Taken from Miserablebliss:
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Hmmm... I was found saying repeatedly that I love my job. And I love my job.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make them. If you want to do it, a year start won't make you do it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A few teachers had babies. And a few cousins.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My grandmother.
5. What countries did you visit?
The US.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Relaxation. In a way that makes things all very chill. And more money.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Hard to say. I don't really think back on dates, just feelings around events. Hearing that my grandmother died and then several months later visiting her joint grave with my grandfather. Our vacation. Sushi with Lynette. Chocolate Covered Strawberries with Liz.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting better.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not taking enough time to enjoy things.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. I just got over some illnesses and injuries that caused some issues for a while this year. I did trip and I think in doing that I broke my baby toe, but generally, it's not been a bad year.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I didn't buy a whole lot. My sling back pack has been great. There were a few things we bought that we keep saying are wonderful but I can't remember then right now. Things that we bought as a family such as our kitchen table are way up there.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My husbands. He worked long long days and longer nights. And then he came back and adjusted well to being off the road.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Unsure. Mine at times. Different people at different times. Different students at different times. Hard to say.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills. Payments. The Son.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
New kitchen table. Painted bathroom. Seeing Lynette. Taking charge of events in my life.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
'The greatest man who ever lived' by Weezer. Rocking out to in in the car on our trip is a fantastic memory.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter
c) richer or poorer? About the same.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Knitting, baking, relaxing.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family. It was full but relaxed.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No, but I stayed in love and developed that a bit more.
22. What was your favourite TV program?
This season of 'The Unit'. 'The IT Crowd'.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No, but there is someone I have less respect for.
24. What was the best book you read?
Hmmm... I read a lot.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Rivers Como solo.
26. What did you want and get?
Healthy.
27. What did you want and not get?
More 'Chapters' gift cards.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
In theatre, it was the musical 'Rent' (the final Broadway showing was filmed).
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 32. We went out to supper, went out to breakfast had my parents over. It was nice.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More money so I could relax more and be able to do some things that I felt restricted about.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Stuff that kinda fits.
32. What kept you sane?
Who says I was sane? :)
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I didn't really. Hilary Clinton and Obama kept my attention.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The American Election.
35. Who did you miss?
Lynette. And Cherie.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
Liz.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Make friends.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
After watching the son grow up so much "It was pain, sunny days and grey, I knew you'd feel the same thing. Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, And everybody does It's so weird to be back here. Let me tell you what: The years go on and we're still fighting it, we're still fighting it. And you're so much like me. I'm sorry" (Ben Folds: Still Fighting It)
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
I miss writing
I miss the time when I had something to say and time to say it.
I miss taking the time to pick words carefully and constructing my thoughts in a text format.
I miss the feeling of posting a thought process, an event, a theory and getting it into the world.
I miss it.
Here's hoping I soon have time to do it.
I miss taking the time to pick words carefully and constructing my thoughts in a text format.
I miss the feeling of posting a thought process, an event, a theory and getting it into the world.
I miss it.
Here's hoping I soon have time to do it.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
meme (memememememememememe)
Bold the ones you’ve done and add one at the end…
1. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins.
3. Climbed a mountain.
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive.
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid.
6. Held a tarantula.
e7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
8. Said “I love you” and meant it.
9. Hugged a tree.
10. Done a striptease.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Stayed up all night long, and watched the sun rise.
15. Seen the Northern Lights.
16. Gone to a huge sports game. (for certain definitions of huge)
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables.
19. Touched an iceberg.
20. Slept under the stars.
21. Changed a baby’s diaper.
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon.
23. Watched a meteor shower.
24. Gotten drunk on champagne.
25. Given more than you can afford to charity.
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope.
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment.
28. Had a food fight.
29. Bet on a winning horse/dog.
30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
31. Asked out a stranger.
32. Had a snowball fight.
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier.
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can.
35. Held a lamb.
36. Enacted a favourite fantasy.
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip.
38. Taken an ice cold bath.
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar.
40. Seen a total eclipse.
41. Ridden a roller coaster.
42. Hit a home run.
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days.
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking.
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day.
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment.
48. Had two hard drives for your computer.
49. Visited all 50 states.
50. Loved your job for all accounts.
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced.
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
53. Had amazing friends.
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
55. Watched wild whales.
56. Stolen a sign.
57. Backpacked in Europe.
58. Taken a road-trip.
59. Rock climbing.
60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice.
61. Midnight walk on the beach.
62. Sky diving.
63. Visited Ireland.
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love.
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them.
66. Visited Japan.
67. Bench pressed your own weight.
68. Milked a cow.
69. Alphabetized your albums.
70. Pretended to be a superhero.
71. Sung karaoke.
72. Lounged around in bed all day.
73. Posed nude in front of strangers.
74. Scuba diving.
75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye.
76. Kissed in the rain.
77. Played in the mud.
78. Played in the rain.
79. Gone to a drive-in movie theatre.
80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it.
81. Visited the Great Wall of China.
82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog.
83. Dropped Windows in favour of something better.
84. Started a business.
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken.
86. Toured ancient sites.
87. Taken a martial arts class.
88. Sword fought for the honour of a woman.
89. Played D&D or another RPG for more than 6 hours straight.
90. Gotten married.
91. Been in a movie.
92. Crashed a party.
93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have.
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy.
95. Gotten divorced.
96. Had sex at the office.
97. Gone without food for 5 days.
98. Made cookies from scratch.
99. Won first prize in a costume contest.
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
101. Gotten a tattoo.
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on.
103. Rafted the Snake River.
104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”.
105. Got flowers for no reason.
106. Masturbated in a public place.
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything.
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug.
109. Performd on stage.
110. Been to Las Vegas.
111. Recorded music.
112. Eaten shark.
113. Had a one-night stand.
114. Gone to Thailand.
115. Seen Siouxsie live.
116. Bought a house.
117. Been in a combat zone.
118. Buried one/both of your parents.
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off.
120. Been on a cruise ship.
121. Spoken more than one language fluently.
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone.
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror.
125. Read - and understood - your credit report.
126. Raised children.
127. Recently bought and played with a favourite childhood toy.
128. Followed your favourite band/singer on tour.
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars.
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country.
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did.
132. Called or written to your MP/Congressperson.
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over.
134. …more than once?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge.
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking.
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did.
138. Had plastic surgery.
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived.
140. Wrote articles for a large publication.
141. Lost over 100 pounds.
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback.
143. Piloted an airplane.
144. Petted a stingray.
145. Broken someone’s heart.
146. Helped an animal give birth.
147. Been fired or laid off from a job.
148. Won money on a TV game show.
149. Broken a bone.
150. Killed a human being.
151. Gone on an African photo safari.
152. Ridden a motorcycle.
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph.
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced.
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol.
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild.
157. Ridden a horse.
158. Had major surgery.
159. Had sex on a moving train.
160. Had a snake as a pet.
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing.
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours.
164. Visited more foreign countries than US states.
165. Visited all 7 continents.
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days.
167. Eaten kangaroo meat.
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground.
169. Been a sperm or egg donor.
170. Eaten sushi.
171. Had your picture in the newspaper.
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime.
173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about.
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions.
175. Gone back to school.
176. Parasailed.
177. Changed your name.
178. Petted a cockroach.
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes.
180. Read The Iliad.
181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read.
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them.
183. …and gotten barred from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you.
184. Taught yourself art from scratch.
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt.
187. Skipped all your school reunions.
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language.
189. Been elected to public office.
190. Written your own computer language.
191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream.
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care.
193. Built your own PC from parts.
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you.
195. Had a booth at a street fair.
196. Dyed your hair.
197. Been a DJ.
198. Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal.
199. Written your own role playing game.
200. Given a tramp a sponge-bath
201. masturbated a caged laboratory animal
202. pretented you liked kevin-smith movies when you secretly didn’t
203. deliberately, personally, and purposefully insult someone to their face to cause as much harm as possible
204. sold any part of your body, or any product from it, for money?
205. had a secret published in post-secret?
206. sent food or wine back in a restaurant?
207. and regretted it?
208. Seen a bioluminescent tide.
209. Robbed a grave?
210. Taken a microgravity airplane (or spacecraft!) ride?
211. Inspired a painter.
212. Had a three-way conversation, speaking 3 different languages (sometimes all 3 in one sentence) and everyone understood.
213. Held a raptor in your hand.
214. Been excommunicated from a major religion.
215. Breastfed during a rock concert.
216. used fake ID
217. Held a new born baby.
1. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins.
3. Climbed a mountain.
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive.
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid.
6. Held a tarantula.
e7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
8. Said “I love you” and meant it.
9. Hugged a tree.
10. Done a striptease.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Stayed up all night long, and watched the sun rise.
15. Seen the Northern Lights.
16. Gone to a huge sports game. (for certain definitions of huge)
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables.
19. Touched an iceberg.
20. Slept under the stars.
21. Changed a baby’s diaper.
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon.
23. Watched a meteor shower.
24. Gotten drunk on champagne.
25. Given more than you can afford to charity.
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope.
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment.
28. Had a food fight.
29. Bet on a winning horse/dog.
30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
31. Asked out a stranger.
32. Had a snowball fight.
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier.
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can.
35. Held a lamb.
36. Enacted a favourite fantasy.
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip.
38. Taken an ice cold bath.
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar.
40. Seen a total eclipse.
41. Ridden a roller coaster.
42. Hit a home run.
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days.
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking.
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day.
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment.
48. Had two hard drives for your computer.
49. Visited all 50 states.
50. Loved your job for all accounts.
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced.
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
53. Had amazing friends.
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
55. Watched wild whales.
56. Stolen a sign.
57. Backpacked in Europe.
58. Taken a road-trip.
59. Rock climbing.
60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice.
61. Midnight walk on the beach.
62. Sky diving.
63. Visited Ireland.
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love.
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them.
66. Visited Japan.
67. Bench pressed your own weight.
68. Milked a cow.
69. Alphabetized your albums.
70. Pretended to be a superhero.
71. Sung karaoke.
72. Lounged around in bed all day.
73. Posed nude in front of strangers.
74. Scuba diving.
75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye.
76. Kissed in the rain.
77. Played in the mud.
78. Played in the rain.
79. Gone to a drive-in movie theatre.
80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it.
81. Visited the Great Wall of China.
82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog.
83. Dropped Windows in favour of something better.
84. Started a business.
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken.
86. Toured ancient sites.
87. Taken a martial arts class.
88. Sword fought for the honour of a woman.
89. Played D&D or another RPG for more than 6 hours straight.
90. Gotten married.
91. Been in a movie.
92. Crashed a party.
93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have.
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy.
95. Gotten divorced.
96. Had sex at the office.
97. Gone without food for 5 days.
98. Made cookies from scratch.
99. Won first prize in a costume contest.
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
101. Gotten a tattoo.
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on.
103. Rafted the Snake River.
104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”.
105. Got flowers for no reason.
106. Masturbated in a public place.
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything.
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug.
109. Performd on stage.
110. Been to Las Vegas.
111. Recorded music.
112. Eaten shark.
113. Had a one-night stand.
114. Gone to Thailand.
115. Seen Siouxsie live.
116. Bought a house.
117. Been in a combat zone.
118. Buried one/both of your parents.
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off.
120. Been on a cruise ship.
121. Spoken more than one language fluently.
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone.
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror.
125. Read - and understood - your credit report.
126. Raised children.
127. Recently bought and played with a favourite childhood toy.
128. Followed your favourite band/singer on tour.
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars.
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country.
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did.
132. Called or written to your MP/Congressperson.
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over.
134. …more than once?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge.
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking.
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did.
138. Had plastic surgery.
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived.
140. Wrote articles for a large publication.
141. Lost over 100 pounds.
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback.
143. Piloted an airplane.
144. Petted a stingray.
145. Broken someone’s heart.
146. Helped an animal give birth.
147. Been fired or laid off from a job.
148. Won money on a TV game show.
149. Broken a bone.
150. Killed a human being.
151. Gone on an African photo safari.
152. Ridden a motorcycle.
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph.
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced.
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol.
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild.
157. Ridden a horse.
158. Had major surgery.
159. Had sex on a moving train.
160. Had a snake as a pet.
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing.
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours.
164. Visited more foreign countries than US states.
165. Visited all 7 continents.
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days.
167. Eaten kangaroo meat.
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground.
169. Been a sperm or egg donor.
170. Eaten sushi.
171. Had your picture in the newspaper.
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime.
173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about.
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions.
175. Gone back to school.
176. Parasailed.
177. Changed your name.
178. Petted a cockroach.
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes.
180. Read The Iliad.
181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read.
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them.
183. …and gotten barred from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you.
184. Taught yourself art from scratch.
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt.
187. Skipped all your school reunions.
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language.
189. Been elected to public office.
190. Written your own computer language.
191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream.
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care.
193. Built your own PC from parts.
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you.
195. Had a booth at a street fair.
196. Dyed your hair.
197. Been a DJ.
198. Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal.
199. Written your own role playing game.
200. Given a tramp a sponge-bath
201. masturbated a caged laboratory animal
202. pretented you liked kevin-smith movies when you secretly didn’t
203. deliberately, personally, and purposefully insult someone to their face to cause as much harm as possible
204. sold any part of your body, or any product from it, for money?
205. had a secret published in post-secret?
206. sent food or wine back in a restaurant?
207. and regretted it?
208. Seen a bioluminescent tide.
209. Robbed a grave?
210. Taken a microgravity airplane (or spacecraft!) ride?
211. Inspired a painter.
212. Had a three-way conversation, speaking 3 different languages (sometimes all 3 in one sentence) and everyone understood.
213. Held a raptor in your hand.
214. Been excommunicated from a major religion.
215. Breastfed during a rock concert.
216. used fake ID
217. Held a new born baby.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
More Books
From the artist formerly known as jenniam (who has a locked blog so I don't want to give her real blogger name).
The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them
I've taught a few of these. And I started several of them and did not get through them, but I did bold them on this list.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - NOTE NEVER will I read this. I saw the movie and it freaked me out!
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them
I've taught a few of these. And I started several of them and did not get through them, but I did bold them on this list.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - NOTE NEVER will I read this. I saw the movie and it freaked me out!
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
I might be back.
I've been wanting to blog again lately. Things have been crazy - the son turned four, the trip to Washington D.C. is approaching quickly, things have been ignored for far longer than they should have been. Plus being at work has been interesting. So we'll see if this lasts.
BLOG!
BLOG!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Raising a Boy
I am a girl.
My son is a boy.
There are two parts to that sentence. Both make things a little different.
My son was the first part. That says so much of it. He is my son. He was in my belly for nine months. He has my eyes. He has my cheeks. We laugh about things and have a special nickname (buhbuhbee, which means 'person that I love'). We like Mandarine and Mango Iced Green Tea. He sings and dances all the time. He's mine.
The second part is boy. He is a boy. I am not. No matter how alike we are, we are always going to be different. I don't see the appeal that his 'birdie' and 'big things' have for him. He will grow and develop in ways that I did not. Society will place different expectations upon him.
I would like to think, however, that my expectations of him are not different from those of a little girl. I want him to be polite. I want him to listen. I want him to be a good member of society. I'd want that of a girl. I want that of a guy. I'd hate to think that I required different things of him or treated him differently because he's a boy. I treat him like a Patrick. I treat him like a child of mine. I treat him like someone that I'd want to hang out with later in life. I don't let him get away with things because he's a boy and thus expected to do them louder, faster or with less attention. He's my child and he is expected to do them the way I taught them to him - or better.
I have so much more to say on this topic but I'm tired. Perhaps later. Until then, I have a child to remind to say please.
My son is a boy.
There are two parts to that sentence. Both make things a little different.
My son was the first part. That says so much of it. He is my son. He was in my belly for nine months. He has my eyes. He has my cheeks. We laugh about things and have a special nickname (buhbuhbee, which means 'person that I love'). We like Mandarine and Mango Iced Green Tea. He sings and dances all the time. He's mine.
The second part is boy. He is a boy. I am not. No matter how alike we are, we are always going to be different. I don't see the appeal that his 'birdie' and 'big things' have for him. He will grow and develop in ways that I did not. Society will place different expectations upon him.
I would like to think, however, that my expectations of him are not different from those of a little girl. I want him to be polite. I want him to listen. I want him to be a good member of society. I'd want that of a girl. I want that of a guy. I'd hate to think that I required different things of him or treated him differently because he's a boy. I treat him like a Patrick. I treat him like a child of mine. I treat him like someone that I'd want to hang out with later in life. I don't let him get away with things because he's a boy and thus expected to do them louder, faster or with less attention. He's my child and he is expected to do them the way I taught them to him - or better.
I have so much more to say on this topic but I'm tired. Perhaps later. Until then, I have a child to remind to say please.
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