Category: me

mmmm: on the blogroll

mmmmWhen I come across a blog that is new to me, one of the first things I do is look for a blogroll. It gives me some insight into the person behind the blog: tastes, humor, worldview and whatnot. It’s fun to see if I recognize any blogs on the list, and to see if we share common interests. It reminds me a bit of my tendency to go right to the references section of an article I’m reading when I’m in research mode.

Why I have a blogroll

I see the blogroll as a courtesy feature of a blog. Potential visitors can get insight into who I am by way of who I know. It’s a courtesy to the bloggers on the list, as I am potentially sending them traffic, whether directly through people who like to explore blogrolls, or by adding to their rankings for search engines or Technorati. Foremost, my blogroll acknowledges that I read and enjoy those blogs (and/or that those people read and enjoy my blog). Like a references section in a journal article, it lists the bloggers whose voices have influenced and inspired my own writing.

Who is on my blogroll?

If I list a blog in my blogroll, it means that I regularly read that blog. I may miss a post here and there when my life gets hectic, or may skim over a long post on a topic that is alien to me (such as about a TV show I don’t watch). But if a blog is up there, that means I am a loyal reader.

I admit that there are blogs in my feed reader that I have not put on my blogroll. Usually it’s because I haven’t established a rapport with those bloggers. Sometimes I’ve just forgotten to add a blog.

Some of the blogs there are fairly dormant. This applies especially to a few of my near and dear real life friends who started blogs, but didn’t keep them going for long. (But they should have!)

I’m considering paring down the list, and removing blogs that have not been updated in, say, 6 months. (So post something if this applies to you!)

Removing blogs from the blogroll

It makes me sad to remove blogs from my blogroll, and I’ve done so only a few times. Mostly this has been when a blogger has deleted the blog or made it private. In at least one case I took a blog down after faithfully reading a blog and leaving comments for an extended time, and never getting back any sign of a visit back from that blogger. Another time I noticed that my own blog was removed from a blogroll, so I responded by removing that blog from my own.

Adding to the blogroll

I usually will add to my blogroll if I find my blog on a blogroll, and/or if I get regular comments from the blog author. I used to be fairly stubborn about not adding blogs without these happenings. Now I’m quicker to add if I find a blog I like (and if I happen to be in the mood to add links).

I’ve been rather hesitant to add big, high profile blogs to my blogroll, but I have started to do that more. There are now several big blogs in my sidebar whose authors don’t read my blog, though they have at some point been courteous enough to come by for a visit and leave a comment (or otherwise acknowledge my existence).

to blogroll or not to blogroll

I’m not quite sure why some people don’t have them. (Well, laziness I understand, if that’s the reason.) Some prefer instead to share favorites from their feeds, some prefer to link to blogs in posts. I think these ways of expressing appreciation for other bloggers are great, but for me don’t supplant the blogroll.

It seems that some people find blogrolls quaint and outdated. Well, call me quaint and outdated. (It wouldn’t be the first time.)

Still others prefer to keep their reading lists to themselves.

Where I stick it

My blogroll has gotten a bit unwieldy, but I still like having it on my front page. In fact, I like having a theme that keeps the sidebar showing for all pages. Some people think a gigantic blogroll clutters the page, and detracts. But I like giving it the extra exposure. Call me cluttered. (It wouldn’t be the first time.)

Blogrolling by numbers
And to demonstrate my compulsive tendencies, I actually counted up the blogs currently on my blogroll, and tallied up how many had blogrolls. I made a spreadsheet. Call me a dork. (It wouldn’t be the first time.)

    blogs on my blogroll: 78
    blogs on my blogroll with blogrolls: 58
    blogs on my blogroll with blogrolls with my blog: 47

Blogroll me, baby!
In case you haven’t guessed it, I like being listed on blogrolls. It feels like support and validation. Also that acknowledgment of existence, which I seem so partial to.

So, what are your thought on blogrolls?

This was the first post of the metablogging series I threatened to write as part of my self-declared Merry Merry Month of Metablogging.

picking myself up

Dear diary,

Another day has gone by, and I’ve been overlooked yet again.

When she grabbed for me a couple of days ago, I nearly burst at the seams from excitement. But then I nearly burst at the seams when she tried me on. I guess I don’t quite fit the way I used to. Maybe I shrank in the wash. She just tossed me aside, half-way inside out. I felt so exposed.

My mother used to say “you’ll be put on one leg at a time just like everybody else.” But I always thought I could do better than that. These days, I’d settle for just being worn on one leg. Or at least to be folded up in a drawer with some dignity.

Some days, I wish I could just pick myself up off the floor.

—

So the Monday Mission for this week was to write a post in the style of a diary entry.

I used to keep journals. I wrote really often when I was 17 through 20. I still have all those books, lined up on a bookshelf next to my bed. I don’t really look at them, and certainly never read them. I largely forget their existence. But for the assignment I thought “wouldn’t it be funny to post a real journal entry?” So I went and had a look last night. I picked up a few of the journals, and flipped through them, looking for something entertaining. I tell you, I am slightly scarred from the experience. At 17, I was insecure about my looks and my self-worth, wasting time and energy dieting and suffering from unrequited affections. And I took myself way, way too seriously.

I can say that, without doubt, I like myself much more than I did back then. I wouldn’t go back for anything. I’ll take 37 over 17 any day.

the soundtrack of my life

This wrinkle in time, I cant give it no credit
I thought about my space and I really got me down

                                “Headache,” Frank Black

I have a headache I haven’t quite been able to shake for the last couple of days. I’m also generally feeling pretty run down. I think sleep deprivation has been catching up with me.

So why aren’t you going to bed, then, Alejna?

Well, I’ll be off to bed soon. But first I wanted to post this assignment I saw over at I’m Just Sayin:

Here’s how it works:
1. Open your music library on iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, or whatever
1. Shuffle it
3. For every ‘scene’ below, type the title and the artist in the order the songs come up

OR

1. If you’re old and don’t have your tunes online, close your eyes and pull out 16 CDs, albums, cassettes, 8-tracks or 78s.¹
2. Actually shuffle them. Be careful, though — they’re antiques.
3. Type in the first title and artist for each scene below
4. Whichever way you do it, no cheating!

So, here’s my soundtrack:

Waking up: You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby, The Smiths
Falling in Love: Perfect Kiss, New Order
Fight Song: No No Raja, Moxy Fruvous
Breaking Up: Post Script, Catatonia
Prom: Martha Avenue Love Song, Innocence Mission
Life: More Than This, Charlie Hunter featuring…
Mental Breakdown: Pretty Pathetic, Smoking Popes
Driving: Shake the Disease, Depeche Mode
Flash Back: Oh Do Not Fly Away, Innocence Mission
Getting Back Together: Pretty Good Year, Tori Amos
Wedding: Ode to My Family, The Cranberries
Birth of a Child: I Ain’t Gone Under Yet, Neneh Cherry
Final Battle: Fire on Babylon, Sinead O’Connor
Death Scene: Punk to Funk, Fatboy Slim
Funeral Song: Photographic, Depeche Mode
End Credits: Paid to Smile, Lemonheads

I think that works.² It’s just missing Frank Black’s “Headache” for the montage of the last couple of days.

——

¹ I’ve seen variations of this floating around before, but I enjoyed Becky’s suggestion of shuffling the stack of 8-tracks.

² I will confess to having cheated slightly. The first shuffle I got was a load of stuff I either don’t like, and would skip over instead of listening to, or don’t even know. Which suggests to me that I need to clean out my iPod. But the list above is a real and genuine second shuffle.

making my list, checking it twice

I saw this meme over at azahar’s, and found myself going over the list without really meaning to. It’s clearly related to a list that was going around last year, which I posted. There’s a fair amount of overlap. But what the hey, it’s different enough.

Things I’ve done are in bold. Things I’d like to do have a star*. I threw in an extra star for things that I really, really would like to do at some point. (And my assorted comments are in parentheses.)

1. Started my own blog (Duh.)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band* (I was in a high school orchestra for a couple of months, but didn’t really play anywhere.)
4. Visited Hawaii (Lived there, even.)
5. Watched a meteor shower*
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (Not since I was about 4 or 5.)
8. Climbed a mountain (A small one.)
9. Held a praying mantis (Am I missing something here?)
10. Sung a solo* (But I might in a couple of days!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea (Maybe I have done this. I don’t recall.)
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child*
16. Had food poisoning (Probably. Not of the stomach-pumping variety, but bad enough to knock me down for a couple of days.)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty*
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person* (But I have seen Iguassu Falls.)
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors*
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I don’t like the assumption here that lack of money is what keeps most people from being truly satisfied.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David* (I possibly have. I visited museums in Florence. I know I should remember, but I don’t.)
41. Sung karaoke (In Japan, even!)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt*
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa**
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater* (Well, I’ve never seen a movie at one. The town fair this year was held at our local drive-in, though.)
55. Been in a movie. (My voice was, ever-so-briefly, in a dubbed version of something obscure and French.)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China**
57. Started a business* (I kind of have. I’ve done some selling of crafts, but never officially started a business.)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia**
60. Served at a soup kitchen*
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching* (I have seen dolphins in the wild, though!)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma*
65. Gone sky diving* (Well, I used to want to do this. I don’t feel as strongly about it anymore.)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a cheque (Woohoo! I’ve never bungee jumped, but I have bounced a check!)
68. Flown in a helicopter* (Apparently I did in utero.)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (Just one?)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt*
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades*
75. Been fired from a job (I did get more or less laid off when a store closed.)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (Nope. Not even someone else’s.)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book* (Well, I’m an editor of a couple of published proceedings volumes. Those are books.)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (I have read the words “the entire Bible.” Just now I even typed them.)
86. Visited the White House* (I haven’t been on the inside. I’ve been outside on the street. I think.)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury*
91. Met someone famous (I once served breakfast to olympic medalist Kristi Yamaguchi when I was a waitress, though.)
92. Joined a book club (Led one, even.)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person (I can’t remember…)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant* (Huh. I don’t remember ever doing this. But Phoebe has, and she’s only 2. And she could only check off one other thing on this list. If she could even read.)

Last time I got 56 out of 150, or 37%. This time I got 47 out of 100, giving (obviously) 47%. You’d think that I’ve been really busy this past year getting things accomplished, but none of the items are new. (Well, I did have a baby in the last year, but I’d done that before, too.)

Last time I did this, I also threatened to write more about some of the experiences listed. I even took requests. I’m still hoping to write about those things at some point.

If anyone wants stories for any of the above items, let me know. (“Alejna, tell me about the time you got stung by a bee! And did you really once bounce a check? Wow…”)

The Curse of the Mummy Blogger

We had our Halloween party last Friday. It was a “costumes optional” affair. As hostess, of course I had to dress up. (Okay, fine. I love to dress up.) I decided to be a mummy. It seemed appropriate. You know, seeing as I’ve been pretty wrapped up in myself. And feel a bit holed up and isolated. And starting to feel old. Now that the air is getting dry with the crisp outdoor air and heated indoor air, my skin is a getting a bit shrivelled. (I don’t have time to shower most days, let alone moisturize…)

Oh, right. And then there’s the whole pun business. How could I resist?

My costume was a bit better in planning than in execution, but I guess it worked well enough. (It might not surprise you to learn that I ran out of time.) I used an old white sheet that had been in our rag pile, and tore it into strips. I then soaked the sheet in tea. (I used Lapsang Souchong, because I have a lot, and don’t drink it much. I also figured the musty smell would work.) I wore an off-white shirt and some off-white pajama pants, and wrapped myself. I stitched here and there and safety pinned to hold things in place. There wasn’t too much time, as I started the wrapping about an hour before the start of the party, so I didn’t manage to wrap as much of myself as I’d hoped. Ah well.

John didn’t get any pictures till the end of the night, by which time I was largely unravelled. But you can still get the effect. (Go see the picture…if you dare…)

I also made Theo’s costume, though not Phoebe’s. Phoebe was a bunny, which was her idea. And a harder costume to track down than you might imagine. Theo was a carrot. I’ll try to get some pictures.

my 100 movies: the second 50

So, a couple of nights ago, I posted a list of my favorite movies. (Inspired by lists from Webs of Significance and Falling Stones are Not Heavy) The lists that inspired me were of 100 movies, but in order that I might get to sleep that night, I focused on my favorite 50. Tonight I’m posting the next 50.

Here’s the thing. It was pretty easy to make a list of my real all-time favorite movies. The movies I have watched over and over. The ones I can quote from easily. The ones I will reach for as audio-visual comfort food.

The trouble is, that list was only about 40 or so long with my initial braindump. A bit more poking around (in my brain, DVD cabinet, and Amazon ratings) filled out another 30 or 40 pretty easily. It’s been harder deciding which others should fill out the rest of the 100.

It’s funny to realize that I’m choosing a few movies that I consider quite cheezy, and even some that I’m slightly embarrassed about. Meanwhile, I’m leaving off most of the greatest films ever made. (If I were to make a list of the best films I’ve ever seen, my list would be quite different.)

  1. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
  2. 101 Dalmatians (1961)
  3. The Addams Family (1991)
  4. Addams Family Values (1993)
  5. Amélie (Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain) (2001)
  6. Back to the Future (1985)
  7. Batman Returns (1992)
  8. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  9. A Bug’s Life (1998)
  10. Charlie’s Angels (2000)
  11. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  12. Conspiracy Theory (1997)
  13. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
  14. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
  15. The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down a Mountain (1995)
  16. Ever After (1998)
  17. The Fisher King (1991)
  18. Gone with the Wind (1939)
  19. Heathers (1989)
  20. Iron Monkey (1993)
  21. Jurassic Park (1993)
  22. L.A. Story (1991)
  23. Ladyhawke (1985)
  24. Little Voice (1998)
  25. The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
  26. The Matchmaker (1997)
  27. Memento (2000)
  28. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
  29. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
  30. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
  31. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
  32. Peking Opera Blues (1986)
  33. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
  34. Pleasantville (1998)
  35. The Replacement Killers (1998)
  36. Roger and Me (1989)
  37. Roman Holiday (1953)
  38. Say Anything… (1989)
  39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
  40. Splash (1984)
  41. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
  42. Strange Days (1995)
  43. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
  44. Tank Girl (1995)
  45. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  46. To Catch a Thief (1955)
  47. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
  48. The Truman Show (1998)
  49. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
  50. Wing Chun (1994)

my 100 movies: the first 50

A few weeks back, I saw a post by YTSL of Webs of Significance listing 100 movies “which have particularly impacted and/or impressed [her] over the years.” Not too surprisingly, this list inspired me to think about listing my own personal favorite movies. (YTSL had, in turn, been inspired by a list of movies at Falling Stones are Not Heavy of that author’s own 100 movies to which he felt a particularly strong connection.)

Seeing as it’s late at night, I will start by posting only 50 movies. This first half of my 100 movies includes my all-time favorite movies, though I have not ranked them here. I have instead followed YTSL’s lead and simply listed them alphabetically.

These movies are not necessarily all good movies (though many are great ones) but I have connected with them in some way. It amuses me to see the recurring themes in the movies I list: dark humor and paranoia, time distortion and surrealism, silliness and whimsy, as well as women kicking some ass. My weaknesses for costume dramas and musically-oriented movies are also revealed. Anyone notice any other trends?

  1. 12 Monkeys (1995)
  2. Amadeus (1984)
  3. Beetle Juice (1988)
  4. Best in Show (2000)
  5. The Big Lebowski (1998)
  6. Bob Roberts (1992)
  7. Brazil (1985)
  8. The Cable Guy (1996)
  9. Chasing Amy (1997)
  10. Clueless (1995)
  11. Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
  12. The Commitments (1991)
  13. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
  14. Dead Again (1991)
  15. Fargo (1996)
  16. The Fugitive (1993)
  17. The Full Monty (1997)
  18. Gosford Park (2001)
  19. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
  20. Groundhog Day (1993)
  21. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
  22. Lone Star (1996)
  23. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
  24. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  25. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
  26. Mystery Men (1999)
  27. Office Space (1999)
  28. The Princess Bride (1987)
  29. The Professional/Léon (1994)
  30. The Remains of the Day (1993)
  31. Run, Lola, Run (1998)
  32. The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
  33. Serenity (2005)
  34. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
  35. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  36. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
  37. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
  38. The Sound of Music (1965)
  39. Supercop (Police Story 3: Supercop) (1992)
  40. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
  41. Tremors (1990)
  42. Truly Madly Deeply (1990)
  43. The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996)
  44. Unbreakable (2000)
  45. West Side Story (1961)
  46. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
  47. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
  48. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  49. Wolf (1994)
  50. Zero Effect (1998)

nutty as a fruitcake, happy as a clam

I’ve been keeping something under my hat. I’ve been going on lately about how I have a lot on my plate, crabbing that I have may have bitten off more than I can chew. Sometimes I run around like a chicken with its head cut off. And then I’ve also been feeling pretty under the weather, with my head in a fog half the time. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles. And as things stand, come hell or high water, I’m about to open up a whole new can of worms.

I can certainly be one to beat around the bush, and you may well wish I’d just let the cat out of the bag and talk turkey. I mean, here I am, dragging things out at a snail’s pace, as slow as molasses in January. I could just sit around and chew the fat till the cows come home. But I suppose I should just come clean, take the bull by the horns, and spill the beans. So here’s the dirt, in a nutshell: I’ve got a bun in the oven.

allow me to bore you

YTSL of Webs of Significance tagged me (ages ago) for this “unimportant things” meme, the task of which is to list six unimportant items about myself. Seeing as I talk about myself all the freakin’ time, it’s become harder to come up with lists of things about myself that I haven’t revealed in a post. (cf. 6 weird things about me, 7 little known things about me, and 6 guilty pleasures I indulge in.) Whereas it would greatly amuse me to make things up, and maybe I’ll do that one of these days, I have decided to dredge up more insignificant factoids.

  1. I sneeze when I eat dark chocolate. As in the really dark, 70% cacao or above, kind. Strong mints have the same effect. If I eat white Tic-Tacs, I will sneeze exactly once per Tic-Tac that I eat, within a few seconds of putting it in my mouth.
  2. I don’t like bell peppers. I particularly don’t like green bell peppers. I find it irritating that a lot of vegetarian food has lots of peppers in it.
  3. I have crooked teeth. Not hugely crooked, but enough that you will rarely see me smile with my teeth visible in photos.
  4. My body doesn’t self-regulate its temperature very well. My hands and feet tend to get very cold in the winter. In the summer, I often overheat, since I tend to sweat very little.
  5. I have very dry skin. This, along with the previous item, makes me feel somewhat reptilian. (Well, not really.)
  6. But, speaking of reptiles, I like lizards. (I’ve never had one as a pet, though. They felt a bit like pets in Hawaii, though, the way the ran around on the walls. This may be the source of my appreciation for lizards.) I have somewhat of a collection of things with a lizard motif, but am glad they are somewhat subtle in our home. Some of my friends and relatives have given and/or made me some really cool lizard things over the years.

This meme comes along with some rules, which you can see at YTSL’s if you like. (Ha! I’m breaking a rule just by not posting them. I am a rebel!) But I’ll mention the tagging bit: “Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.”

I’ve decided to have a bit of fun with the idea of “six random people.” I have (more arbitrarily than randomly) chosen the last 6 people to use the tag “randomness” on WordPress.com at the time that I checked. I tag, and offer to you, this list of six lovely semi-randomly chosen lovers of randomness (along with their last posts of randomness).

  1. ladyhustler of Simple Complexities (how to write a Haiku)
  2. maddie of alive & amplified (This distance)
  3. theblossoms of Blossom-ing (schizophrenic)
  4. Carrie of in the process of living (Looking forward.)
  5. blandable of Bland Musings (Poetry Saga part Deux)
  6. Olivia of Olivia’s Total Randomness (Things I Love)