The Shallow End

Oh, the Things I've Done

This meme brought to you by the letter "T" for Texas Trifles, also seen at Sticky Doorknobs.

Because I haven't time or energy to come up with material on my own, I have stolen yet another idea from the b'sphere. Which of course begs the question, "why blog?" I hate it when people ask me this question because I never have a good explanation. My conclusion is that people fall into two camps, those who just "get it" and those who think we're out of our ever lovin' minds. Nothing we can say will change that. My own mother falls into the latter camp. She doesn't have a computer and has heard horror stories about people getting sucked into cyberspace, devoured by chatroom predators and destroyed by computer blow-ups. At least these are the reasons she gives when I offer to give her my old computer and fix it up for her free of charge. On her recent visit in October (she lives far, far away in the land of California), I showed her my blog (the rest of my family has access to the blog, but as any astute reader might have observed, they don't visit often and none of them are brave enough to leave comments *waves to family* and none of them have developed the itch to start their own blog which tells me they pretty much fall into the latter camp as well).

As I showed off my blog to my mom, the conversation went something like this, with many quizzical looks and pregnant pauses in between:

Mom: "So, how do people find your blog"

Me: "Mostly, they don't," I assured her.

Mom: "What do you write about?"

Me: "Mostly nothing"

Mom: "You mean, anyone in the world can read what you write here?"

Me: "Yes, but why would they?"

Mom: "But doesn't it bother you that anyone in the whole world can see what you put here?"

Me: "Not really. Besides, only about 10 people a day stop by, mostly the same ones, people that I've gotten to know through blogging. They're very nice people."

Mom (looking a little paranoid...she worked in law enforcement for years): "Aren't you worried about all the strangers who could stop by?"

Me: "No, I wish more would."

Mom: "Hmmm...so how do they find you?"

Mom: "And why would you do this?"

Me: (At the time, I was composing my post on Liquids and Gels) "Nevermind, it's nothing." *turned off the computer*

So now, for something completely pedantic (the things which I have done are in bold):

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain (many!)
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone (in a heart shaped jacuzzi tub at Motel 6's Honeymoon Suite :-)
8. Said "I love you" and meant it!
9. Hugged a tree (not that I remember; what does this mean anyway?)
10. Bungee jumped (NEVER!)
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (and on a river, and a lake)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (though I'm not sure what constitutes "huge")
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 (this is the most ethereal experience I've ever had)
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Drunk tequila (um, this would be the only explanation I can offer for why I chose to ride my bicycle down the stairs of my apartment and out the front door)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity (in hindsight, no)
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 (that's so junior high)
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can (I'm sure I did this as a child)
32. Held a lamb (ahem)
33. Seen a total eclipse (through a pin hole)
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Scored a winning goal (high school water polo)
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (see #41)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Visited all 5 continents (working on it...and there are 7, not 5 continents...duh!)
40. Taken care of someone who was drunk (and diabetic, just to further complicate things)
41. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (see #36 and this post)
42. Watched wild whales
43. Stolen a sign
44. Backpacked
45. Taken a road-trip (too many to count, but I remember every one of them)
46. Gone rock climbing (not the kind that requires equipment though)
47. Midnight walk on the beach (many)
45. Gone sky diving (NEVER!)
49. Taken a train through Europe
50. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love (can we just not talk about this?)
51. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table, and had a meal with them (in Europe, this is standard behavior)
52. Milked a cow (once, on a school sponsored field trip)
53. Alphabetized your CDs (they were LPs then, but still)
54. Sung karaoke (completely against my will and it was not pretty)
55. Lounged around in bed all day (ahhh)
56. Gone scuba diving (does snorkeling count?)
57. Kissed in the rain
58. Gone to a drive-in theatre
59. Started a business
60. Taken a martial arts class
61. Been in a movie
62. Crashed a party (those darned college days)
63. Gone without food for 5 days (WHAT?!)
64. Gotten a tattoo (I was old enough to know better)
65. Got flowers for no reason
66. Performed on stage (does teaching count?)
67. Been to Las Vegas
68. Recorded music (as in recording a copy of my friends' CDs? Of course! Otherwise, no.)
69. Eaten shark
70. Buried one/both of your parents (thank heavens, NO!)
71.Been on a cruise ship
72. Spoken more than one language fluently (I never could get to the "fluent" part, but I tried French for many years)
73. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
74. Walked a famous bridge (The Golden Gate Bridge; I've also bicycled it)
75. Had plastic surgery
76. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived (see my "Near Death" posts)
78. Wrote articles for a large publication (exactly one article; I'm still waiting for the royalty checks to come in)
79. Tried to lose weight seriously (see #63)
80. Piloted an airplane
80. Petted a stingray
81. Broken someone’s heart (amazing, but true)
82. Broken a bone (I fell out of bed and broke my collarbone)
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Parasailed
86. Skipped all your school reunions (all but one)
87. Shaved your head
88. Caused a car accident (only fender benders but I've had 3, all by the age of 20, two were my fault)
89. Pretended to be “sick”
90. Swam in the Pacific Ocean (see #76)
91. Saved someone’s life (maybe?)
92. Fainted
93. Been in the room while someone is giving birth
94. Hitchhiked (does holding out your thumb and then ducking in the bushes when a car actually pulls over count?)
95. Adopted a child (does step-parenting count?)
96. Been caught daydreaming
97. Been to the Painted Desert
98. Called off a wedding engagement
99. Donated your blood
100. Had an out-of-body experience

Now, won't you play along?

Labels: Quizzes and Memes

posted by Gwynne @ 8:37 PM