Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Remembrance of people past

I haven't posted a blog in a couple of days, using various excuses like getting home too late from work, feeling tired and not feeling up to it. I was going to pass again, but decided to do what Wenda does - just write something.

I've been considering a new blog site for my own x365. The original one is 40 x 365 that I mentioned a few days ago. In brief, the goal is to write about one person per day for one year. It must be someone you actually know (now or in your past) that's made some kind of impression on you. You must know their name and the number of words you use to describe the person is determined by your age in years.

It's been interesting looking at other bloggers who are trying this. The younger ones have resorted to some pretty creative short-hand, cryptic phrasing and word-play in order to get in under the word allotment.

This is one time I can see my age as a definite advantage. I can be wordy, so it'll be helpful to get the extra allocation of words for my years. On the other hand, people will know my actual age - something I've never divulged online before. I rather like a degree of age-anonymity to combat the ageism that exists, although I'm sure most people who've known me for awhile online have a pretty good idea just how OLD I am.

My BD's coming up in about a month, so maybe I'll wait for it to roll around and have that extra word to work with. Don't laugh! You never know. It could make the biggest difference in the world. I might be able to work in the word vacuous or something wonderful like antidisestablishmentarianism (a word I won a spelling bee with).

Dan (40x365) suggests you start by making a list to see if you know 365 people. I started making my list and discovered a couple of things: Firstly, the initial one hundred or so came fairly easily and secondly, thinking about who to put on the list brought back all kinds of memories that I haven't had in years.

So, at the very least, it's a good exercise in reminding ourselves of the people who have passed through our lives and the impact they've had on us. Even if I don't go through with an actual x365, I need to thank Dan for reminding me of some significant people in my life.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the idea of 365 days. Fascinating.

Anonymous said...

i'll tell you it is addictive. i only get 32 words and it makes for some interesting word crunching. 's is my favourite!!! LOL.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I just can't get into the "40" part of the 40x365. (I'll be 40 in April so it really will be "my" number.) I love the idea of the 365 people. Or however many I can come up with. And I fully intend to start this, but... I'm tossing out the first number! I'm just gonna write about 365 people, rules be damned.

Anonymous said...

THat's what I said to Jane: it would be a great memory exercise. Freshen up some of those memories you haven't pulled out of the drawer in a while.

Anonymous said...

What a novel idea. I just may give it a try myself. :-)

Anonymous said...

I keep bumping into this idea and the more often I do, the closer I get to embracing the exercise for myself. I get to play with a whole 56 words per person. Way better value than the petty senior's discounts my age has earned me in some places, me thinks.