A somewhat goofy mini-collection of stuff I’ve been reading, stuff I’ve been thinking about and oh, some completely random crap.
Basically the stuff that never gets mentioned here because I’m not the kind of person who can just make some teeny little point. Not into the whole brevity thing, as the Dude would say.
Actually, I’m under the strict compulsion to write ten pages about anything on my mind. So this is me. Practicing brevity.
So most of the people I know who post stuff online tend to alternate between desperately hoping that people will read it and (equally desperately) wishing that maybe no one will ever see it.
As one woman whose blog I’ve mentioned here said to me ….
“You read my post! I wondered if (and hoped) you would. And sometimes hoped you wouldn’t.”
And then another said this:
“I’ve been trying to tell more people about what I write … in the spirit of getting over my fear of being shot on sight if I become more visible.”
So I apologize in advance to everyone who wrote the beautiful, interesting things I’m mentioning today for giving them the thing they don’t want (but do). But don’t.
Item! Post No. 26 in a series that lets me dramatically send you off to the four corners of the internet in search of joy and wonder and … such.
Item! What’s in a name?
The lovely Communicatrix who is now transitioning into going by her “real” name, wrote this week about “Why I wasn’t Colleen Wainwright and why I am now.”
It’s a well-written, interesting read (hello, this is the Communicatrix we’re talking about) that manages to cover identity, wordishness, history, blogging and the whole transparency thing.
(Personally, I say to hell with the transparency police. Call yourself what you want.)
After all, if anyone consistently demonstrates honest, open, from-the-heart writing on the web, it’s the woman who wrote this post:
“And in mid-century America, in the circles Charles Anthony Weinrott wanted to travel in, if it wasn’t better to be non-Jewish, it was definitely better to be non-different. So he Anglicized the name, converted to Catholicism, et voila! All traces of the Jew in him, save a lingering penchant for chopped liver, were eliminated. (And hey, who doesn’t like a nice pâté?)”
She’s @Communicatrix on Twitter.
Item! Pecked to death by angry birds! (but not really, don’t worry)
Nice piece from Brooke Thomas called pecked to death by angry birds (and related epiphanies).
She realizes that the birds who won’t stop pecking at her aren’t the enemy. They’re actually her. Pecking at herself and punishing herself.
And then she starts looking for ways to shift that pattern …
“Yay! I’m so busy that I must be a good person- one who is worthy of existing! Yippee! Now that my Puritan ancestors are nodding in approval, we can move on. (Provided you haven’t abandoned this page already because you decided you’ve been listening to the ravings of a madwoman).”
Good stuff.
She’s @brookethomas on Twitter.
Item! How to write a douche-free bio!
Ladies and gentleman, I give you the fabulous Kelly Parkinson:
“How many of us compress our lives into 200 words or less in real-life conversation? Only the most annoying ones, that’s who.”
Her sixteen questions to help you write a bio that doesn’t have any “marketing douche-baggery” in it are … smart, funny and useful.
I heart Kelly. That is all.
She’s @copylicious on Twitter.
Item! Weird-Cookie-Eating Reenactment!
This woman is awesome.
Her name is Alice Bradley and I found her here. I know, isn’t that weird?
She left a comment and I thought this woman rocks.
And then she made a video representation of her kid not eating a cookie.
“All I can say is, he ate a single cookie in the oddest, most irritating way possible. As if there might be sprouts or poison lurking somewhere within the cookie. I was going to write about it, but I couldn’t possibly describe his insane cookie-eating method in a way that would do it justice.”
The post is called “Wherein we display our enviable dramatic skills” and yes, the video is definitely worth a minute and a half of your watching attention.
Also, is it just me or is “cookie reenactment post” the funniest phrase ever? Because I just said it out loud and it made me giggle.
She’s @finslippy on Twitter.
Item! Badass of the Week!
The site is BadassOfTheWeek.com and it is written by (badass) Ben Thompson who “writes stuff about badasses”.
And it is my new favoritest thing in the entire world.
Outside of cheese.
The writing is smart, funny, engaging and … oh, slightly off-color. Also, “slightly” might be a “slight” exaggeration.
As he says:
“You should probably also be aware that this site features an unnecessarily copious amount of profanity, so if you’re easily offended by that sort of thing then this would be a good time for you to turn off your computer and go join a convent.”
Anyway, I was a history major, and I also spent several years working in dive bars in south Tel Aviv where the ability to curse up a storm was highly prized.
So the Badass Of Week manages to cover pretty much everything I love in this world (except cheese) all at once. No small feat.
Thanks to my beloved Jenny the Bloggess for introducing me to the badassery.
And you can look for @BadassoftheWeek on Twitter.
Item! Speaking of things slightly curse-ey ….
I really appreciated this post from Amy Mommaerts.
It’s called Independence News Flash: Armageddon has struck Shittyville!
Uh huh. And it’s great.
“Somewhere along the line, unknowingly, I decided to make everything much harder than it needed to be.
Trying to prove something to someone? Maybe myself? I really don’t know.”
She’s @AmyMommaerts on Twitter.
Item! It’s that time again!
Twice a year Selma and I teach a class that doesn’t cost anything.
It’s called the Habits Detective teleclass and we cover some aspect of the whole “working on your stuff” process and learn Useful Things.
I don’t sell anything, I don’t promote anything. It’s just a place to learn.
The next one is Tuesday, July 21st. That’s next week.
We usually get a couple hundred people. You have to sign up in advance to get the number and you’ll get a link to the recording when it’s ready.
Sign-up page is here if you’re interested.
Item! Comments!
So it was really cool last week when I got to work on my practice of how I ask for stuff and you guys gave me the best reading recommendations ever!
So I’m going to try it again!
Here’s what I want:
- Things you’re thinking about.
- Blogs you’re enjoying that you think I might like.
My commitment.
I am committed to giving time and thought to the things that people say, and I will interact with their ideas and with my own stuff as compassionately and honestly as is possible for me.
Even though asking for what I want still feels awkward for me, I’m just going to remind myself that this is a thing I’m practicing.
That is all.
Happy reading.
And happy Blustery Windsday. See you tomorrow.
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The thing I like most about making one of these roundups is that I get to meet all the other wonderful people you scoop up and drop beside me.
You always have just enough of the people I do know and love (Alice Bradley! Alice Bradley! Alice Bradley!) that I’m certain I’ll love the rest when I get to know them. Especially this swearing fellow. Yes. Oh, yes.
Colleen Wainwrights last blog post..What’s up and what’s gone down (July 2009)
Just hit the pause button on the bio I’m writing using the Copylicious post you referenced to check out your items! Nice bit of synchronicity. And — ooooh, teleclass! I’m so there.
Wowee, I’m an Item! Thanks so much for the shout out… and no sign of being shot on sight.
I can’t wait to dive into all the other goodness listed here- you always have such great finds. Thank you!
OH! Thank you for linking to me here and for calling me a badass! I never thought of myself as a badass, but how can one argue when a badass calls one a badass? One must accept one’s fate.
And thank you for turning me on to that AMAZING cookie video. TEARS streaming down my face! And the description! I’m dying!
And emilylime! Hi! Good luck with your bio! I’m going to the teleclass too. Can commenters talk to each other? Feels like the Brady Bunch opening sequence with our heads in little boxes. Hi!
Lately I’ve been thinking about how much harder it is to do your own thing than to have a “real job” in which you work for a company. Earlier this week I hit a low. I felt like it was futile to spend more time and effort developing “tiny businesses” — my first steps toward self-employment. My boyfriend and Havi helped me remember that slow and steady wins the race. There is no such thing as overnight success.
And then! Out of the blue I thought of my next tiny business — an ebook that to my knowledge does not exist. My enthusiasm has returned. 🙂 w00t!
@kelly! Hello from my little head-box! Thanks for the encouragement on my bio (and, hello, for such a great post). I’m having a hard time because I’m writing a bio for myself from the standpoint of not ACTUALLY doing the work/having the business yet… But it is SO HELPFUL for thinking about why I want to do my thing and what I would LIKE to be able to say.
@Kelly – oh, you cannot escape the badassery. Plus, there you are.
@Nancy – HOORAY! *does a little dance*
@emilylime – yes, bios. Ick. I don’t even take elevators anymore for fear someone will ask me what I do!
@Brooke – 🙂
@Colleen the ineffable Communicatrix – mwah! I keep very good company.
Yay for badassery! It’s all cool. I especially liked the cookie video. Or should it be the kooky video? I know, I pun.
And I couldn’t agree more. Havi keeps awesome company. And I always love wandering the web when she is the one who points me in the right direction. 🙂
Nathalie Lussiers last blog post..13 Witchy Ways Green Smoothies Help You Feel Great All In Less Than 13 Minutes
Yay Item! Yay Havi Class on the last day of my vacation! I can’t think of a better way to ease back into working life than a Havi call in the middle of rest-from-vacation-day afternoon. *g*
Amy Crooks last blog post..Private Myths
Oh my god, you wrote about me! I was just reading this post and feeling love for Colleen (Colleen Wainwright! Colleen Wainwright!) and thinking, “Sigh. Maybe someday Havi will mention me? Oh, it’s foolish to think so. Go back to your cave, Alice.” And then there I was! You cannot imagine the thrill I just experienced.
I love it when I discover incredible new people. The Internet really, truly does not suck sometimes.
alices last blog post..UNCLEAN!
Thank you thank you thank you for sharing Kelly’s copylicious link – it was very timely as I am developing my about page for http://mikestankavich.com today.
What I’m thinking about? That damn about page of course 😛 How to pack a lifetime of experiences (well, half a lifetime at least – I hope I’m not quite dead yet) into a couple of paragraphs.
For blogs I’m enjoying, I thought of one that I found a while back. Check out http://thinksimplenow.com/. Beautiful and appropriate photography, and clean, well thought out writing. Love it!
I have a couple of sites that say “Havi” to me.
If you liked awkward family photos (and I believe you do) you also might like awkward theatre publicity shots:
http://inaproductionof.blogspot.com/
And in keeping with the theatre theme a new theatre company with some really fresh and funny writing.
http://thisistheroom.com/
Enjoy!
Christinas last blog post..Quick biopsy update
Nice, nice, nice. I do love Item! posts. Such great exploring to be done and as they come with a “Havi recommendation” you know they’re going to kick ass. Just off to read about badassess…
Wormys last blog post..I have a Dominatrix in my shoulder blades.
In my totally illogical, internal, unspoken classification of blogs, yours tends to go with Chiller (chiller.livejournal.com) – though hers is completely personal, not commercial at all.
Things I’ve been thinking about include utter terror about putting myself out there online. Not that I haven’t been doing it for years, in one form or another, but I’ve just started a new blog, and this one’s different. The quantity of mental and emotional slime that it’s dredging up is surprising me, even though I knew there’d be some.
Lean Ni Chuilleanain (@leannich)s last blog post..Six Tips for Designing Knitting Patterns
Havi, Today I decided to create my own personal ad. I’m hoping you can boost the signal. I’m a photographer by passion (lassnerphoto.com) and I’m looking for someone who specializes in helping people with body image issues. I would like to collaborate, to help people get images of themselves that they can learn to love. If you know someone you can connect me with, please let me know.
Here is the thing I am thinking about:
I have a habit of thinking of myself as a sort of boring, non-adventurous person, and yet people don’t see me that way. So I started looking at myself through their eyes, to see what they see.
I had always thought that if I could do something, it wasn’t hard at all. No, if I managed to do it, it could not have been challenging. Or difficult. Or anything like that – it was obviously simple and easy, or I never would have accomplished it. Challenging things were for other people, not me.
Then I realized what other people see. I have five piercings, and only three of them are in my earlobes where they “belong”. I changed the spelling of my name because I felt like it, and made it legal too. I picked up and moved five states away because I didn’t like where I was (New Jersey). I bought a log house on top of a mountain. I bought a car with a manual transmission before I really knew how to drive it. And more.
Damn, I’m a badass too! 🙂
Pirates last blog post..In Which the Pirate Sketches.
Love, love, love this.
Now I’m off to explore.
Jenny, Bloggesss last blog post..They’re sort of like re-runs but if you have short-term memory loss they’re practically new. Plus two of them are new today so technically I don’t even know why I have this disclaimer.
ooh, ooh, this might be of interest!
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/list.html