A good life

Meme found at Black Pete's and fun to try. I still have quite a few to do!

99 Meme - 111 Meme

Nicked from Marja-Leena

The rules are simple: bold the things you've done. Explanations are optional. Fun is guaranteed.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (depends what you mean by ill though)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (too expensive - did manage the water taxi)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (for a day)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout/Guide Cookies/Biscuits
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason (there's always a reason - someone sent them!)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (very small)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (as in managed the publication process)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

With all respect, to balance the American references, Pete offered the following addenda, to modify the meme:

100. Climbed a Toltec pyramid in Mexico
101. Attended a church service in Cuba
102.Visited the Nagasaki Peace Park
103.Lived in the vicinity of some of the oldest landscape on the planet (depends definition of vicinity - but some of South Australia is very very old - and a long way from Sydney I concede)
104.Visited 3 historical sites in my own country: Waitangi and Parihaka in NZ, Darwin in Australia)
105. Been within 100 metres of an active volcano

With equal respect, to balance the euro-american references, and to add to the fun, I offer the following addenda:
106. Baked a pavlova
107. Seen Uluru in person.
108. Seen the Lady Knox geyser erupt in person
109. Swum in Waikeremoana
110. Not taken a sick day when you were ill
111. Walked across the harbour bridge (Auckland or Sydney)

Food fun!

I've seen this exercise on a few blogs and copied it from Cathy. It looks like fun, and apparently everybody's doing it. On the original Andrew says: Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

How the Omnivore's 100 works:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional: Post a comment at Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

I can't work out how to cross items out - the only two I would categorically not eat are 23 and 85. And probably not that dirty gin martini either.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PBJ sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more Oh I wish ...
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin (kina)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone (NZ paua to be precise)
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

What about you?

On rules and memes and other things ...

When I got tagged for a meme I did it. And enjoyed it. Up to the part where you have to tag other people.

• Do I have to do this?
  
• What if they don't want to do it?
  
• Will they feel obliged to do something they don't want to do just because I tagged them?
  
• Will they still speak to me after I tag them for a meme?

These among other questions filled my mind. But being a compliant person I obeyed the rules and 'tagged' seven others. Some responded with enthusiasm. Some stated they 'don't do memes' but did this one anyway. And maybe enjoyed it. Others maybe haven't got the tag yet (maybe I forgot to tell them). And several taught me that you can 'cheat' in memes and just say you're tagging anyone who reads your blog and not actually directly tag anyone at all.

Then I thought "What is a meme anyway?". According to Wikipedia it is the cultural equivalent of DNA - a cultural unit that spreads and throughout a culture like a virus "So with memes, some ideas will propagate less successfully and become extinct, while others will survive, spread, and, for better or for worse, mutate." I'm not at all sure how this relates to the phenomenon in the blogosphere but clearly change is inherent and allowable.

But all this got me thinking about my own compliance. I am certainly one of those people for whom discerning questions are a skill to be cultivated. My tendency is to accept and to follow directions. I like to think I would stop short of lethally harming someone in those famous Milgram experiments - but I just don't know. In my favour is my active participation in the class of 1978 - the medical students who refused to carry out gynae exams on women without informed consent. With a colleague we presented our case to the Professor - were threatened with failing the year - but stood firm and in the end had our ethical stance supported by the University. It is a shock to realise that the same issue continues to resurface around the world 30 years later.

In a job interview this week I was asked how I would keep to the time assigned to the position. I was candid enough to say I tend to say 'yes' too easily, and insightful enough to say that I seek the discernment to work out whether new tasks will contribute to achieving the goals of my position and if so, how I will negotiate additional hours or reprioritising of existing work to include them.

One year I gave up saying 'yes' for Lent (not at work, but at home and in voluntary activities). It was freeing. "MJD will you undertake ... ?" "Get back to me after Easter and I'll consider it." It's a discipline I keep there and bring out - often after I need to but at least before it is really too late.

So with memes. How do you know who 'does them' and who 'doesn't'? Do you have to do them when you're tagged? Do you have to tag?

You can't tell by just looking at a blog. Guessing isn't always accurate. No and no. But it can be fun if you do.

MeMe

Jan has tagged me for a me me meme

Here are the rules:

1. List these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

1. I am the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter (I think of the eldest daughter but not entirely sure if my grandmother or her sister was the eldest)
2. Like Jan, I am the shortest in my nuclear family with partner and children all exceeding my 160cm
3. I have read the Westminster Confession of Faith (a long time ago now though)
4. I have short stubby toes (as do my sisters and our kids. Some strong gene there)
5. I don't eat chocolate or drink coffee
6. I eat porridge for breakfast and make tea in a pot (with leaf tea not tea bags)
   
7. I cannot sing in tune, on key or in time and get irritated by people who say there is nobody who can't sing.
   

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Sally
RevHRod
Singing Owl
Auntie Knickers
Val
Hudson
Black Pete

As Jan said - It is a silly meme, but I am very interested in the new facts I'll learn about each one of you. If someone else wants to do it, comment here and go ahead!