Internet Island Topic Post #30: 2 Year Anniversary

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January 8, 2008

Internet Island Topic Post #30: 2 Year Anniversary

I created the Internet Island blogring on November 4th, 2005, which means this month is the two year anniversary of the “Island”. There are, at most recent count, 130 “Islanders.” Happy Anniversary Islanders. For the 30th Topic Post, I’m going to give you a wealth of different kinds of topics on which to ponder and perhaps write a blog entry about. I’d like to see EVERYONE post something for our 2nd Anniversary. I haven’t given up yet! Believe it or not, it’s not too easy to come up with interesting subjects every month, and after two years, not to repeat myself. (I have, I know, upon inspection, but it isn’t intentional.) The Island was always supposed to be MORE than just a writer’s prompt site or a question and answer session. It’s all about interactivity amongst my fellow Xangans. Well, here goes. The SECOND ANNIVERSARY TOPIC POST for the Internet Island.
Internet Island Topic Post #30: 2nd Anniversary Post
Each topic below has it’s own introduction. I’ve chosen eight different topics from which to choose. Hope to see a lot of posting. If you have any other ideas for topics, I’m open for suggestions, and throughout 2008 I will ask you Islanders for topic suggestions as well as using my own. Hopefully this will spur even more interactivity and visits amongst us.
30.1: Home Economics:Messiness/Cleanliness
Some people are “Oscar” and some are “Felix” when it comes to degrees of home management. I’m single, and living with another guy, so the reference to the “Odd Couple” is especially apt in my situation. (I’m Felix, He’s Oscar) “Family” is a different concept today than when I was growing up. My father didn’t clean the house. That was my mother’s “job”. I’d like to hear about Messiness and Cleanliness in your household, or your family’s, or someone you know, with comparisons. Be honest.

30.2: The Cultural Blender (just happens to be the name of one of my websites, natch):
Most of us are entertained by popular culture. For some of us this goes farther than mere “entertainment”. Some of us have been shaped as people by popular culture in some form or another. Fans of the old television show Star Trek, known as either “Trekkers” or “Trekkies” were famously derided by the star of the original series, William Shatner, who told them to “get a life”. Star Trek today has developed a life of it’s own. I’d like to read blogs about which televison show, or movie, or book, or piece of music (or album, radio show, etc.) has most moved you and influenced your life. Which popular entertainment informs and elucidates the world about you? Type “Miley Cyrus” into a search engine and you get 18 million links. (Elvis Presley gets 66 million) The internet is fueliing our worldwide passion for cultural diversions which sometimes become the focus of our lives.

30.3: The Big Thankful:
November brings the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which might be either an excuse to get fat on turkey and stuffing or perhaps a time for a more spiritual gratefulness. What does being thankful mean to you? What is the single most important thing for which you are so thankful you forget about it most of the time?

30.4: Time Machine:
Sometimes I think I’m on a time machine with the lever stuck fast in “forward”, and I keep going faster, and never slow down. The older I get, the faster the machine goes, and the lever can never be unstuck, stopped, or reversed. If you could slow down a moment in your life, just one single, simple moment, so that you could “go back” and learn/relive/investigate/obsess/remark about it, what would it say to you, and what did you learn? You can pick any moment. Some people might have had an epiphany during a particularly sad or bad time which actually made them a better person.

30.5: Spiritual Journey:
Is humankind any more spiritual now than in the past? Has global communication spurred a revival of spiritual thought? Are we better off now than when we were cut off as individuals from others because of travel or communication restrictions? I seem to read a lot of blogs with a spiritual bent to them. Not just from Christians but from Pagans, New Agers, Muslims, Buddhists, Universalists, and a host of other bloggers who learned less well known schools of thought. I’d like to read blogs about spiritual journeys, from the personal to the Universal. (to borrow one of the taglines from my own website)

30.6: Accelerated Lives: Existence on Steroids
Home run record breaker Barry Bonds was indicted for “perjury and obstruction of justice” in court recently and could face prison for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs. I suffer from a pinched nerve and have had muscle damage because of the chronic condition of my hip, and I must have looked most quizzical the first time my doctor prescribed steroids for me. Drugs are rampant in society these days, and it seems that the doctor always has a pill to prescribe for almost any ailment you can name. The drug companies are making more money than ever before. I want to know how the Islanders feel about steroids? Are anabolic steroids good or bad for us or for the people who use them? Isn’t it about time that the sports industry embraces performance enhancing drugs rather than attempting to forbid them? Should Barry go to jail, for heaven’s sake? Should the Olympic Committee give Marion Jones back her gold medals?

30.7: Xanga Moviemakers:
I created the “MikeVideo” blogring a couple of months ago, when I began posting my “internet movies” online on Xanga. How many Islanders are videomakers? Have you an “Oscar worthy” clip sitting in your “video” section that hardly ever gets any hits? I want to promote artistic videomaking on the internet. YouTube has some artists in residence, but also a lot of Hannah Montana clips. (Not to denigrate any Miley Cyrus fans,now mind you.) I’ve found a few neat videos on Xanga, but I haven’t scratched the surface. Here’s a chance to “videoblog” your Internet Island entry. (I’m going to keep adding this topic in differing ways until somebody picks it, by the way. This is the third time, I think, I’ve used “videomaking” as a topic.)

30.8: I Read the News Today, Oboy:
I like to tell everyone ad infinitum that I don’t watch news on television. In fact, I think the “news” on television has become just another “reality series”. I read the newspaper. The ever shrinking journalistic cornerstone which has been rapidly disappearing since the first USA Today hit the stands. (On April 1st, 1987, believe it or not.) Someday soon I’m afraid the newspaper is going to disappear altogether. How do you get your news? Or do you care about the state of the world because you don’t think you can do anything about it.
I’d like to open up subtopics 30.9 and 30.10 to the Islanders themselves. Either write a topic entry on an entirely different subject of your own choosing and let me know the “topic” or give me a suggestion. I’ll pick the first two suggestions/entries and add them here.
The Topic Post will last about a month. Please enter the link or date of your Internet Island Topic Entry for this post in a comment here. If you are creating a link, make sure you link to the page with the “comments” box and not the page with five entries. (HERE IS A TUTORIAL ABOUT HOW TO MAKE LINKS.) The purpose of Internet Island Topic Posts is to help get the members of the Internet Island Blogring to exchange comments and get to know each other. Please check back periodically for new entries throughout the posting period. If you post a topic entry, please make an attempt to visit the other Islanders who do so as well. It is also a good idea to post the link to the Topic Entry in your own entry so that other interested parties can come here. You can copy/paste the Topic Post links right here in this entry into your own weblog entry box.
Topic Entries:
Baldmike2004 30.3 11/16
Kristenmomof3 30.3 11/16
writergoddess 30.1 11/17
adrianluzky 30.4 11/21
mourning2dancing 30.3 11/22
harmonyOstars 30 11/25
Zeal4living 30.5 12/02
daveshelterfromthestorm 30.2 12/03
viscosityofwords 30.2,3 11/16
screaminginmyhead 30.4 12/04
BoureeMusique 30.1,2,3,5,8 12/01
prettynosyarentu 30.8 12/27
phil leafman 30.4 01/08
YOU ONLY HAVE TO WRITE ONE TOPIC. OR MORE IF YOU WANT. IT’S ALL UP TO YOU!
Remember, the tabs at the top of theInternet Island Blogring Page will “sort” the members by latest post, date joined, and alphabetical Username. Use the ring page to find new Islanders, or older ones you might not have visited in a while. It’s OUR Island, and we’re a great group of people with different interests, fantastic stories, and wonderful lives, and we have a great deal of love for our fellow man.
There are no “right” or “wrong” responses to any Topic Post for Internet Island. All responses are just as valid as any other response.
NOTE: Please limit the posts you “send to blogrings” for the Internet Island to actual Internet Island Topic Posts. Thank You.