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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I’m on the mailing list for Oxford’s Story Museum, and I’m jealous of everyone who lives nearby and can participate in their Alice’s Day next week.  (Side note: Charles Dodgson started telling Alice the story on July 4, 1862.)

In my gaming club (like a book club, except for interactive fiction games), we were recently talking about the length of games.  I love Alice in Wonderland and could play in that world for an infinite amount of time.  Same with Middle Earth and Narnia.  (All Oxford connections!)  And Hogwarts.  (Close enough!)  Fillory.  (Finally, an American!)  Everything else, I probably need a cap of two hours.

Let’s say someone could take any fictional world and produce an infinite amount of quality work set in that world.  Which world would you spend an infinite amount of time exploring?

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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 post.

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

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This article is about spring break (vs. summer break) AND it’s about millennials, but other than those two facts, it totally resonated with me: I have a problem taking off of work.

It isn’t shame.  Or guilt — I don’t feel guilt over saying that I need time off.  But I do have trouble figuring out how to take off so that no one else is inconvenienced and all the work gets done.  Sometimes I can work ahead or catch up after I’m back.  But I usually end up checking in at least twice a day while I’m away, answering questions so other people can complete tasks.

This isn’t a problem because I don’t mind doing it.  It’s me setting the expectation rather than having someone else tell me how things are going to be.  And I do it both because I appreciate it when other people check in while they’re away and answer my questions, plus it makes returning to work a little less stressful at the end of the vacation.

Do you fully check out when you’re on vacation, or do you still check in with work (if you work) while you’re away?

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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 post.

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

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I was reading an old Modern Mrs. Darcy post and she asked about dinner staples: recipes you keep making again and again because can throw them together quickly without having to think deeply.

Pasta with tomato sauce immediately popped to mind.  We eat spaghetti with tomato sauce (with a side Caesar mostly following Alton Brown’s recipe) at least once every other week.  We also do huevos rancheros about once a week.  In the winter, we eat a lot of vegetarian chili (served over spaghetti) or English pea soup (from Mary McCartney).  My hummus and pita is also pretty mindless.  Oh!  And I make pizza from scratch once a week.  None of those things require me to read a recipe.

What are the meals you have over and over again in your home?

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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 post.

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

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I read a super interesting New Yorker piece about a barbecue restaurant called Piggie Park, owned and operated by a white supremacist who decorated his restaurant in confederate flags.  Kathleen Purvis spoke for many when she said, “When I learned about Bessinger’s history, I stopped buying his products. I followed a simple policy on the Piggie Park: I didn’t go there. Ever.”

Then he died and his kids took over, removing the flags and their father’s political point-of-view.  Which brought about the question that drives the New Yorker piece: Is it now okay to go to Piggie Park?  Some felt the old man and his hate was gone, and it was okay to patron the place.  Others felt that the legacy of hate and the history of hurt should still be driving the decision to avoid the place.

I don’t eat barbecue — that whole vegetarian thing — so I had to think about this question in terms of a favourite space.  What if the owner of my favourite restaurant started to spew hate speech?  No brainer — I would stop patronizing the place.  What if she died and her kids took over, keeping the same recipes but changing the personality of the space?  Could I eat there?

I don’t think I could.  For me, the food is tied to the experience, and I don’t think I would have much of an appetite if I walked into the space, thinking about what had happened before that point.

What about you?  Would you eat at your own personal Piggie Park if that happened?

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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 post.

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

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I’m in my last few days of being 42.  I am always bummed out about my birthday and getting older, but in this case, I waited my whole life to be 42, and now it’s almost over.

I was really excited to celebrate my Douglas Adams birthday.

But can I tell you the worst story?  When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to be 19 because it’s a number that is fun to say in Hebrew.  It has a “T” sound in the beginning of the word, but because of the other letters around it, it almost sounds like the word chai (as in “chai tea”) said with a T.  I know, sort of hard to imagine if you don’t know Hebrew, so here is a video of a guy saying the numbers 11 to 19.

Anyway I forgot that I was 19 until a few days before my 20th birthday.  I was washing my hair at my friend’s apartment in Oslo when it dawned on me that I had been 19 the whole year and had never said aloud how old I was.  My diary is entry after entry about how I was finally 19 and blew it.

Remembering that, I sucked the marrow out of being 42.  Thanks, Mr. Adams.

Is there a certain age you always wanted to be?  Why?

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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 post.