544th Friday Blog Roundup
Today is Truman Day in Missouri. We like to celebrate it over here in Maryland as a nod to our guinea pig, Truman. (Though we think our 33rd president was pretty swell, too.) Though Josh claims that every day seems to be Truman Day in our house, today he is getting extra cuddles, extra cookies, and extra time listening to guinea pig videos on YouTube.
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We’re caught up on Sherlock and now awaiting new episodes, which won’t come for almost another year. I’m not really a fan of mysteries or crime shows, but I love Sherlock, especially the episode with Irene Adler and the Hounds of Baskerville.
I know we can revisit the characters through old episodes, but we all know that it’s not the same thing as watching it the first time. Am I the only one who misses characters — not the show, itself — when the episodes run out? It feels like two friends have moved far away; somewhere without telephones or Internet. I miss the ritual of spending time with them.
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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “A Snapshot in Time” (No Kidding in NZ)
- “Choose Joy Recap” (Amateur Nester)
Okay, now my choices this week. Just in case you need a distraction on this most-difficult of weekends, there are a lot of posts in the Roundup. I couldn’t narrow it down to my usual 4 and instead let everything bookmarked land on the list.
A+ Effort has a post about race that is… amazing. It’s simple, it’s short, it says so much in such a small space. To me, it’s a must-read for everyone.
Today’s the Day has a post about body image. I am so glad that she decided to post the picture of herself because every shape of body should be represented in running photos.
My Path to Mommyhood has a post about how infertility has subtly changed her personality, shaping the way she approaches hope. It’s about finding the balance that protects her heart while still allowing her to be herself.
Wild and Precious Life has a brief post about the unfinished nursery that made me cry. These are the lines that gutted me: “I struggle with the urge to finish the nursery. To hang their names on the wall, to reorder the returned cribs. To unfold the handmade blankets.” Please read the whole thing.
Two Kids and Counting… Slowly has a post about hitting the end of the brainstorming road, and not seeing how they’ll ever have another child. She explains: “I am not even numb, it’s just like… a big I’M OUT OF IDEAS flashing across my brain … I’m just out of any other feelings about it. Is it possible to run out of feelings after a long time dealing with something?” I love this description of finding yourself at the end of your thoughts.
The Lewis Note also has a post that made me weepy about doing the laundry while not knowing if the child she is fostering will remain with her or go back home. Every load of laundry brings her closer to that decision, and she holds the tiny items wondering how many more times she’ll get to wash and fold them.
A Separate Life asks an excellent question: how often are you in your photographs? Do you ask others to take a picture of you when you travel? Do you take selfies? I’ll admit, I take many pictures and I’m in very few. Maybe I should change that.
Lastly, Baby-Making Merry-Go-Round has a sobering and important post of what it feels like when you are being tested for cancer. It begins: “In a nutshell, it’s a mixture of feeling sick to your stomach, mixed with moments of shortness of breath, following by long deep breaths. I think that’s the basic feeling.” Please go over and read the whole thing, and then stick around and leave a message of support in the comment section.
The roundup to the Roundup: It’s Truman Day! Do you miss television characters when a show is over/goes on hiatus? Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 1st and 8th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
14 comments
I totally miss characters…I still miss Rory & especially Lorelei from Gilmore Girls!!
I miss Hawkeye and Hot Lips–I want to imagine that Margaret made her way to Crabapple Cove and married him.
I used to do that more than I do now — become highly emotionally attached to characters. Nicole on Fame, for one. And Gary on thirtysomething, for another. When each of them died (there’s no spoiler alert needed for 30 year old shows, right?) I went through actual grieving — shock, denial, anger, sadness. They were real people to me.
Happy Truman Day!
Yes, I absolutely miss characters after a show ends.
I came across this post on The Toast http://the-toast.net/2015/05/06/positive-i-dont-have-a-uterus/ – it’s an achingly beautiful essay about the author’s body betraying her and taking away her choice of whether or not to have children.
Thanks for the inclusion Mel. As a new blogger and someone who has never written creatively outside of a few class assignments 20+ years ago it is a new experience to share my feelings in this way. It feels safe, when few spaces do. It feels like I am with a team of people who understand me, rather than alone. It feels like S and G are being remembered in the world. Thanks for all the work you do to make this possible.
Oooh! Thanks so much for linking to my post!
Thanks for the shout-out! You have my favorite episodes listed, for sure. Especially the Hounds of the Baskervilles. THAT was an amazing episode. Were there more since the wedding? I haven’t seen any since the wedding. I don’t grow attached to characters in shows so much as I do in books. I get worried for them after. I sometimes cry because I don’t get to live with them anymore. Haven’t really found a show that does that for me as well as a book, even Sherlock! Happy Truman Day to you and your family…
Guinea Pig videos and our Ron Weasly is missing out? Googling now…
I especially miss characters after a good book. I don’t want the book to end! I NEED the rest of the story!
I definitely miss characters when a series ends. When a season ends I impatiently wait for it to come back so that I can find out what’s happening in the characters’ lives!
I do miss characters from TV shows and from books. Luckily, I have a very high tolerance for repetition, so I re-watch and re-read.
Thanks for linking to A Separate Life. I can’t take credit for the blog title – someone at Blogher can (I suspect her name is Mel!).
Lucky Truman.
I definitely miss characters when TV shows or books are over. I reread books sometimes just to be with them. I find too that binge-watching makes you feel as if they’re part of your life so much more intensely.
Now to do my backup … if I can. I hid my hard drive when we went away several weeks ago, went to find it yesterday, and now can’t remember where I hid it! Fortunately, saving a few key files to Dropbox covers the important stuff.
Wow, that’s my second time in the round up in the past month! Thank you for the shout out and for liking what I’ve had to say.
And Happy Truman Day!
great posts. “Not a Distant Memory” http://minetocommand.blogspot.ca/2015/05/not-distant-memory.html