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Memes and Themes and Contests, Oh My!

Hey, folks. Lots of stuff going on around the ol’ blog these days, and I wanted to be sure we’re all on the same page. I’ll be back tonight with a ‘real’ post, but for now, hopefully you’ll find some interesting stuff below.

First of all, the ‘blog interview’ bug is going around again. It’s one of my very most favoritest memes, because it allows me to be silly (times five) over and over again. Here’s the score so far:

Natalie of Natalieville was nice enough to ask me five questions; I answered them yesterday, if you’re interested.

(Last year, I got my first set of questions from Shampoo of Shampoo Solo, and answered them here, if you’re still interested. Damn, you’re a glutton for punishment.)

I dutifully offered to ask questions of others, and, so far, have interview sheets out to the following folks:

Eka of SnazzyKat: hasn’t posted yet

nv of Advanced Maternal Age: hasn’t posted yet

Jon of Quality Control: answers posted!

Joe of Play By Play: answers posted!

Natalie — yes, the same Natalie — of Natalieville (who should have known better after seeing my answers): answers posted!

Cometgrrl of Adventures of Cometgrrl and Comet: hasn’t posted yet

Amber of Learn to Speak Ebenese: hasn’t posted yet

Mark of R80o: answers posted!

Marti of Marti’s Blog: answers posted!

Erin of Chix Mix: answers posted!

Faith of Faith Wild: answers posted!

Rae of A Likely Story: answers posted!

Dinky of Dinky’s Docket: answers posted!

JavaJenn of Mommy Needs Coffee: hasn’t posted yet

Susan of Third Daughter: hasn’t posted yet

I’ll update with links to the answers (and the oddball, insane questions that I asked) as they come online. In the meantime, if you’d like questions of your own, just leave me a comment on my interview answer post, and I’ll getcha. And if I missed you, or you’re listed above and didn’t get your questions, let me know via email, and I’ll try to think up a new batch for you. (Rae, I’m sorry — I couldn’t decide whether you wanted questions, or were just commenting! Let me know if you want to be interviewed.)

(Oh, and in case you want to see the types of ridiculously complicated questions I’m likely to come up with, you can read Andy’s classic post, in which he does his best to provide sane answers to the nonsense that I sent him the first time this meme came my way. I only hope I haven’t scarred the guy for life.)

Moving on. I’m also participating in Blogger Idol. It’s sort of a loose conglomeration of people who agree to post on a set topic each week, and then… well, the rules sort of tail off at that point. But participants are encouraged to read each others’ posts, and list their favorites midweek. Well, folks, it’s ‘hump day’, and I, for once, am determined to follow directions, so here are a few posts about ‘The 80s’ that I found particularly interesting:

Looking Back… from Codswallop and Flapdoodle

Truly Awful Outfits from LoobyLu

Eighties TV Madness from What in Tarnation?!?!?

Adventures with George Jones from Brother Phil

Back to the Eighties from Avoiding Evil

For the sake of reference — and to give you something pitiful to laugh and jeer at, in the face of these good entries — I’ll point you to my misguided attempt at humor for the week. Eh. There’s always next week.

Oh, and you can see all of the entries by clicking on the icon below. Check ’em out!

In other news, voting for the Bloggies is still ongoing. Pop on over and vote, if you haven’t already.

(Yes, I’m up for ‘Best New Weblog’. And no, I don’t consider this pandering for votes. Just go vote — for me, for someone else, whatever. Do what your heart tells you. Or your liver, or whichever bit of you seems to be in charge at the moment. I won’t be offended if you don’t vote for me. Promise.

Sure, I might drop a flaming Hefty bag of porcupine poop on your porch… but that’s not personal. Chill out, man.)

Anyway, whether you vote or not — or vote for me or not — thanks to everyone for coming by. And to the many folks coming over from the Bloggies site, feel free to look around. There’s plenty of quantity here… someday, I’ll start working on that other thingy, too. (What is it again? Starts with a ‘Q’, too, I think. ‘Quackery’? ‘Quiltery’? Harrumph. I’m sure I’ll remember it later.)

Two other random fun things that you can get involved with:

The first — but you’ve gotta hurry to get in — is Blog Madness 2003. Submit your own favorite post from the past year, and see how it fares in a head-to-head, ‘March Madness’-style tourney. I’ll have to remember to put a button on the sidebar for that, once it gets going.

(And I think the submission deadline is tonight, so for the love of Pippi Longstocking Underoos, hurry!)

(And for the record, I don’t actually know whether Pippi Longstocking Underoos exist… but if they did, wouldn’t you love ’em? Mmmmm… long stockings… nnnnnggghhhh…)

The other cool site that I’ve just recently found is called Blorgy. Here, you can submit posts — from any blog, anywhere — that you find particularly moving, entertaining, or snot-snorting hilarious. People then vote on the posts, and they get a little extra attention. There’s no prize or award or anything — oh, sure, the ‘Blog of the Moment’ (i.e., the currently top-rated post) does get it’s name in ‘lights’ at the top of the page, but that changes several times a day, if not an hour. Blink, and another blog has taken over.

Still, it’s a fun way to recognize posts you like, or hype posts you’re proud of, or find ‘best-of’ posts from blogs you’ve never heard of. No telling whether the site’s eventually going to suck or not — somebody might upload their whole archives and gum up the works for good — but for the moment, I think it’s pretty cool. And I’ve read some really good stuff from people I have never run into before. And that’s always a good thing.

Finally, and because clearly, I’m not writing enough as it is, I’ve signed up for the King of the Blogs. I’m not exactly sure how that’s gonna work, but it looks like I’ll have to beat out four or five other blogs to keep playing. (Where the hell is Jeff Gilooly when you need him?)

Anyway, you’ll soon see a bit of ‘KotB‘ artwork in the sidebar, and a post on the ‘Challenge’ topic will follow shortly thereafter. From there, it’s sink or swim, determined by a panel of esteemed judges.

(See? See how I said ‘esteemed‘? Let the ass-kissing begin in earnest! Huzzah!)