A blogging project: x365

An interesting idea:

"Dan Waber turned 40 on January 12th, 2006, and wanted to mark the occasion in some positive fashion. So he got this crazy idea (not an unusual event) to write 40 words (no more, no less) every day for a year, and each day he'd write about a different person (in no particular order) who touched his life. But not just anyone, it has to be someone he's actually met in person, someone whose name he still remembers."

- How x365 got started

I'm kinda sorta maybe interested in trying it myself, except that right now even trying to write and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite the introductions to these quotes is proving to be SOMEWHAT LESS THAN ENJOYABLE.

Here's some nice work from Nathan at Okay City: x365, who - being 27 at the time - had only 27 words per post to work with:

- - -

18 August 2007
300 - B.

"She came bounding up the first day of summer, dressed head to toe in lime-green, exclaiming brightly, 'Wake up! It's Monday!' My dislike was misplaced, but deep."

- - -

26 September 2007
339 - H.

"A fabulous Texas woman, with a heart as big as her purse, and hair as big as her heart, both as big as that huge Texas sky."

- - -

18 October 2007
361 - Dr. H.

"My college advisor was a great Old Testament scholar and biblical archaeologist with a sunny disposition and bright blue eyes that never, ever blinked. Like, never ever."

- - -

UPDATE
I've read a bit more of some x365 work and think it would be better if participants didn't name the people they're talking about. Some of the stuff I've seen is so breathtakingly mean, it's hard to believe the writer would put his/her own name to it, let alone name the person they're trashing.

quote

"And once for all, let me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it's better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one.

- Captain Peleg speaking to Ishmael about the moody good Captain Ahab, Moby Dick, instalment 37 of 260 from DailyLit

Tue 1st - 1

I miss the days of Web 1.0, when it was okay for a geek to be an introvert.

- kariume (Kari), Twitter

Was it ever "okay" to be an introvert in Western culture? I doubt it. Geeks and artists and writers (creative types) can probably get away with it when they're working, but for the rest of us, introversion means we appear to be antisocial and in this society that is regarded as suspect.

I don't know, though - I keep meaning to look into it further. Probably everybody is a bit of an introvert sometimes - it's probably a sliding scale between extremes of extroversion and introversion. And it's not the same thing as being shy or socially anxious.

From a great article by Jonathan Rauch, Caring for your introvert:

What is introversion?

Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially "on," we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn't antisocial. It isn't a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: "I'm okay, you're okay—in small doses."

And if you like that article, be sure to see the follow-up conversation between Sage Stossel and Jonathan Rauch, Introverts of the world, unite!

Sat 28th - 2

My mother is a good woman--a very good woman--and I am, I think, not quite all criminality, but we do not pull together. I am a piece of machinery which, not understanding, my mother winds up the wrong way, setting all the wheels of my composition going in creaking discord.

She wondered why I did not cry and beg forgiveness, and thereby give evidence of being human. I was too wrought up for tears. Ah, that tears might have come to relieve my overburdened heart! I took up the home-made tallow candle in its tin stick and looked at my pretty sleeping sister Gertie (she and I shared the one bed). It was as mother had said. If Gertie was scolded for any of her shortcomings, she immediately took refuge in tears, said she was sorry, obtained forgiveness, and straightaway forgot the whole matter. She came within the range of mother's understanding, I did not; she had feelings, mother thought, I had none. Did my mother understand me, she would know that I am capable of more depths of agony and more exquisite heights of joy in one day than Gertie will experience in her whole life.

- the narrator, Sybylla, in My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

Sat 28th - 1

Saw a man lift a lawnmower over his head and angrily throw it over a fence to the curb. Looked like a crime of passion.

- phillygirl, Twitter

Fri 27th - 5

I wrote to Miles Franklin, and she confessed that she was a girl.

- Henry Lawson, 1901, preface, My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

Sat 7th - 2

Almost everyone is convinced they are not like other people.

- 4 ways we fail to choose happiness, PsyBlog