Lots to talk about today, so I'm just going to dive in and get started.
Thank you Robin! The rule is to pass this along to 5 other blogs that are either new or new to me.
Lately, I've been exploring the blogosphere and in some ways it is a daunting task, much like looking at the stars, when you realize the sheer number of blogs out there, it can start to make you feel very very small. At the same time though, there are also so many wonderful blogs hosted by funny, brilliant, and intriguing people - that I also feel lucky to be able to discover them.
Lately, I've been exploring the blogosphere and in some ways it is a daunting task, much like looking at the stars, when you realize the sheer number of blogs out there, it can start to make you feel very very small. At the same time though, there are also so many wonderful blogs hosted by funny, brilliant, and intriguing people - that I also feel lucky to be able to discover them.
So with no further ado here are five blogs that I have recently become quite attached to:
1. Annie Writes About Writing Not only is this blog new to me, but it is new to Annie as well, she just started it back at the beginning of February. What I love about Annie's blog is her sense of enthusiasm and excitement about the writing process.
2. Crimogenic - Isn't that just an awesome name for a blog? I just like the way it looks on the page. Also, I like the blog itself. I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago when I saw a link to it in the sidebar of new blog chainer Kat's blog with a posting that reviewed The Time Traveler's Wife. Since I had just recently read this book myself and it was fresh in my mind I was interested to hear another persons take on it. I thought her observations were dead on and became a fan of her blog.
3. Help! I Need a Publisher! (and maybe an agent...?) This blog is written by Nicola Morgan an award winning author who lives in Scotland. Not only is this blog full of great writing advice, but it also has some really hysterically funny stories like this one about doing a reading in a coffee shop for a bunch of schoolchildren. If this story does not make you laugh out loud, then there is probably something seriously wrong with you.
4. Old Picture of The Day - This blog is as simple and straightforward as it's title - each day an old picture is posted. For me this blog is under the inspiration category, and some of these intriguing pictures have already sent story ideas swirling through my brain. Check out this police woman from the 20's, daughter of a sharecropper, or dig through and find one of your favorites!
5. Thursday Night Smackdown - Finally, besides blogs dedicated to writing and reading I always love a good cooking blog, preferably with lots of mouthwatering pictures that allow me to live vicariously. TNS easily fulfills the picture requirement, but also delivers lots of laughs full of tart commentary and funny captions. A recent post featured a recipe for bacon toffee. Yes, I know, it sounds so good you want to lick the words on your computer screen. Don't do it, it'll just leave an ugly smear... not that I know for experience... I'm just saying.
Okay, so the award part of this post is over and now we are moving onto the blog meme part in conjunction with a blog posting from Elana at Mindless Musings today.
Here's the deal she listed 7 things about herself and challenged her readers to find one thing they have in common with her list and use that as the first of their seven and then add six more. If you're reading this and have something in common with one of my seven feel free to join the chain by posting your own entry using one of mine as your number 1 and make sure to leave a link in the comments.
For my number one I am going to use Elana's number 6:
6. I have severe addictions to the following: Oreos, bacon, dying my hair, watching reality TV, driving too fast, laughing too loud, sleeping in on the weekend, facebook, blogging, reading, stamping, salt, writing, downloading songs from iTunes and making copious numbers of (unlabeled) CDs, and eating out. It's a good thing I don't smoke or drink.
To make this my own number one though I need to make a few small changes...
1. I have severe addictions to the following: The filling in Oreos but not the blechy supposedly chocolate cookies attached to it, bacon, no longer dying my hair (I went through all the colors while in college), watching reality TV, driving too fast, laughing, sleeping in on the weekend, facebook, blogging, reading, stamping my feet when I don't get my way, writing, listening to free streaming music on Imeem, and making meals at home that taste better than ones we could get while going out. It's a good thing I don't smoke.
2. I have four sisters and no brothers. I am the second oldest and will be thirty in exactly two weeks, while my youngest sister, the "baby", just turned 21 last month. So far we have gone in order getting married. My oldest sister, Ann, got married in 2002, I got married in 2005, and my next sister in line, Amanda, is getting married this September. That leaves the last two, Nicole and Bridget, to continue the tradition.
3. I've had around thirty different jobs from the time I was sixteen to the present. The longest I ever worked one job was my first one at a Boston Market - I was there for almost two years.
Other jobs that I've held include: telemarketing, restaurant hostess and waitress at many different places including Bob Evans, Melting Pot, and Olive Garden, Niagara Falls tour guide which included getting a special license to drive the gigantic van around, Gap employee, factory line worker (for a week), data entry, administrative assistant, receptionist, janitor (my friend Jenny and I did this nights during our Sophomore year to save up money to be able to move into an apartment and out of the dorms the next year. The highlight was a car dealership and the task of cleaning the mechanic's bathroom. It was every bit as bad as you might imagine... no, actually, probably more.), day camp counselor, and grocery store cashier.
There are more, but I can't think of them all now. Currently, I have a freelance transcription job.
Other jobs that I've held include: telemarketing, restaurant hostess and waitress at many different places including Bob Evans, Melting Pot, and Olive Garden, Niagara Falls tour guide which included getting a special license to drive the gigantic van around, Gap employee, factory line worker (for a week), data entry, administrative assistant, receptionist, janitor (my friend Jenny and I did this nights during our Sophomore year to save up money to be able to move into an apartment and out of the dorms the next year. The highlight was a car dealership and the task of cleaning the mechanic's bathroom. It was every bit as bad as you might imagine... no, actually, probably more.), day camp counselor, and grocery store cashier.
There are more, but I can't think of them all now. Currently, I have a freelance transcription job.
4. My worst fear when I was pregnant with my son was that I might have to have a C-section. The idea of being cut open while I was awake seemed like something out of a horror film. And, of course, I ended up having an emergency c-section. It was less horrible than I thought it would be mostly due to 2 factors: My wonderful husband who held my hand through it all and the lovely anesthesiologist who whispered to me right before they began cutting that he had given me some morphine. Oooh, Doctor, you know just the words a girl wants to hear.
5. I am a terrible dancer. I know this because as part of my theatre class schedule as an undergrad, I had to take a dance class every semester. First jazz, then ballet, then tap, and finally more jazz. I sucked pretty equally at all of them, except for tap, which I sucked just a little bit extra in.
The teachers of all those classes used a similar refrain of: "You'll need to know or be able to do blah blah blah when you're at a dance audition." Well, by my junior year when I was taking tap, I was pretty sick of hearing this since I already knew damn well that there would be no dance auditions in my future.
So, when I explained to my teacher that while I knew and could do the steps of a specific dance correctly, just not (unfortunately) at the speed of the music it was supposed to be done to, she gave me the old, "Well, what would you do if you were at a dance audition."
So, when I explained to my teacher that while I knew and could do the steps of a specific dance correctly, just not (unfortunately) at the speed of the music it was supposed to be done to, she gave me the old, "Well, what would you do if you were at a dance audition."
I think I laughed, and then I made the mistake of telling the truth. "I will never BE at a dance audition." Yes, I distinctly remembering emphasizing the be.
My teacher did not like that. I think she said something like, "Fine." And then she took off her taps, flung them into a corner of the studio and announced that class was over even though we still had ten minutes left.
The rest of my classmates looked at me in horror as we filed into the changing room. "Kate, what did you do?" I honestly didn't know. I just told the truth. I wasn't saying that it was her fault, or that she had failed me as a teacher, but rather with the stressed BE, I was trying to convey that this was just something at the core of who I am. I am a person who cannot dance.
6. I have never had a cavity, and I never had my wisdom teeth taken out. For these reasons I am one of the few people who does not mind going to the dentist.
7. Wow. This last one is really straining my brain. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to think up seven things about yourself, but then you sit down to do it and suddenly you are realizing that you are the worlds' most uninteresting person.
How about this? I am a Pisces. It's a water sign as in wishy-washy. And it's a fish, which when cooked is flaky. Sadly, there are times when this sign sums me up perfectly.
Whooooo! Done.
Okay, now it's your turn to play along. If you're reading this consider yourself tagged - now go!
7. Wow. This last one is really straining my brain. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to think up seven things about yourself, but then you sit down to do it and suddenly you are realizing that you are the worlds' most uninteresting person.
How about this? I am a Pisces. It's a water sign as in wishy-washy. And it's a fish, which when cooked is flaky. Sadly, there are times when this sign sums me up perfectly.
Whooooo! Done.
Okay, now it's your turn to play along. If you're reading this consider yourself tagged - now go!
