stuff on your phone especially if you're sure you did not put it there, right? As soon as she asked "how can I help you today?", I got straight to my question and gave information she might need. I have worked as a CSR before, so I quite know the drill and I know she might have some more customers to assist who have more important issues than mine-- so I added for clarification that no one else uses my phone and my iCloud account isn't linked to other devices aside from my centenarian MacBook.
Her answer: "All emojis are updated" --something like that-- point being, my question really has not been addressed. She then gave me a link to self-help articles, which I thanked her for, sparing her the admonishing lines that I wouldn't be wasting both our times if I'd found the answer there in the first place. I politely said "that's all for now I guess. bye." to which she replied, "it was a pleasure helping you today. enjoy your afternoon!"
So I turned to Twitter -- and found out there are dozens of people asking the same question.
"Why is this on my frequently used?🤖️"
"How did this 🀄️ go here?!"
"I have never used this!🏯"
"Is butt-texted a thing?🏺" Some replies said maybe they just accidentally clicked on it. Some suggested resetting their list would clear this list. Some pointed out that this could be an iOS 9 glitch.
As my phone is running on iOS 10.3.3, I'm quite sure that this isn't a glitch. I have been monitoring my list now and so far, there were two that I've accidentally clicked but only once each, yet still, my phone deemed it as "Frequently Used".
I am now also checking if the emoji "suggestions" have anything to do with it, but so far, it has no apparent effect on my list. I'm guessing, and hoping, that this is really just a result of accidental clicks. If anyone has answers, I'd be happy to read on them, please do let me know!
^_^
I returned to my browser to find that she messaged me "Hello? Are you still there?" and then she disconnected, ending our "chat". Um.. didn't we already say our goodbyes, girl? 😂
4 months!!! (--and I said I was gonna blog more this year!)
What has happened...
- I went home to the Philippines
- I got back to Qatar
(too much for a list, LOL)
Between those moments, I had a lot to blog about, and yet not one single post. Partly because the internet connection in the Philippines is too bad. (nah-just kidding, it's better now, actually, I am just really lazy!)
So February this year, my little sister turned 18 (just in numbers heehee). I felt sorry that I did not get to be there for her, as I had been for my three cousins when they each celebrated theirs. I am really into organizing parties and events, and I had many plans for my sister's debut. Anyway, I was there "in the spirit" ^_^
I decided to come home a month after. Through Etihad which had one stop-over in Abu Dhabi. At first, of course, I was excited, coz I was gonna see one new place. I posted TripAdvisor review, please disregard the grammar errors I think I did that half-awake, just the same, here's some more info:
I once forfeited a flight because the plane left... and I was busy reading a book at the airport's upper level --well that's a different story. Anyway, I always made sure I find the boarding gates immediately after check-in, and wait there, no matter how long the delay would be. Luckily, this time, I was not left behind :)
The flight from Doha to Abu Dhabi took only an hour. Just enough for a light snack, and I always loved eating in-flight. I love traveling by air planes. Anyway, I'm getting distracted by the thought of dried fruits and nuts. As soon as the plane started its descend, I looked outside the window to see how Abu Dhabi looks like. At first it was all sea and sand. It was a pretty sight, but I hoped to see buildings. I finally saw one, and it had the Ferrari logo on top, and that was it. That's the largest building I saw from the top, and the rest were like houses and small buildings. I was a bit disappointed, especially when the plane landed. I looked around (tried to look around when the plane was heading to the main airport building), and the tallest building I saw was the airport control tower. (Later on, I found out from a friend that the airport was a bit far away from the city.)
So to cut it short, I boarded the plane to Manila, arrived in the early morning, got a Grab (local transport provider) and got welcomed by our dog, Mimi (yep, no one else but her --on their defense, only my mom knew I was going home and it was really waaay too early!)
I'll write again about the Philippines stay.... when I want to. HAHA. Off to lunch!
For god-knows-how-many years now, I had been trying to complete this 30-day challenge from Chantelle Ellem --it's called FMS Photo-A-Day (details on how to play can be found on her blog). I had once been fortunate enough to complete a whole month, and that was last July 2014 (I remember it 'coz i blogged about it hehe!).
This year, I will --once again, try to accomplish this month's photo-a-day challenge. I'd feel more amazed if I can do more than one month, but let's not push it too far. For now, I'm aiming to complete this month's challenge, and will strive to do next month's.
First day's photo prompt is FAVE COLOUR. First thing that came to my mind was PURPLE, of course. It has been my favorite for a decade now. GREEN is my all-time favorite, whereas PINK is my secret personal favorite. Confused? I'll put it this way, when it comes to my personal things and trinkets, I would always pick purple items. For household items, or furnitures, or anything that involves the HOUSE, I would most likely pick something green (or white). Pink has been a fave, but I replaced it with purple almost immediately. However, in instances purple is not available, then the next pick would be the pink ones. So, pink is still a fave, but it's just our little secret.
I took a pic of my pens using my phone for today's prompt and used the app Snapseed to enhance the photo:
It is now humbly posted on my Instagram. I'm trying to be artistic. Minimal, but still artistic. I'm not sure if I have achieved that with this photo. The back-side of J.K. Rowling's book, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, seems to have done the photo justice. Or so I want to believe. :)
It seems I'm getting the drive to blog when a year is either already ending or just beginning. Maybe because it's a time to reflect on what has transpired over the past year, that I check on my social media accounts to see the new places I've been to, people I've met, and other things or experiences. Then I go check my blog and see it's empty. It makes me sad, but I never seem to find time to just log-in and type away.
The reason why I have time NOW is because I'm all by myself and got nothing important to do. I am in my sister's place in Doha, and they've gone to Dubai for the New Year Celebration and to take the kids to the many theme parks that Dubai holds. So with my phone on my left side, TV remote control on the right, and B&O A1 speaker (my sister's) in front of me playing Katy Perry's "I'm Still Breathing" (aptly so), I decided to give blogging a go.
As it is the first day of the year, what best to blog about than NEW YEAR's resolution? When I was in grade school (--and high school, too, I guess) we had always been asked to write it all on a piece of paper on the very first day of school right after the Christmas break. Who knows what our teachers do to them, maybe memorize it all and laugh behind our backs if we break them.
So before the year ended, I have decided to make a NY resolution:
So, bring it on, 2017! 2016 was okay but I know you can do better.
