Category — Microblog Mondays

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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The New York Times ran a story about a guy who gets paid to write books that will never be published.  He is hired by families looking to have a memoir written to preserve their family history.  So no accolades, no fame, no royalties — just working on a long piece of work that will only be read by a few individuals… if any.  It’s totally possible that the author will do all that work, and the final book will be put in a box in someone’s attic, never to be read.

Oh, and the books are all confidential, so the author also can’t leak any of the juicy details of their client’s life.

It was a fun question to consider: Would you dedicate years working intensely on a book that would — without a doubt — never be published?  Or do you need to have, at least, the hope of publication to have the energy to work on the project day in and day out?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Wired had an article a few years ago (written by Jonah Lehrer, so it may not be as factual as I wish) about a pill being developed a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  He writes,

Even more startling, an equally small family of compounds could turn out to be a universal eraser of history, a pill that we could take whenever we wanted to forget anything.  And researchers have found one of these compounds.  In the very near future, the act of remembering will become a choice.

As someone who constantly fears about forgetting things, I’m not sure I would be able to bring myself to swallow the pill, but I suppose my feelings would change if I was trying to forget something incredibly traumatic that was impacting my day-to-day life.

Would you use it if you could erase one memory but have all the rest of your memories remain intact?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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CNN had a great article about alone time a few months ago; its importance and the reason why we’re reluctant to take it: “The not-so-fun part comes in when you’re thinking about how others are perceiving your aloneness and worrying that they simply think you have no one to hang out with.”

I like doing things alone.  I mean, I like time with Josh or friends or the twins, but I also like going out to eat by myself or to the library by myself.  I am equally cool doing something with other people and doing something alone.

I once took a vacation by myself to Norway.  I saw friends while I was there, but I was mostly on my own, day in and day out.  It was an odd experience, traveling by myself.  I wonder if it would be different if I went to the beach or somewhere where the point isn’t to learn and explore but instead to plop down and relax.

Have you ever taken a vacation by yourself?  Does it sound appealing if you haven’t tried it?  Where would you go?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Mental Floss had an article about Disney’s abandoned Discovery Island.  I don’t have strong feelings about the space like I do about the abandoned River Country (I loved that place!), but I was totally intrigued by an idea floated in the article:

Soon after the island closed, Disney met with Robyn and Rand Miller, the creators of the hugely popular computer games Myst and Riven, hoping to recreate a real-life version of the adventure game. A certain number of guests would be admitted to the island each morning and would have a set number of hours to explore, unlocking secrets and finding hidden passages in the process. No two experiences would ever be the same.

I clicked around and read more about the abandoned project.

What?  I want to go to the Myst-themed amusement park.  I want my own real-life adventure.

We have something similar-ish sounding here in DC (and I know it’s in a lot of other towns).  You get locked in a room and have to solve a mystery and get out.

What do you think: sounds fun or not your cup of tea?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I recently read about fika, the Swedish coffee break tradition.  Like British tea, it sounds like something missing from my life: that purposeful break in the middle of the day with a good beverage and something small to eat.

I drink coffee and tea, and I eat meals, but I rarely take a break.  I am much more likely to consume the beverage while working.  Part of it is that my work day is both truncated and spread out — I work from about 9 am – 3 pm and then again after 8 pm.  When your work day is broken up like that, you tend to want to use every minute to its fullest.  Part of it is that it isn’t part of my culture; the break in the middle of the day.  I don’t know anyone who takes a break in the middle of the day on a regular basis.

But maybe I need to do this.  I need to declare from 1 pm to 1:20 pm, regardless of whatever else is happening, as my fika.  I especially like the idea of getting a cookie to boot.

Do you have any breaks built into your day?  And do you keep them sacred?  Or do they only happen when you can find the time?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.