My 40th

Today is my birthday. (To those who live near me, be aware that this groundhog has not seen her shadow this morning, and is not likely to -- very overcast.) In preparation for my glorious 40s (to continue on from my brilliant 30s), I'm taking the Pursuit of Excellence course this weekend. Self-examination all the way...

Here is a concept lifted from Norlinda at 30-something-media-addict, who lifted it from Life Begins at 30 (both lovely lists). I've been working on this one for a couple of days, and it has been a good exercise.

So, in no particular order, some things (25) I will never get tired of:

1. a good book
   
2. the first slow gulp of cold beer slipping down my parched throat
   
3. a purring cat
   
4. a cool summer morning and a cup of coffee outdoors
   
5. walking in a snowfall
   
6. laying down a bingo in Scrabble
   
7. standing in the dark nave of a gothic cathedral
   
8. learning something new
   
9. escaping into a delightful movie
   
10. a well-played blues guitar
    
11. dark chocolate
    
12. comprendre quelque chose dans une autre langue
    
13. a really good belly laugh
    
14. crossing things off a To Do list
15. a fresh clean sheet of paper
16. a gathering of like-minded individuals
17. a lovely meadow
18. cooking in a stocked kitchen
19. controlled retail therapy :p
20. the great design of a book or building or object
21. road trips, long or short
22. words strung together in a surprisingly insightful way
    
23. looking up at the stars
24. coordinating the Big Picture
    
25. logic puzzles

A surprisingly easy list to compile, and reminds me that yes, I do incorporate the things I like in my day-to-day existence...but that I could do it more!

Have a great day!

Lori

Have you Ever?

A weird-but-wonderful list lifted from alejna at collecting tokens -- this checklist of things do to before you die tickled my fancy (or my desire to talk about myself!), so here it is.

So, bold if I've done it.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain [since 'rock-climbing' is below, I'm assuming this is walking up]
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer [okay, a geek wrote this list!]
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach [even went swimming]
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror [I'm going to assume this means full costume & full participation at a public viewing.]
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery [technically yes, but nothing altering...]
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language [did I mention that there are overtones of geek in this list?]
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts [I mean, really!]
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Hmm. 74 in all. Some of these I'll never do...like scuba diving, or touching a tarantula. Others I hope I never do, like #149.

You know the drill -- tag yourself if this intrigues you, and let me know how it goes!

Lori

Whoo-hoo!

I think MadHaiku was short-changed with his 'elementary school' literacy rating...it takes some education to write haiku...

Especially when I see my (somewhat over-rated) rating:



And Metro is all pissed off that he's only getting a 'junior high' reading level. :p

Well, I thought my Book Nook might get a higher rating than this silly blog o' mine, being all literary and such...but no, only High School.

Whodathunk?

Lori

How do I blog?

Tagged by azahar, so here I go...

1. Do you promote your blog?

No...I'm a member of MyBlogLog, but I don't sign in too often. I also tried BlogExplosion for a bit, but it seems like too much work.

2. How often do you check hits?

I had a hit counter for a bit, but it crashed, so I no longer check hits on this blog, but I'll check the blog stats page on my Wordpress blog just to see what brings people in.

3. Do you stick to one topic?

Yes and no. Here at Celebrating the Absurd, I try to just point out the absurdities of life from my point of view, with the odd foray into the wonderful and the sane. On the Book Nook, I obviously try to stick to topics literary.

4. Who knows that you have a blog?

I have lots of family & friends who know that I blog, but who don't read blogs. So safe there! I'm not shy about having blogs, but I don't hand out business cards with the URLs on them!

5. How many blogs do you read?

Wow. Tough question. I'm behind in my blog reading...I've only got some RSS feeds for friends' blogs, the rest are in my favourites folder. I've got a tab on my Netvibes devoted to GTD blogs that I scan quite often. I don't bookmark gossip blogs, I've just got their addresses memorized, so I pop over to them periodically for a fix.

6. Are you a fast reader?

Fast. Too fast sometimes. But I find that I'll skip through reams and reams of on-screen text, not reading it. (Yes, Az, I think it's perfectly normal, which is why all advice to web content developers/writers begins with "Keep it short".)

7. Do you customise your blog or do anything technical?

No, I don't do anything fancy. I've been given my own URL (through one of engtech's contests), for my Wordpress blog, but I've sadly not done anything with it. I do want to transfer my Book Nook to it, but haven't.

8. Do you blog anonymously?

Yes and no. While I don't come out and say "This is me," I do give out enough information that anyone who wanted to hunt me down can.

9. To what extent do you censor yourself?

Well, the answer to the previous question answers this one -- I say nothing here that I wouldn't want to come back and bite me in the ass one day. If I say something about anyone, I would also say it to their face. (Even Ginger.) But then, I'm not shy.

10. The best thing about blogging?

I'm not sure why I started, but I'm glad I did. I'm a bit of an exhibitionist (but only a bit!), so I like being able to share the interesting stuff that comes to my attention.

So, I'll tag Mr. Mad Haiku ('cause I'd love to see his answers in Haiku!), and Creatrix.

Lori

So, up until today, I thought I wasn't too terribly hooked into the Internet. You know how it is, you check out some videos here and there, and show them to your friends who are a little less net-savvy than you...but you just know that you're missin' stuff.

But here's a video that sort of scared me -- I got almost all of the references! Gads.

Lifted from Nag, who stole it from OpticalPoptitude, who took it from the source -- test yourself:


Lori

My Book

You're The Hobbit!

by J.R.R. Tolkien

All you wanted was a nice cup of tea when some haggard crazy old man
came into your life and told you it was time to do something with yourself. Now you're
all conflicted about whether to stick with your stay-at-home lifestyle or follow this
crazy person into the wild. While you're very short and a little furry, you seem to be
surrounded by an even greater quantity of short folks lately. Try not to lose your ring,
but keep its value in perspective!


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Whew!! I don't know about the short and furry part, but I'm glad I'm a book I enjoy!

Via Casa Az, who ripped it from Archie's Archive, who got it from...ah, you know how it goes!

Lori

What more can I share?

Tagged again (here's my earlier post), with the 6 Weird Things about You "meme", this time by a woman who is weird in her own way. [I'm over a month late. Sorry.]

So, 'cause I love talking about myself [why else would I write a blog, now, eh?], here's some more about me:

I re-read books and re-watch movies, a lot. So much new to read, and I find that one of the best ways for me to relax is to watch/read something I've read/watched millions of times before. I'll open the book to the middle, skip the dvd to a scene halfway through...drop right into the story.

I prefer to take pictures of architecture and urban corners than people or flowers. It's so bad that I've got to get Creatrix to photoshop a picture of my husband and I together in Paris on our honeymoon!

Shopping for clothes is an activity I loathe. I have no respect for the fashion industry. I started watching The Devil Wears Prada with a sense of superiority, "Oh, a movie about the fashion industry...", started identifying with the main character (the woman who gets the job), then this scene showed up:

Miranda Priestly: [Miranda and some assistants are deciding between two similar belts for an outfit. Andy sniggers because she thinks they look exactly the same] Something funny?
Andy Sachs: No, no, nothing. Y'know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Y'know, I'm still learning about all this stuff.
Miranda Priestly: This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blindly unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

Hmm.

I sometimes feel like I'm pretending to be an adult.

Okay, enough now. Feel free to tag yourselves.

Two days until the weekend, and then my new, all-grown-up-now job.

Lori

My Blog is the Wrong Colour

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Ah, well. I don't really like purple enough.

And I love that it tells me that I am likely to "write" my "own meme or survey." Uh, you can write a survey, but you can't purposefully go out and write a meme. Memes happen, if a thought is expressed, or something is created that is passed around and around.

Silly rabbit. Memes are for keeps.

Lori

What's next for absurd memes?

In case you haven't been around in the last few years, and perhaps missed it. A meme

refers to a "unit of cultural information" which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner analogous to genes (i.e., the units of genetic information)

And on the Internet, this rather serious, intellectual definition from a social theory has come to mean something absurd that we blog about, or play around with.

Online memes arise from mistakes. Creative cuteness. Or just a desire to know more about oneself. If you travel in the right circles, everything seems to be part of a meme now -- obviously lists are, but also squid.

My question is, what's next? Where do you think the next absurdity is going to come from?

Lori