Internet Island Topic Post #27: Anticipation and Dread

As the sequels to popular films or long awaited books approach their opening or publication day, there seems to be a detectable flavor of anticipation in the air. I really feel this among about three of the gals at work when American Idol contestants are competing. As I age, I don’t really “anticipate” things anymore. I can remember waiting impatiently for the latest Queen album to be released, or the newest Star Wars movie, but nowadays, I let things happen. I watch movies not in a theater but when they are instantly available through Netflix on DVD. I don’t have any favorite current bands. But there are non popular cultural moments in all of our lives, which we anticipate. This will be a three part questionnaire about anticipation, followed by a three part questionnaire about it’s opposite condition, dread.

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.

As you list your entries in the comments to this post, I will “list” them here, so they are easy to find. It is also helpful to add your Internet Island entries to the Internet Island Blogring Pool. When entering a post for an Island Topic on your blog, click “Send to Blogrings” in your editor, and choose the Internet Island Blogring

27.1: Do you get excited about being the “first in line”? Do you anticipate anything in popular culture with baited breath? Did you get an i-phone? Were you posting the movie trailers for the Harry Potter film or waxing poetic about the last book in the series on your blog?

27.2: What was the most deeply anticipated moment in your life, and did it work out as planned?

27.3: Last time out, I asked about routines. Do you ever look forward to breaking the “routine” in significant ways?

27.4: We all have feelings of dread. This is the opposite of anticipating an event. Our stomachs growl. Our faces wince. We can’t get out of something, and the feeling of dread takes over. Are you dreading some event right now, or have you ever dreaded an event or circumstance?

27.5: What is the absolute worst thing you dreaded in your lifetime, and when it happened, was it as bad as you thought it would be?

27.6: We’re on a blogging service, and we all write blogs to some extent. What do you feel when it comes time to write your daily, semi-weekly, weekly, or otherwise regular blog column.? Anticipation? Or Dread? And Why?

Topic Entries:

Life Lived 27.2 7/17 (New Member!)

Zeal4Living 27.2 7/17

Merridian 27.1-6 7/17 (New Member!)

Note: Merridian writes protected, so please visit her site and ask to be added to read her entry.

ladywolf aq 27 7/20

xhandwrittenlettersx 27.3 7/17

screaminginmyhead 27.6 7/22

latte grande 27.1 7/26

latte grande 27.2 7/27

prettynosyarentu 27.6 7/30

What a Wonderful New World 27.6 8/02

baldmike2004 27.1 8/02

boureemusique 27.1-3-4-6 8/02

CanadianNational 27.6 8/02 (New Member)

propa ghandi 27 8/06 (New Member)

adriansluzky 27 8/06

davesshelterfromthestorm 27.3 8/09

A Method 2 My Madness 27.2 8/13 (New Member)

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.

Internet Island Topic Post #26: The Likely and the Unlikely

It is likely that our lives revolve around some given schedule, and that we fall into routines. Change might be present in our lives, but for the most part, there is the likelihood that we can reasonably expect our days to present themselves with a familiar similarity. The Internet Island topic this time out deals with the likely and the unlikely events in our lives, and how we deal with them. Do we prefer the familiar and the safe, looking for comfort and serenity, or are we adventurous, seeking excitement daily and relishing quick changes in scenery?

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.

As you list your entries in the comments to this post, I will “list” them here, so they are easy to find. It is also helpful to add your Internet Island entries to the Internet Island Blogring Pool. When entering a post for an Island Topic on your blog, click “Send to Blogrings” in your editor, and choose the Internet Island Blogring.

26.1: Routine. What is your routine? We all have one, to some extent. They usually begin with the start of the day, as the alarm clock “rings” (or plays an appropriate wake up song) and we arise from slumber. Some of us wake before the sun arrives, and some of us are lazily content to eke out the most pleasure from our bedtime before we rise. Do we make breakfast? Or are we out the door in a shot, planning the workday’s bullet points in our heads? What is the likely order of your day’s events?

26.2: The Wrench in the Works. There’s an old saying about how throwing a “wrench in the works” of any machine utterly messes up it’s purpose. Has there ever been any memorable “wrenches” which have been thrown in your day’s “works” by either yourself or some unseeming perpetrator? How did you deal with this change of events? Did you welcome the “wrench” or suffer from the consequences?

26.3: PDAs, Cellphones, and Dayplanners. Are you organized? To what extent does organizational skills help life in general and your life in particular. Do you “schedule” blogging time, for example, or do you randomly surf the net? Do you spend equal time with all the contacts on your cellphone’s speed-dial, or are you the type who disdains any form of organization as the domain of the “anal retentive”?

26.4: The Most Unlikely Thing Just Happened. I saw a movie over the weekend, which I just happened to pick up off the shelf at Hollywood Video, not thinking I would enjoy it at all, and I was pleasantly surprised. Our expectations usually dictate our day to day experiences, but sometimes our expectations are either pleasantly or unpleasantly thwarted by something we experience which is “out of the ordinary.” What is the most recent or memorable “unlikely” experience in your life?

Topic Entries:

screaminginmyhead 26.1 6/18

California Gal 26.4 6/19

thereluctantsinger 26.1 6/19

mourning2dancing 26 6/19

Kristenmomof3 26.4 6/20

Zeal4living 26 6/22

NikitaButterfly 26.1 6/22

soccershades7 26 6/24

BoureeMusique 26.2,4 6/25

writergoddess 26.1 6/27

What a Wonderful New World 26 6/27

queenoscots 26.2,4 6/28

prettynosyarentu 26.1 6/30

baldmike2004 26.1 6/30

xXxchi cchickxXx 26.1 7/1

Stephanie just wrote an entry for an older topic. Link below:

xXxchi cchickxXx 7.02 7/8

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.

Internet Island Topic Post #25: Toys and Games

Life is divided into work and play.
“All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy” is an old homily.
This month we’ll forgo the work and concentrate on the play. This month it’s time for “toys and games”.
As usual, I’ve attempted to present a “mix” of subjects within the main subject. There is time for frivolity, and also some serious social questions to be asked about “toys and games.”

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.

TOYS 25.1
1. Favorite toy(s). Write about the toys of your youth. How did (do) you play? Be as specific as you want, or generalize. Did “Teddy’ survive a long childhood? Who disposed of your favorite toys? Or were you allowed to keep them?

2. The Old and the New. What is the difference between your “toys” then and your “toys” now?

3. Childhood always has to end, or does it? In A.A. Milne’s classic children’s book, “Winnie the Pooh”,  Christopher Robin had to “leave Pooh on the hill, waving goodbye” as he exited childhood. The “baby boom” generation, born between the late 40s and the late 50s, was the first generation to “refuse to grow up”. A lot of Islanders are in that generation. Have “toys” been important to you throughout your life? What are some of them?

4. Second Childhood. I think I’m forever going through a second childhood. The cliche of the affliction: “middle aged crazy” is that men buy expensive sports cars, or classics from their youth, or take to riding motorcycles. Did you go through, or are you going through a “second childhood”? What about the women on the Island? You wouldn’t buy a sports car. Do you indulge in a massive collection of Barbies? How do you display your affection for “toys” during your “second childhood?”

GAMES 25.2
1. Family game night. Was there such a thing at your house growing up? How about now? Do parents and children still engage in game play? Board games, such as Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, Mouse Trap, Risk, and Trivial Pursuit seem to always be popular. DVD games  are sold in every book and toy store. How have games impacted your life or that of your family?

2. Favorite game(s). As with favorite toys, write about the games you have played, with great remembered wins or losses.

3. The Games People Play. “Playing Games” has a negative connotation. Write a blog entry concerning the “games” someone in your life, or you, might have “played on someone”, either in jest or seriously.

4. Gaming. Are you or your children “lost” in the “gaming world” created by computer programmers. Do you or does someone in your family speak constantly about World of Warcraft or Second Life? What are the social implications of computer gaming?

5. Sports. Handball. Four square. Softball. Team spirit. Soccer moms. Pee Wee basketball. Little League. Intramural sports. Recess. No rules football. Any memories, stories, photos of how sports has impacted, dominated yours or your family’s lives?

Topic Entries:

screaminginmyhead 25.1.3 5/4

sherrytwinklz 25.1.1, 25.2.1 5/6

Zeal4living 25 5/7

BoureeMusique 25 5/9

What a Wonderful New World 25 5/11

adriansluzky 25.2.5 5/11

soccershades7 25.2.5 5/12

ladywolf aq 25 5/12

pray14me 25.1.1 5/12

Kristenmomof3 25.1.1 5/17

xhandwrittenlettersx 25.1.1 5/18

prettynosyarentyou 25.2 5/18

baldmike2004 25.1 5/27

xXxchi cchickxXx 25 6/12

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.

 Internet Island Topic Post #24: Our Cultural Icons

Since I’m redesigning my website “The Cultural Blender”, adding individual pages for each “icon” image inside the composite “Blender”, I’ve been reading and writing a lot about what constitutes “iconic” status in the world of celebrity and fame. I’m very interested in what cultural icons are important to you. When I created the image of the “cultural blender”, I chose about 30 “icons” to represent popular culture. Because this is not a large number, a lot of cultural heroes have been passed over. With this entry, I want to give the Islanders a chance to weigh in on which cultural trends and personalities excite and inspire you. They might be heroes, giants of entertainment, or simply favorite stars or remembered celebrities from our youth.

The Topic Post will last approximately two weeks to 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.

24.01:  Write or present a list, as short or as long as you wish, highlighting your own personal “icons” and describing why they are important to you.

24.02:  Have you ever met or seen a movie star, music personality, radio disc jockey, writer, artist, or tv star in the flesh?

24.03: What makes something representative of it’s genre? Give an example or examples. For instance, for me, John Wayne is (still) the leading iconic “western hero” even though he’s been dead for 30 years.

24.04: Are you now or have you ever been obsessed with anyone or thing in the popular cultural consciousness?  One of the new “icons” I included in the blender is the hit television show “American Idol”. Although I personally don’t care for this program, it seems to speak to a massive amount of people. One of my friends is obsessed with the online computer game called “World of Warcraft”. My girlfriend is obsessed with Disneyland. Are you secretly (or not so secretly) addicted to any personality or cultural trend?

24.05: I include popular “brand names” in my Cultural Blender. You’ll see “cokes” on the coffee table in the composite image above, and there’s an “Energizer Bunny” displayed on the floor. Write about your favorite product or service, or a remembered family brand, iconic or not.

Internet Island Topic Post #22, er, I mean #23: Making Mistakes

This time our topic is going to be about mistakes. Instead of asking specific questions, (but including a series of questions to either answer individually or to get you writers and would be writers thinking) I want you to read the following quotations and questions, and then create a blog entry in your own style (as you usually do) about a mistake, either personal or global. How do you “feel” about the concept of the “mistake”. This word gets thrown around a lot in the workplace. Especially when something goes wrong. The fantastic successes are never noted or noticed because they work. Everyone zeroes in on the mistake.

The Topic Post will last approximately two weeks to 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.

“REST IN PEACE. THE MISTAKE SHALL NOT BE REPEATED.” anonymous

“Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.” writer Pearl S. Buck
“Murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner.” writer Oscar Wilde
“The first mistake of Art is to assume that it’s serious.” music critic Lester Bangs
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“Solomon made a big mistake when he asked for wisdom.” playwright Anton Chekhov
“Mysticism is the mistake of an accidental and individual symbol for an universal one.” poet Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I made one great mistake in my life…recommending that atom bombs be made.” scientist Albert Einstein
“A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors…are the portals of discovery.” writer James Joyce
 
“Everyone makes mistakes”

Or do they?
 
Have you ever made a mistake?

Did you ever do the right thing?

Did you ever do the right thing and somebody you respected thought it was a mistake?

Are mistakes merely tools of learning? Do we “Learn from our mistakes.”

Are mistakes necessarily “bad”? Should we indicate where mistakes are made?

What is a “happy accident”?

What is the “greatest mistake” in history or memory?

Could someone’s greatest mistake be another’s greatest victory? (Ask Napoleon about that one.) (Edit: 2/20 5:48. Unintentionally, I had Napoleon’s name spelled incorrectly, a pretty blaring mistake, and I just caught it right now.)

Is the concept of “blame” associated with the concept of the “mistake”? Should it be?

) Great Books online for free! Images of pinup art by Art Frahm taken from the Art Frahm section of The Institute of Good Cheer by James Lileks on  www.lileks.com  The image of the Good Year Blimp is copyright the Good Year Tire and Rubber Co.    

Internet Island Topic Post #22.00: Our Internet “World”

Finally, I’ve gotten around to giving you Internet Island Topic Post #21. I was a little more happy with the last topic post. I did notice a lot of other Islanders among the sites I visited, and I hope I got around to all of you who posted an entry.

This time, the subject is the internet. If we’re blogging, we’re on the internet. Right now, the vast “information superhighway” is in front of us, beackoning like a virtual encyclopedia and gossip column. If you were born after 1977, when the home computer was introduced. then computers and the internet, seem to have always been around. For an old “analog” person like me, it’s still a brave new world, and it’s changing every day. Here are some questions to ponder about the internet. You can either “answer” any or all of them, or create your own “slant” on the subject at hand. This month we’re going to talk about our virutal “world”.

As you list your entries in the comments to this post, I will “list” them here, so they are easy to find.

The Topic Post will last approximately two weeks to 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.

We’ll start at the beginning of your “stay” on the “internet world”.

22.01. Internet “start page” or “home page”.
What is the first thing you see when you get on the internet. What do you check first? Your email? Stock quotes? The news? Do You Yahoo? Do you set Google as your home page? A personal website? The AP or Reuters news feeds? ABC.com? How about  Your Xanga? Or is it like the “blinking 12:00″ on most everyone’s VCR in the 80s. Did you just keep the MSN home page that came with Internet Explorer? (Yes, it’s interesting to note that VCRs and computers arrived at almost the same time, although computers didn’t really “take off” until Windows 3.1 and the advent of the World Wide Web, which introduced “graphics” to the previously text based internet.)  

22.02. Hardware, Software, and nowhere
Write or somehow present your “internet history”. I wrote an essay for my website called “A Short History of the World Wide Web” in 1999. It wasn’t a “history” of the internet, but of my own experience “online”. I’d like to know what journeys through cyberspace you’ve taken over the years. Straight sailing? Detours? Virtual collisions?

22.03. The Blogoshpere (Your “home away from home”)
You’re not only here on the web, you’re here on good ol’ Xanga. Did you know what you were doing when you signed up with Xanga and wrote your first blog entry? I don’t want to know “why you blog” now, after you’ve done it for a while. Each of us blogs for different reasons, and through the comments feature, we can talk to each other, and sometimes see “communities”. The “Internet Island” is such a ‘communit’. What I want to know is what you thought when you first signed up and took your first babysteps through Xanga. Was there a plan? Did you go exploring? What prompted your own first comment.  

22.03.1: Programs, Games, Virtual Reality, the future.
Email was the first “interconnective” device on the internet. Email and message boards. Then came graphical interfaces and personal websites, refined search engines, and of course, our friend the blog. I can remember downloading both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator thinking I needed both. I still recall the frustration and difficulty at trying to send photos through the internet as “early” as 1996. People always tell me my websites and blogs crash their old computers, because I’ve been graphics oriented since I got online. I “predicted” personal streaming video, and my first streams were online in 2001. What have you purchased for your computer? How new or old is your system? Take a photo, or better yet, create a “video blog” and upload it to your Xanga “video” section and post it for the topic. How many programs do you run? What do you do on the computer, in other words, besides blog on Xanga. If you participate in RPG’s, that’s another whole ‘world’. What does it do for you? I’m planning to write a sci fi novel, “Paradigm Shifiting” set in the future, when the internet is replaced by Virtual Reality, sort of like the “holodeck” on the Star Trek series, where “sites” are “worlds” that you can explore, and your “avatar” or “self” can be whatever you want it to be. I think that VR, represented by online multiplayer games in the present, will evolve into a “Matrix” like cyber world that is indistinguishable, or completely different, depending upon the “destination” than the real world. (Which will be somewhat barren due to global warming) What do think about the future of the internet?  

22.04: YouTube: TV on the internet that you program yourself.
In July of last year, YouTube overtook MySpace as the most popular site on the world wide web. As of right now, Alexa’s top 500 worldwide sites lists YouTube at #5 (MySpace is #6)

5. 

YouTube (www.youtube.com)

Global Top 500 Websites by Alexa

Yesterday, in the L.A. Times Calendar Section, in  a story about “home grown celebrities” and the YouTube phenomenon,  I read that  you can find anything you want on YouTube. Is this true?  It’s not only a personal video channel for videomakers like me, or videobloggers. Almost any sort of filmed or videotaped entertainment can be found on the site. I have never used the “search function” to find out if this is true, but I know a lot of bloggers post YouTube clips they’ve “found” on their entires. What is the quirkiest, most original, historical, important,  or strangest video you have seen (or can search for) on YouTube. Remember to supply links, or even better, embed the clip on your entry.

Topic Entries:

baldmike 2004 22.04 1/24/07

Citril 22.03 1/25/07

suzyQ darnit 22.03 1/25/07

sherrytwinklz 22.01-03 1/25/07

Zeal4Living 22.01-02 1/25/07

prettynosyarentyou 1/25/07

Teena 22.03 1/26/07

emmysback 22.01 1/26/07

Building A Mystery 22.04 1/29/07

adrianluzky 22 1/29/07

thereluctantsinger 22.03 1/30/07

baldmike 2004 22.03 1/30/07

BoureeMusique 22.01-03 1/31/07

davesshelterfromthestorm 22 1/31/07

writergoddess 22 1/31/07

ladywolf aq 22.01,03 2/3/07

screaminginmyhead 22.01 2/4/07

kristenmomof3 22.01 2/5/07 (New Islander!)

baldmike2004 22.03.1 2/10 

kirby 1960 22.03 2/10

queenofscots 22.04 2/11

pogueatl 22.02 2/13

presentfool 22.01-.04 2/15 (New Islander!)

pogueatl 22.03 2/16

Internet Island Topic Post #21.00: “End of the Year 2006″

Before the end of 2006, Here is Internet Island Topic Post #21. The Island is now populated by 130 blogs. Yet only 42 people subscribe to this site. I’ll attempt to get around and notify members of the ring who are not subscribed that there are at least monthly topic posts over here. If you know any Islanders who have not subscribed, please let them know about our existence.

I’ve chosen SIX different topics. The last one is for everybody. I’d REALLY like to see interaction among the topic entry writers at least, like on all the other participatory blogrings. If you want to see this blogring last, and perhaps get more active, then it is up to you, as a member, to respond to all the topic entries with visits and comments.

As you list your entries in the comments to this post, I will “list” them here, so they are easy to find.

The Topic Post will last approximately two weeks to 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.

21.01: Year End Wrap Up:
The last week in December is when most periodicals and newspapers give a year end wrap up, showing the high, and sometimes low, points of the past year. Write your personal Year End Wrap Up, using photos and captions, or just words, to present the past year.

21.02: The Dead Pool:
Without seeming to be morbid, celebrity and famous deaths always seem to come in threes. On Christmas, soul singer James Brown passed away, followed rather quickly by ex President Gerald Ford. Who’s next? Fidel Castro?

21.03: What’s the Weather Like:
Everybody is always talking about the weather. What are the most extreme conditions you’ve “weathered”? It can be a storm from when you were a child. Perhaps you got through a major earthquake or hurricane. On the flip side, if you’d rather, blog about the most perfect weather on the most perfect day you’ve ever spent.

21.04: This Year is Going to Be Different:
Last year I posted a topic about New Year’s Resolutions, after reading blogs about resolutions every year, and most of the responses were that people don’t make resolutions anymore. Perhaps you do and perhaps you don’t. Write about what is going to make 2007 different. For you and for the world

21.05: Five Year Plan:
I’ve seen this blogging exercise many times in the past, and thought it might make an interesting topic here. Write about what you were doing five years ago. Ten Years Ago. Fifteen Years Ago. Go back as long as you want, depending upon your memory, age, and how long you want your article to be.

21.06: Visit A New Islander and Respond to Other Topic Entries:
Make an attempt to strike up an internet friendship with one Internet Islander whom you don’t know (yet). It seems that when I post these topics, I get participants, but I wonder if many of the people who write topic entries, come back and read the other entries.I just took a random sample from Topic #20 and only four Islanders responded to the entry. If 15-20 people participate by writing an entry, then each of the entries should have 15-20 comments from at least those people. What’s the use of having a participatory blogring if nobody particpates?

Topic Entries:

writergoddess 21.05 12/28/06

ladywolf_aq 21.03, 21.04 12/28/06

xhandwrittenlettersx 21.01 12/28/06

Zeal4living 21.01 12/29/06

Building A Mystery 21.03 12/29/06 

baldmike 2004 21.01 12/29/06

mourning2dancing 21.04 12/30/06

kirby1960 21.03 12/31/06

sherrytwinklz 21.01 12/31/06

boureemusique 21.04 01/02/07

thereluctantsinger 21.05 01/02/07

davesshelterfromthestorm 21.01 01/03/07

Zeal4living 21.04 01/04/07

soccershades7 21.05 01/04/07

GracieLeigh 21.01 01/04/07

California Gal 21.01 01/05/07

prettynosyarentu 21.03 01/05/07

adrianlusky 21.04 01/08/07

suzyQdarnit 21.05 01/08/07

Betrayed1959 21.03 1/13/07

What a Wonderful New World 21.04, 21.06 1/14/07

pogueatl 21.01 1/18/07

pogueatl 21.02 1/24/07

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.

Internet Island Topic Post #20.00: “(Welcome) Back to the Island Post”

Welcome to Internet Island Topic Post #20 at the NEW Internet Island location. Please note the new member sites which are listed at the bottom of this entry. 11 people have joined the Island blogring since the last topic post was entered on September 19. The Island is now populated by 131 blogs.

(Welcome) Back to the Island

The Internet Island has been relocated, and is celebrating it’s first birthday. I’ve chosen SIX different topics, from the mundane (What’s the oldest thing in your closet?) to the overtly political (What do you think about the “war in Iraq?”)  As you list your entries in the comments to this post, I will “list” them here, so they are easy to find. Who’s going to be “first” to write the “comeback Internet Island topic entry?” Will it be YOU?

The Topic Post will last approximately two weeks. 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 two week 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.

20.01: Politics:
After the Democrats took control of Congress, the pundits on the news programs and political bloggers are telling us that the American people want a change in government because of the increasing unpopularity of “the war in Iraq.” Here’s your chance to become a pundit. First: What do you think about the “War in Iraq?” Second: Are there “good wars” and “bad wars”?

20.02: Medicine and Health:
Pick one “cure” for any disease that you think would have an overwhelming effect on the good will and health of the world.

20.03: Animal Planet:
A recent news article proclaimed that intelligence tests given to Manatees prove that the beasts are getting “smarter”. I seem to be seeing a lot of news lately about animal intelligence. Are the animals getting smarter because they want to tell us something? What do they want to say?

20.04: Fashion:
I’ve recently been noticing that a lot of my clothes are getting threadbare. As I age, I don’t seem to “follow fashion” at all, and I’m always surprised that something I might think I “just bought” is in reality over a decade old. What is the oldest piece of clothing in your closet? Does it still fit you? Why do you keep this around? What is the latest piece of clothing in your closet? Is it in style?

20.05: Thanksgiving:
This is a chestnut topic that pops up frequently this time of year, and will most probably be a subject about which you might blog anyway. For what do you give thanks this Holiday season? Another year passes, you’re another year older, a year’s worth of events and emotions are added to your personal calendar. Write your Thanksgiving Prayer. We should be giving thanks each and every day, but a lot of us tend to complain. On Thanksgiving, let’s put aside our complaints. Join me in Giving Thanks.

20.06: The Perfect Society:
When I was in college, I took a class in comparative literature which highligted the “distopian novel.” New Internet Islander Marie (Building a Mystery) recently wrote a satirical entry about the subject of Utopia. Can society be perfected, or does human nature preclude perfection? How would we begin? Is there anything resembling a perfect society existant today?

Topic Entries:

 adrianluzky 11/14: 20.01 (first entry)

Building A Mystery 20.02 11/14

Thereluctantsinger 20.04 11/14

Betrayed1959 20.06 11/14

writergoddess (nessi1) 20.01 11/15

What does God look like 20.02 11/15

mourning2dancing 20.05 11/18

Zeal4living 20.00-06 11/19

baldmike2004 20.05 11/20

screaminginmyhead 20.05 11/20

prettynosyarentyou 20.05 11/20

emmysback 20.05 11/21

soccershades7 20.05 11/21

ladtwolf aq 20.02 11/22

ElectricBlue Eyes 20.05 11/27

BoureeMusique 20.04 11/28

Mimiwi 20.04 12/13

xhandwrittenlettersx 20.01-06 12/26

GunStarHero1988 BLIND I TO SMELL YOU. STAND A LITTLE CLOSER. A LITTLE MORE. YEAHHH, I SMELL YOU. Site last updated 11/13/2006 at 7:07 AM – joined group 11/12/2006

GracieBC ‘and all of the things that I said that I wanted~ come rushing in by my head when I’m with you~14 joys and a will to be merry~and all of the things that we say are very~sentimental gentle wind~blowing through my life again~sentimental lady, gentle one….’ In addition to that…I am a wife, mother, poet, painter, student, cook, daughter, friend. Not as good as I want to be, not as bad as I used to be, always trying to be what I’m meant to be. Site last updated 11/11/2006 at 11:08 PM – joined group 11/10/2006

renaissancelady Site last updated 11/8/2006 at 10:36 PM – joined group 11/9/2006

InternetIsland Site last updated 11/11/2006 at 9:54 AM – joined group 11/9/2006

Citril I’m 37, a first-time, SAHM to our wee miracle Charis, wife of the ever patient Andrew, and surrogate Mum to Xander (Charis’s kitten) and 3 degus. I enjoy reading, writing, photography, cooking, theatre, music, films, ballet, scuba diving, travel, walking, camping, and spending time with family and friends. The most important things in my life are : God My family My friends We live in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland, but I was born and raised in Oban – my heart belongs there! Site last updated 11/12/2006 at 7:49 PM – joined group 11/7/2006

essenceofsage I am published writer of poetry and prose and cling to inherent ramblings of an extraordinary life! Site last updated 11/12/2006 at 6:59 PM – joined group 11/3/2006

Building_A_Mystery Drop by and discuss faith, freedom, justice, and contemporary issues. Please note that hostile attacks against Christianity will not be tolerated. Site last updated 11/13/2006 at 9:45 AM – joined group 11/1/2006

adriansluzky father, lover, postman, comments, welcome Site last updated 11/9/2006 at 4:50 AM – joined group 11/1/2006

WhataWonderfulNewWorld Site last updated 11/10/2006 at 6:04 AM – joined group 11/1/2006

emmysback Well lets see what can I say about me! I hate talking about me. Lets talk about my kids. I am a mother of 4 gorgeous children, who are very busy and vibrant. We are always on the run either with sports, or dance. Baseball and dance are our busy times of the year. But as a mom you might hear me gripe about it, but if you know me you also know I love every minute of it. I enjoy spending time outdoors with my kids, and hanging out with my friends. My hubby and my kids are my world, and we are doing the best we can to bring up the kids in a christian manner. Site last updated 11/11/2006 at 10:47 PM – joined group 9/19/2006

ammaw2653 I am married to my second husband now for 31 years and have 3 children and 5 grandchildren. I am mostly conservative but have been known to go a little off base. I believe in God although I don’t attend a church. I love music of all kinds except for rap and really hard rock. I do like some Metallica though and I especially enjoy anything by Josh Groeban. I also like bluegrass considering my hubby is a musician and that is what he plays. http://www.fusioncash.net/?ref=texdeb Site last updated 11/10/2006 at 10:15 PM – joined group 9/19/2006 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. CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE INTERNET ISLAND, A PARTICIPATORY BLOGRING.

A topic entry for the Internet Island Topic Post 6.00 

Written by Michael F. Nyiri Feb. 7, 2006 (Not a “Best Of” article. I just wanted to post something today, and found this entry from the archives.) I wrote this entry for the “Dichotomy of Life” topic post. All the topic posts in the Internet Island are designed to get you thinking about life, happiness, the world, and how to better enlighten ourselves while we’re “here”. You might or might not have read this entry when it appeared on my WhenWordsCollide site back in February. If not, I hope you enjoy a sampling of one of my own essays! MFN 11/11/06. Stay tuned for the next Topic Post, which I will put up here on the 13th, which is Monday.

A child is born
Another one dies
Somebody laughs
And somebody cries
Merriment, happiness
Sadness and gloom
All manner of emotion
from gladness to doom
Mixed in the blender
Felicity, strife
We have ups and downs
The dichotomy of life

“There’s good news and bad news…Whattaya wanna hear first?”

From the moment we are born, to our final breath of life, our existence is filled with the presence of great happiness, great sadness, accomplishments, disappointments. The good exists with the bad. Fear follows fulfillment. In Christian mythology, the first humans, Adam and Eve, lived in Paradise, a place where such dichotomy did not exist. Their lives were perfect, but they were not satisfied with this perfection. Jehovah placed in the center of Paradise a Tree of Knowledge of the Difference Between Good and Evil. Goaded by the Snake, Eve persuaded Adam to taste of this knowledge, and the two were bansihed from Paradise forever. Human existence since then has been filled with this “knowledge” and this “knowledge” is what differentiates for us these disparate slivers of feelings.
In Eastern religions, the forces of yin and yang govern the order of the universe. One cannot definitely experience true enlightenment if one has not sampled the agonies of existence firsthand. Some lives are lived over and over again until enlightenment is attained. This is our test. Our lives are filled with the often conflicting experiences of existence. When a life is over, the rest of us grieve for that life. When the life has begun we celebrate, and a part of that celebration is carried over into our grief when that life ends. There are diseases of the brain, like bipolarity, which tends to give certain people great mood swings which imprints happiness and sadness equally and indiscriminately into their lives sometimes so close together that they appear to be happening at the same time.
Life is not fair, nor is it perfect. And that lack of perfection and fair play is what makes it infinitely interesting.

Dear Islanders,

Here are the “archives” of the Internet Island. Following are the first 19 Topic Posts for the Internet Island, which was created on November 4th, 2005. This list will be posted here on the front page of the Internet Island site in the footer or in a sidebar. I just put up this site tonight and it’s almost time for bed, so I’m not doing any “layout work” right now. There are some great articles among the participants in these earlier topic posts, and one thing that might be interesting is that I’m going to post some of the best RIGHT HERE on the Internet Island site, with links to the original Islander, so it’s sort of like “Featured Islander”. I want more participation, more feedback, and more friendship. I’m going to try to make more of an effort to present some of my favorite responses among the participants Not playing favorites, mind you. I just don’t think a lot of the entries were read the first time around, and there are some great posts to be read. I don’t want to bombard you with messages and posts, which I’ve already done tonight, so I’ll take my leave right now, and I’ll “see you on the Island”.

MichaelF.Nyiri:ppf


The Internet Island.

Topic Post 1.00. 5 Questions.

Topic Post 1.01: “How to create a “Link” “.

Topic Post 1.02: “An Open Letter “.

Topic Post 2.00: Favorite Islanders.

Topic Post 3.00: Fantasy Vacation.

Topic Post 4.00: New Year’s Resolutions.

Topic Post 5.00: “Who is your best friend” and 5.01: “What are your regrets”.

Topic Post 6.00: “The Dichotomy of Life”

Topic Post 7.00: “Open House”

Topic Post 8.00: “1. When we die. 2.In Charge 3. A picture. 4. Someone Else’s Life”

Topic Post 9.00: “1. Tax Time. 2.They don’t make them likie they used to. 3. Earliest memory”

Topic Post 10.00: “”1. Life is a Journey. 2.Birthday Memories. 3. Winning and Losing. 3. Blog Your Pet.”

Topic Post 11.00: “1. Xanga Disappointments or Successes. 2.If I were a carpenter… 3. Mother’s Day.”

Topic Post 12.00: “Money Money Money”

Topic Post 13.00: “Luck, both good and bad”

Topic Post 14.00: “First and Last Books, 4th of July Memories, Clowns”

Topic Post 15.00: “Who Are You?”

Topic Post 16.00: “Secrets, Confessions, Opinions, and Comfort”

Topic Post 17.00: “Imagination”

Topic Post 18.00: “The Songs of Your Life”

TOPIC 19.00 “Back to School”