Song Lyric Saturday: "History of Everything (The Big Bang Theory theme)"

Welcome to Song Lyric Saturday, a new feature for my NaBloPoMo month of March--and it may make occasional appearances even after that's over, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not a big fan of short stories in traditional form, but when they're set to great melodies and last for under four minutes, sometimes they really work for me. 


I'm developing a new routine during my drive home on Friday afternoons: listening to the latest edition of my favorite podcast, NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, which usually gets posted for download before I leave the office. It's as close to any "happy hour" as I get, really.

This week, the show's featured topic was TV-show credit sequences, which morphed into a discussion about favorite TV-show theme songs.

The TV-show theme song--especially the old-fashioned kind with lyrics that basically explain the show's premise--is becoming an endangered species. Shows don't have theme songs at all, or the songs are have no words, or they were licensed for the show's use rather than written specifically for it.

There are still a few examples of the tradition out there, though, and not just on TV Land. Barenaked Ladies' song "History of Everything" started out as the theme for The Big Bang Theory, and both the song and the show are favorites of mine.

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,

Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...

The Earth began to cool,

The autotrophs began to drool,

Neanderthals developed tools,

We built a wall (we built the pyramids),

Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,

That all started with the big bang! 

"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,

As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.

A fraction of a second and the elements were made.

The bipeds stood up straight,

The dinosaurs all met their fate,

They tried to leap but they were late

And they all died (they froze their asses off)

The oceans and pangea

See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya

Set in motion by the same big bang! 

It all started with the big BANG! 

It's expanding ever outward but one day

It will cause the stars to go the other way,

Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt

Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us

Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)

Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy

It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology

It all started with the big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

Do you have a favorite TV-show theme?

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Sunday Salon: Welcome to My 5th Blogiversary Party--and there are gifts!

My first post on The 3 R's Blog was on March 16, 2007. The second post went up on March 18--five years ago today. (And then I didn't post a third time until April.)

A few days ago, I reflected on some of the developments I've seen on the way to this milestone. On my blogiversary itself, I shared a snapshot of my very first post. But celebrations are best suited for weekends...welcome to my fifth Blogiversary party! 


Party Favors!

A few weeks ago, I shared a special discount code that GoneReading International is offering to 3 R's Blog readers:

3RSBLOG25

The coupon expires on March 31st, and is good for 25% off any purchases at www.GoneReading.com except bookends. GoneReading's speciality is cool reading-themed gifts, and all of their after-tax profits go to support libraries and reading-related charities.

In addition, GoneReading will send a "Go Reading" gift collection--with items selected by me--to one lucky reader! You'll receive:

TravelFlex Book Light 

Mini Book Journal

"Bookworm" Bookplates

(This giveaway is for US residents only.)

I am also giving away a $25 iTunes gift card (or e-mail gift certificate) which may be used on anything you like--music, e-books, audiobooks, apps)--from the iTunes store. (This giveaway is open internationally.)


You may enter either or both giveaways, but you may only win one of them! I will select a winner using Random.org during the week of April 1--if the same winner comes up twice, I'll randomize again to pull a different name. To enter, please use the form at the end of this post--you'll see there how to get a bonus entry! (If you're viewing in a feed reader, you may have to click through.)

And there's one Blogiversary gift you can give to me, if you're so inclined. The 3 R's Blog has a Facebook page--would you please "like" it if you haven't already? All of the blog posts are linked there, along with other links and miscellany that are exclusive to the page.

Party Games!

Since this blog no longer has the same URL it started with--I bought the much more manageable www.3rsblog.com in July 2008--it's a little tricky to come up with its lifetime stats for things like visits and pageviews, so I'm not going to waste our time number-crunching. I thought it might be fun to see what content is associated with the biggest numbers over the last five years, though, so here we go:

Top 5 Most-Viewed Posts
Factors for a successful marriage - the Pew Survey (July 2007--over 1200 views, mostly from search traffic)

From The I-Don't-Get-It Files: Eight is more than enough (February 2009--a post about the "Octomom" that got picked up as a "related content" link by CNN.com for about a day)

My Festival of Books Report, (April) 2010 edition (mostly thanks to one of the authors mentioned in it, Pamela Ribon, who tweeted the link)

At the movies Double Feature: *The Muppets* and *Hugo* (November 2011)

Ten on Tuesday: I am Music, or These Are the Songs of My Life (February 2009)

These are certainly more representative of the "randomness" and the "'riting" than the "reading" that goes on around here, aren't they? They also serve as reminders that words live forever on the Internet...

Popular searches

Most search traffic lands here by searching on some variation of the blog's title--some actually is looking for "3 r's blog," while the others are just looking for "three r's." (Sadly, they will not learn 'rithmetic here.)

Top 5 searches leading to specific posts:

factors for a successful marriage
book review policy (actually leads to a page and not a post..but hey, people do look at it!)
shelf awareness consumer edition (happy to see this association)
firefly lane plot (this is my most-viewed book review)
office gift exchange (gets most hits during December)

Party Treats and Sneak Peeks!

The Indie Lit Awards winners are scheduled to be announced tomorrow, and I'll be posting my reviews of all the Biography/Memoir short list titles through this week and into next, leading up to the runner-up and the winner--I'm very excited to be able to share those at last! The BlogHer Book Club for John Green's The Fault in Our Stars kicks off this week too--look for my review on Thursday, but I'll tell you right now that I will not be disagreeing with the majority opinion on this one.

Have a great week, and thanks for coming to my Blogiversary party!

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Song Lyric Saturday: "Everyday I Write the Book"

Welcome to Song Lyric Saturday, a new feature for my NaBloPoMo month of March--and it may make occasional appearances even after that's over, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not a big fan of short stories in traditional form, but when they're set to great melodies and last for under four minutes, sometimes they really work for me. 


In addition to one of my favorite book blogs (hi, Gayle!), I associate "Everyday I Write the Book" with the fact that every day I read a book (or at least a few pages of one)--and almost every day for the past five years, I've written a blog post which may or may not have been inspired by a book. And even if I didn't have all those pleasant associations with it, it would still be one of my all-time favorite songs. I may have spent a good chunk of my life in Memphis, but when it comes to Elvis, I prefer Costello to Presley.

Don't tell me you don't know what love is

When you're old enough to know better

When you find strange hands in your sweater

When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote

I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions

And I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday, everyday

Everyday I write the book

Chapter One - we didn't really get along

Chapter Two - I think I fell in love with you

You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three

But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six

And I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday, everyday

Everyday I write the book

The way you walk

The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh

In four or five paragraphs

All your compliments and your cutting remarks

Are captured here in my quotation marks

And I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday, everyday

Everyday I write the book

Everyday I write the book

Don't tell me you don't know the difference

Between a lover and a fighter

With my pen and my electric typewriter

Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal

I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel

And I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday, everyday

Everyday I write the book

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Friday Foto: Time Capsule! The Very First Post

I can't actually re-create my very first blog post. The original URL no longer exists, since I switched to a custom domain in 2008. I've changed templates a couple of times during the last five years, and Blogger doesn't even seem to have my original "Minima" template available any more.

However, using my stripped-down "test blog," I've come up with a decent facsimile of what went up in this space five years ago today. Clearly, I had a LONG way to go...

Yesterday I reflected, and on Sunday I'll celebrate with you all (hint: giveaways!), but on my actual fifth Blogiversary, I'm just putting up a virtual milestone.

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This Veteran Reflects on a Milestone Blogiversary

This is published post #1668, dated March 15, 2012. Post #1 was published on March 16, 2007. That averages out to .91 posts per day over five years.

Five years of blogging! Who saw THAT coming? Five years ago, it certainly wasn't me. And sometimes I still feel like a newbie who's playing catch-up, and will always be a few steps behind no matter what; the online world changes so fast. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of "what goes around, comes around" over the course of five years--plenty of fads, lots of blogs started and retired, and some things that have stuck around. With that experience behind me, it's easier to take the changes as they come...and to decide which ones I'll let pass me by. With experience comes a better sense of what works for me, and what doesn't.

I started this blog to keep a record of the books I read and my thoughts about them. If I'd known about GoodReads before that first post, I might never have published it, since that would have served my purposes just fine. But I'm glad I didn't know about it (GR was barely two months old then, so I'm not sure how many people knew about it then anyway), because I really can't imagine what the last five years would have been like without this blogging adventure--it's taken me so far beyond my original intentions.

Or maybe it hasn't. "Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness" was always intended to be a mission statement (although it wasn't always a tagline).

It took me a while to find my place in the blogiverse. My explorations led me on a side trip into the land of the mom-bloggers, and part of me has stayed there--that part is primarily local, and those relationships were the first to transition from online to off-line. Bloggers like Donna and April and Kim and Jessica are fellow blogging veterans (April started a few months after I did, and the others were there ahead of us both) who are still in the trenches and nowhere close to running out of things to say (although Jessica admits she sometimes does think about quitting--but if she did, I suspect she'd come back.)

Finding my book-blogging tribe wasn't so easy at first, although it was definitely out there. I began looking through BlogHer ("where the women bloggers are"), and although there weren't as many book bloggers there as I'd hoped (still aren't, but it's growing!), I did find Sassymonkey (Karen), who still holds down the fort of the Books section and is one of my favorite people to see at conferences (next up: BEA/BBC 2012!) Booking Through Thursday was another good place to look (and I suspect it still is, although I haven't played along with them for quite a while), and (I think) that's where I met Literary Feline (Wendy), who has the dubious distinction of being my oldest book-blogging friend.

I may not have found them right away--and I found many of them with the aid of our still-missed community-builder, Dewey (the link goes nowhere now, but I'm including it anyway)--but I'm glad that so many of the book bloggers who were doing this when I started (and in some cases had a head start) are still around. Suey and Word Lily (Hannah) both started their blogs the same week I did--Happy Blogiversary to you both! Wendy was just about a month ahead of us. Softdrink (Jill) was already posting her "fizzy thoughts," and Andi had been carrying out (Estella's) Revenge for well over a year. (And I know I'm missing some--I'm not leaving you out on purpose, but it has been five years and I don't remember everything!)

The book-blogging world has grown a lot--and grown up just a bit, even as it seems that the newcomers are younger and younger and the most favored book category to blog about is Young Adult--since I first entered it. Book Blogger Appreciation Week has blossomed from a virtual party that our friend Amy hosted on her own blog to a much-anticipated annual event where hundreds of us get to know each other better and recognize the best among us.

BBAW, Blog Hops, Readathons, Bloggiestas...you might not expect people who are so into books to be so into group activities too, but book bloggers do love to mingle with one another, even if they're miles--or continents--apart. I was present at the creation of the "virtual convention" Armchair BEA two years ago, when a group of us who weren't going to the expo and the first Book Blogger Con decided we should "do something of our own," and worked up a blog development/networking/book-discussion event that really took off--and it's coming back in 2012 (even though several of its founders are actually going to BEA/BBC this year, we love this event too much to let it go)!

I've seen what happens when book blogging opens opportunities like it has for Trish and Lisa, who have built on relationships with bloggers, publisher reps, and authors to become the leaders in virtual book tours. I've seen what happens when authors blog, and when book bloggers champion authors like Beth Kephart, and I've seen things come full circle when bloggers author books (and once spent a couple of hours in an airport with Anna Lefler long before she started on that journey) whose books get attention on the blogs.

Blogging has opened up some opportunities for me, too. I get to pick and choose among the review offers that come my way now. I get paid for some of them--and when I don't, it seems like I prefer the books I pick on my own to the ones that others want to pick for me. I get to write in other places sometimes. I've had some chances to be a leader. And now that my employer has discovered social media ("like" their page, would you please?) I don't feel like I have to keep my social-media self under wraps at work (although I will only very rarely bring my work around here).

One of the defining features of the online world is that it seems to celebrate and nurture the new. It's very easy to get started, and bloggers love to help one another find their footing. But there seem to be fewer resources out there once we've got some experience behind us...although we still need and want that support. It's a big part of what keeps a veteran blogger in the force and out of retirement.

I might decide to turn out the lights here one day; if and when that happens, I'd like to feel that I had a pretty good run. I've seen the landscape change over the past five years, and I haven't always been sure of my place in it. Sometimes it's been challenging to keep doing it my own way and not play by the new rules, and it can be hard to accept that such a decision means that I may not find myself with much of a place in it at all. But as I said earlier, having seen those changes has helped me understand that the only right way to blog is the way that feels right to me. I think getting to that acceptance is probably part of attaining blogger maturity...and even after five years, sometimes I’m still not very mature.

But I'm glad I'm still here. I hope to stay a while longer.

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A Blogiversary party to plan...

...and a linkish placeholder post today. Blame NaBloPoMo for my not taking the day off entirely, since I was sick yesterday. i'm feeling a little better and will be back at work today, but I haven't felt up to much in the way of thinking and writing for the last few days.

But I need to get up to speed soon, because I've got a five-year Blogiversary party to plan! The actual Big Day is this Friday, and the party will be held here on Sunday. On the eve of the event, I plan to post a few reflections tomorrow--but there may be fewer than I'd intended, depending on how I'm feeling today!

March is a great month for a blog birthday! Suey at It's All About Books is also celebrating her fifth Blogiversary this week. Jenn's blog, Jenn's Bookshelves, turned four last week, and she reflected on a few things she wished she'd known back when she started.

This post is also a preview of a mini-challenge I'm hosting during
Bloggiesta later this month (are you signed up yet?) about mobile apps for bloggers (as you'll see at the very end)--do you have any favorites? Tell me in the comments, and I'll check 'em out! And as an iPad/iPhone user, I'd particularly appreciate your suggestions for other platforms.


Quote of the Day, one of many provocative statements made by author Rex Pickett in a conversation with author Caroline Leavitt:

"(T)he good news about the Internet is that it'll give everyone a voice; the bad news about the Internet is that it gives everyone a voice."

It's certainly given me one. What do you think?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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Blogger's Choice! Lose One: Words or Pictures?

Prompt for Friday, March 9, 2012:

Would you rather lose your blog or lose your photographs?

More either-or, but this one's a pretty easy call for me: I'd handle losing the photos much better than losing the blog.

That brings up another question: do you back up your blog regularly? I need to set some sort of schedule for that, because I'm quite sure that I'm overdue. I'll do that tonight. I'm just days from my fifth blogiversary, and losing nearly 1700 posts' worth of book reviews, travel records, editorializing, and personal history now would be cosmically ugly timing.

Granted, the question is made a little more complicated by that fact that, like many other bloggers, quite a few of my posts are topic-specific online photo albums (and that's not even counting dedicated features like Friday Foto). I've documented a variety of events here--from book signings to family vacations and local travels to Comic-Con to blogger meet-ups--in a mix of words and pictures, and I think those posts are more effective because they have pictures. I've also discovered that I really enjoy playing around with photo-editing software and apps, --although I'll never be the Photoshop guru that my husband is--and I like that the blog gives me an excuse to do that.

Having said that, my Photoshop guru is one reason I'd be OK with losing the pictures. Tall Paul is the photographer in our family; aside from the fact that his photos are better-composed and higher quality than mine, he almost always has more pictures of anything than I do. As long as he doesn't lose his photographs, we'll be fine.

There are long stretches of my life that aren't recorded in photographs--and there are some years that I'm quite happy aren't documented that way, because I'd really rather not look back at them. Maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong angle, though; maybe my photographs really aren't so much for me, and I should be more concerned about preserving them for the next generation. And maybe it's wrong that I'm not. But for me, the thousand words are worth more. What about for you?

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Blogger's Choice! Pick One: Readers or Comments?

Prompt for Wednesday, March 7, 2012:
Would you rather have more blog readers or more blog comments?

The theme for NaBloPoMo this month is "Whether," and most of the writing prompts so far have posed either-or questions. Such questions are not among my favorite things--I've always preferred multiple-choice to true-or-false (or the equivalent). Some people take a more black-and-white perspective on life, but I'm more into the shades of gray.

Having said that, I'm taking today's either-or question under careful consideration, and I'm going to come down on the side of...more readers.

Yeah, I'm a little surprised too. Aren't bloggers supposed to crave comments? Aren't comments what keep us doing this? Don't we lament the toll that Facebook and Twitter and feed readers have taken on comment-section interaction? On that note, were you aware of Blogger Comment Club, a new site dedicated to bringing back the lost art of "visit and comment"?

We realized there was a need and desire for blogging to get back to the basics. Once upon a time, blogging was about supporting each other through comments. That’s how we bloggers got to know each other and build friendships. Now, we have a tendency to do the shortcut, we Tweet and Facebook “like” to show our appreciation because it’s quick and easy.
Us bloggers, we aren’t loving that. We are longing for the good old days of comments and friendship...We have a firm belief that blogging is missing something. And that something is comments.

I like the idea behind Blogger Comment Club, but I don't know if it's a commitment I can make right now. Some days I feel like I'm barely keeping up my commitment to responding to comments here on my own blog, and when it comes to other people's blogs, I don't tend to comment unless I actually have something to say in response to a post--a question, an observation, an expression of thanks. I rarely leave comments of the "hey, I was here" variety; I find them less than satisfying.

I also consider sharing links on Twitter and Facebook--and, increasingly, discussing the linked posts on those sites--a form of "indirect commenting," which offers the additional benefit of potentially exposing those posts to readers who might not see them otherwise. It takes less time than commenting, but to me, it's an equally thoughtful response--I'm glad to do it, and just as glad to be on the receiving end of it!

My goal here has always been to post consistently interesting content that people want to read often, and I'm far more driven to attract subscribers than random "hits" from search traffic. I don't think anyone whose blog isn't kept private is truly blogging just for him- or herself--if we didn't want to have our words be seen by other people, we wouldn't be doing this, would we? I love comments as a way to get to know some of my readers, but I know the majority will rarely or never leave comments. That's OK, as long as they keep reading--and maybe, they'll like what they read enough to share some links every now and then with other readers!

Is it ironic if I ask for your answer in the comments: Which would you rather--readers or comments?

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Some words about work on a Wednesday (a timed-writing exercise)

I've set the timer for 15 minutes. This post will be whatever comes out during that time (although I reserve the right to add an extra 5 minutes of editing).

Tuesday evening, 6:30 PM

I worked at home today--and I worked at home. I consider it a privilege to telecommute (and a nice perk these days, when gas prices is Southern California are edging up to $4.50 a gallon), so I try to be conscientious about getting work done on the days when I'm authorized to do it remotely. It may be one reason why work-from-home days tend to be so productive; I'm a bit less vigilant about how I spend my work hours when I'm in the office. (Don't tell my boss I said that. But he could probably guess anyway.)

The distractions at home are different. I use my husband's computer for my office work (I get to use his lovely Aeron desk chair too) and I don't go online with it, so I don't take the blog-reading breaks that I do at the office unless I get up from his desk and go to my laptop. But when I do get up for a break, I feel I should do something around the house--toss in a load of laundry, get something started for dinner, clean something. But I didn't give in to that today. I barely took breaks for anything today, actually. I got a lot of work done at home, but it was work work--what I stayed home to do--and not home work. And I didn't feel good about that.

It's not just the "home work" that I think I should be doing on work-at-home days, though. I tend to overplan them generally--just because I get more done, I fool myself into thinking I'll have more time to get things done. That's only true if I start work before I'd normally get to the office--and I don't. I get up at my normal time, but I go for an early-morning walk instead of an early-morning commute. It's a worthwhile trade, though.

Work gets done, whether it's the work I plan or the work that just comes up. Through the next couple of months, there's a lot of work to be done--new deadlines and big projects. And I've just passed my deadline for writing this post, so I'll stop working on it now.

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"Whether" or not, I'm certain of one thing...

...I will not be limited to just one of the two alternatives offered in answer to the first NaBloPoMo writing prompt for March:

Thursday, March 1, 2012
How do you feel about uncertainty? Is it exciting or scary?

(Yes, I'm backtracking--this is the first day I've used the prompts.)

It's either or both, depending on the context and my frame of mind when I look at it.
And more often than not, it's a combination of the two on a sliding scale. Uncertainty means possibility--the possibility that things could go in any direction.

I had what felt like an epiphany a bit over a decade ago: there is an inverse relationship between worry and control. The less control I have over a situation, measured against the amount of control I think I want over it--or feel I should have over it--the more worry it can cause me. I've done a lot of work on my need for control during the years since I realized that...and I worry less than I used to.

If I'm going to try to be less of a controller (except when it's appropriate to my job title, that is--as I said, context makes a difference) and, correspondingly, less of a worrier, I need to be more tolerant of uncertainty. And I think--most of the time--I've made some real progress there. I still plan and prepare; I still want to control what I can. But I'm better about recognizing what I can't control, and letting it take care of itself (or actually leaving it to someone else). It's kind of nice to worry less, honestly.

Ten years ago, I was in the most uncertain place ever I've been in--just divorced, and on the verge of a cross-country move and living on my own for the first time in my life (I was married at nineteen, divorced at thirty-eight...and married again at forty-one, but that's another story entirely). It was scary...and exciting. I hadn't chosen all of it, but I'd made some decisions about some of it, and almost anything could have come of it.

If the only constant in life is change, I'm pretty certain the only certainty is uncertainty. I'll keep working on being less scared of it, and more excited by it. Anything is possible.

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Song Lyric Saturday: "The Summer Place"

Welcome to Song Lyric Saturday, a new feature for my NaBloPoMo month of March--and it may make occasional appearances even after that's over, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not a big fan of short stories in traditional form, but when they're set to great melodies and last for under four minutes, sometimes they really work for me. 

The "summer place" of my childhood was Budd Lake, New Jersey, where my maternal grandfather and a couple of his sisters owned small houses, and extended family came and went throughout the warm months. My mother's generation didn't keep up the tradition, and when her siblings chose a summer place of their own, they went down to the Shore (yes, that Jersey Shore) instead of to the lake. And by the time I entered my teens, my immediate family had moved to Florida, which is a summer place year-round (like it or not). 

The idea of returning to the same vacation spot year after year fascinates me, although it doesn't hold quite the same appeal as traveling to new places I haven't seen.

I visualize "The Summer Place" in this Fountains of Wayne song (from Sky Full of Holes, 2011) as somewhere out on Long Island, but I suppose it could be down at the Shore. I think it's nearer to the ocean than to a lake, and I don't get the sense it's out on Cape Cod. But it might not be anywhere except in someone's mental landscape...

She's been afraid of the Cuisinart 

Since 1977

Now when she opens up the house

Well, she won't set foot in the kitchen

Her brother's dating an architect

They're coming up for the weekend

He never gave her the proper respect

But she still meets the ferry to greet them

Oh, at the summer place

We've got the space if you've got the time

And the summer place is so far away

It's another state of mind

(Mind, mind, mind)

She ran away back in '78

Just down the beach to the neighbor

They brought her back after sunset

But dad sad "Don't do me any favors"

Her mom would sit on the patio

She said she needed the sea air

She'd drink a fifth of Seagrams

And then she'd sink down into her deck chair

Oh, at the summer place

We've got the space if you've got the time

And the summer place is so far away

It's another state of mind

(Mind, mind, mind)

At 15,

Shoplifting

Was the only game she liked to play

At 40,

She's still bored

She thinks about it then decides to pay

And still she can't help feeling

Those good old days don't seem so far away (seem so far away)

But should just yesterday

She took a handful of mushrooms

That she got from a surfer

She spent a night in a hospital room

So the doctors could observe her

Oh, at the summer place

We've got the space, you should drop on by

At the summer place the injuries fade

But the memories last a lifetime

(Lifetime, lifetime, lifetime)

"The Summer Place" lyrics and music video provided by SongLyrics.com

Is there a "summer place" that means something to you...or is yours just another state of mind?

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Friday Fotos: Scenes from a SoCal Winter

West Los Angeles, early December 2011

Now that we're a few weeks away from the start of spring--at least according to the calendar--it can be told: even by Los Angeles standards, we haven't had much of a winter. It's been pretty dry for what's supposed to be our rainy season, and not very cold--not that it's ever truly cold this close to the coast, but we've had days at a time where temperatures have hit the 80s. It always feels a bit unfair to complain about our climate when so much of the country gets snowbound...but this is supposed to be sweaters-and-boots time! Global warming? Yeah, it might be a thing.

 Pacific Palisades, The Getty Villa--early February 2012

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NaBloPoMo: "Whether" or not I have anything to say...

...I've signed up to participate in NaBloPoMo for March. My blogging has been so erratic lately that I hope the daily-posting discipline will help get me get my groove back.

The official blogging theme for the month is...

WHETHER

It's actually "whether"... and it's "weather"... since both words fit with the season. March is a transitional month, bringing either warmer weather for the northern hemisphere or colder air for those down south. Being transitional means that there are a lot of whethers to your day: whether to wear a coat or not, whether to spend your time outside or in front of the computer, or whether to sign up for these summer/winter plans or that.

Some people love the open possibilities inherent in the word "whether" and others find the lack of concreteness terrifying. Whichever way you swing, this is a great month to explore why you feel the way you do; if you embrace or run screaming from the "whethers" of life.

The official blogging theme and related daily writing prompts are also optional, and whether or not I follow them will depend on whether or not I have something else planned. And I do have a few plans for March on the blog, such as

• A week of reviews of the Indie Lit Awards Biography/Memoir short list (after voting for the winner has ended)
• A 5th Blogiversary Party--you're invited, on March 18th!
• A Bloggiesta project (TBD)

In addition to the official prompts, I've a virtual clipboard full of post ideas that I'd really like to get into--I'll have no real excuse not to this month, will I? And when words fail me, I'll post pictures.

I'll be posting every day this month. I will not even take the day off on my birthday (not from here, anyway--I am taking it, and the day after, off from work!). I'm excited about it. You have been warned.

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