331st Friday Blog Roundup
The comment love fest (and annual giveaway) is heating up, so you really get two Roundups this week — the one you’re creating in the comment section over here and this one. I am baking all weekend and trying to get my first round of boxes out on Tuesday, so you only have until Monday morning to comment elsewhere (and compliment that person’s writing) in order to win.
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So, does everyone know about Cyclesista? It started probably five years ago as a way for people to connect with others cycling at the same time. (Someone help me out with this — my blog is almost five years old, and I think it was there before I started blogging.) People submit their blog name and what they’re doing (IUI or IVF) and then they can visit the other people cycling at the same time — giving support and getting support.
Equally fun is going back through the archives and seeing old blogs.
I was trying to remember the five original members this week. I believe it was Things Get If’fy, Journey to the Centre of the Egg (which became Rememberella), Prop Up Your Hips (now deleted), Stella and/or Ben, and Jenny from the Infertility Block? Correct me if there were others who came before these members.
The torch has been passed a few times now, and it is currently run by Bea and Jen. Seriously, no one needs to cycle alone. Go add yourself to this month’s list if you’re not on it.
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Who will be the next Limerick chick? Only you can determine that. Go over and vote (hint: it won’t be me).
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The Weekly What If: what if you could either be transported to the first show or the last show of your favourite band. Would you rather go see them before they became the polished musicians you know them to be; to catch that first spark? Or would you rather go enjoy their last hurrah?
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And now, the blogs…
BigP and Me has a moving post about whether or not to give a lost twin a name. She writes, “It feels like if I give her a name, it means she was more than she was. She was hope and possibility. I wonder if naming her makes her out to be more than that? More than she was.” I feel that the naming of things is such a gut, personal decision, but I also love the discussion of what naming someone means, how that helps (or doesn’t help) us heal.
It is what it is (or is it?) has a post about her adoption story and how it contributed to how she processed her child’s birth. Because she was never told about the moment of her birth but rather the placement in her parent’s arms, she always saw herself as someone who was “hatched.” She explains: “Unless you have been raised without that knowledge you simply cannot appreciate how profound it is to know.” The post gives a lot of food for thought.
Here We Go Again has been keeping a secret — but it’s one she placed in clear sight in another post.
Finally, Bloodsigns hit it out of the park with her post on the classroom orgasm incident this week. The story she tells of her own experience as a teacher showing a controversial film illuminates how no one can speak for the way anyone else processes an event and that almost parental-like care teachers should have for their students.
The roundup to the Roundup: The comment love fest winner will be announced on Monday (so keep reading those posts that are being linked to in the comment section this weekend). Do you know about Cyclesista? Answer the Weekly What If. And lots of great posts to read.
13 comments
Memories!! I found Cyclesista and YOU at the same time and it was so wonderful to find out I was not alone. I put myself up on Cyclesista a couple times; “met” a couple of the people cycling at the same time as me…and have kept up with their blogs ever since.
I often wonder about Jenny from Block–she was one of the first blogs I read and she was at her end of journey–which was sweet and bitter for me to read when I was first starting out…
Yes, cyclesista is a great place for support. 🙂
My favorite band is Dance Hall Crashers. I think I would go to their first show since I was at three of their last ten shows. Although, I didn’t find them until the band was eight years old, and the band as I know it is very different from how it was when it started (seriously; none of the current members were in the band when it started), so if I could go back and see them at the first show with the current members, I would do that.
The very first show – hands down. That would be so. very. freaking. cool. The hard part would be picking the band/artist!! 🙂
I was long past cycling when Cyclesistas started, but I had heard of it long before I started blogging & realized there was a blogging connection.
Tough question! I sometimes think I would have loved to have been at one of the Beatles’ early shows at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, or in Hamburg, before they got really famous. : )
Everyone in Manitoba has a story about the Guess Who playing at their high school dances. Supposedly they played a teen dance at the city hall in my mother’s hometown while we were there visiting one summer. That’s about as close as I got — although my high school music teacher also taught music in both elementary & high school to the lead singer, Burton Cummings, who went on to a successful solo career. She thought he was talented but lazy. ; )
My only comparable story would be Harlequin — a band I’m sure most of you have never heard of, but they had some national (Canadian) success in the early 1980s. They played at a lot of our high school & university dances before their record came out. And dh saw Bryan Adams in a bar in Winnipeg just before he hit the big time. : )
I was part of Cyclesistas too – I think you’re right on the original members. I haven’t kept up putting my cycle info up there because I started to have a hard time reading about the others who were able to move on while I stayed there. But it’s really a great resource, especially if you’re a newer blogger.
I would see David Wilcox early on, when he was young and untested and told his funny stories. He’s still great right now, but age makes people a lot more reflective. I would have loved to experience his young fun side.
xoxo
I don’t know. I’ve been to an early show of a band that ended up becoming semi-famous and one of my favorite bands and they were really good. But most of my favorite bands have kind of gotten worse eventually. So I think I choose the first show.
I would take the first show for sure. Otherwise, there’s hype to be lived up to, which generally proves disappointing.
The first show in a tiny club would be awesome. The magic seems to be stronger with a great band when they first form as opposed to later, when they get big heads and get all egomaniac-y and fight with each other. (And as Behind the Music taught us, eventually all the big bands will discover HEROIN. I can’t imagine that would improve their performances.) Plus, the bragging rights would be fun, because I’m shallow like that. Although it would also be really cool to see a huge band in a small venue later in their career. I guess I’m into the small venue thing more. I haven’t seen either kind of concert.
Well quite unfortunately for them some of my favorite bands never got famous. I would love to have seen their first shows, but since they rock out in small venues and hang out with the crowds (does 5 people make a crowd?) afterward, I feel like it’s about as close to first shows as it can be.
First. Endings depress me.
I saw the Dixie Chicks before they were really popular, and that was fun, but I didn’t know as many ‘hits,’ (I’m pretty mainstream when it comes to music,) so I think it’d be fun to see a last show, maybe Simon and Garfunkel or the Beach Boys with Brian Wilson there. Queenie brought up a good point, though.
I worked in radio in college and met lots of bands. I ate pizza with Fuel before they were big. Nice guys. I wonder if they are still as nice and down to earth? Thanks for the shout out, still not sure what to do but I appreciate the comments and opinions.
Hope people find support at cyclesistas! And thanks, Jen.
I sort of regret not ditching one of my final exams to go (interstate) to the last concert of a particular band during uni, so I’d probably have to say “last” on account of still chasing that regret. It might not be the right answer, though…
Bea