Holy frig, writing yesterday’s post it hit me that I’m only two entries away from the 200 mark. Can we talk about that? TWO HUNDRED friggin’ entries — two hundred uncharacteristic acts — easily two hundred (thousand) instances of the word dude.
My mind’s a little blown right now.
Theoretically, I could whip out two more entries, go silent forever, and still have passed this deeply insane personal challenge with a B minus. Promise I won’t, though.
Over the course of the past 237 (!!!) entries, I think my writing has definitely painted a portrait of the type of person I am (and the type of person I’m becoming), but it’s skewed: there are whole sections of my life I don’t talk about and, because of my format, some awesome stories from my old life I’ve been forced to keep in The Vault.
In celebration of my 200th NTKOG, would you darlings allow me to make a self-indulgent request? I’d love to hop aboard the blogger trend and open my blog to a post answering any questions you might be bored enough to ask me.
Don’t get me wrong: I know that “ask me anything!” posts are twice as fun for the askee as the asker. But it’s my two-hundred NTKOG-iversary and I feel like being indulged, dang it! Plus, won’t it be nice to chat about something other than self-improvement?
So, if you’d be so kind, ask me awesome questions here. I promise to answer them all truthfully and fantastically. Except the ones I don’t want to answer, which I’ll summarily dismiss with seemingly off-handed jokes.
Awesome, guys. You are awesome.
PS: If you ask me my favorite question of the bunch, I sense a prize in your future. Probably something food or book related, or possibly of the Amazon gift card ilk. It just feels like it’s been a while since I’ve given something away…
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Where to start………
I’ll lob up a couple of softballs first:
Do you have a book deal in the works?
Is TKOMom as funny in person as she writes?
How much of your quirks are exagerated for effect, i.e. whatching people eat?
Oh, congratulations!
BTW,I still can’t spell!
1) WHY ARE YOU SO AWESOME???
2) Why is your taste in music “stealing it from physicist”?
3) Why is stuffed T-Rex the best thing ever?
4) Are you actually Ryan North after traveling back in time and getting a sex change?
I think that’s all I’ve got.
Easy ones.
What was the scariest NTKOG to do?
What was the most fun NTKOG to do?
What was the worst NTKOG that you will NEVER do again?
Oooh, sneaky way to force me to read through my archives. Awesome!
Would you rather have a lifetime supply of raisins the size of watermelons, or watermelons the size of raisins?
OMG. mind has been blown with that question.
What was the hardest part about leaving everything you’ve known? And what part of your new life is the *most* rewarding?
Oh, and also have you ever smelled phantom gin in an area with no vegetation whatsoever?
1) What’s a juicy story of you and The Ex that you haven’t shared with us?
2)IS TKOMom that awesome in real life? If so, can she become a regular guest poster?
3) Which would you give up – alcohol or your microwave?
4) Have you taken a strippercize class? Because I think you should.
5) Would you rather have feet for hands or ears for eyes? (that’s a really weird question and it’s freaking me out just imagining it)
Have you ever wanted to stop all of this, cancel your blog and such?
If yes, what made you change your mind?
Have some “real life people” found out about this blog? What do they think?
And I bow to Michelle’s question, that’s a masterpiece!
While you’re reading through the archives…!
Which NTKOG do you feel has impacted you in the most direct and long-standing way? Plenty are one-off events that you can say were either cool or lame and easy enough to dismiss either way, but which one most forced you to step back, look at yourself, and say, “Hmm. I really need to change something about myself as a result of this.”?
Of course, if none did, that’s cool too. :-)
If you could only drink one type of drink for the rest of your life, what would you choose? (You can have one alcoholic choice, and one non-alcoholic choice if you like, because I am nice like that, and also you might not want to be drunk ALL the time . . .)
If you could bake any cookie for Ryan Seacrest, what kind would they be?
(This is an important philosophical question we made up at the bookstore where we work)
how has blogging changed your life, both internet life and real life?
Will the Lakers beat the Celtics tonight in a close game, or will they blow them out again?
Since this will be old news before I post my responses to everything on Monday, my prediction now: the Celtics will take it all! Sorry, Riff, but living in Boston now trumps being born in LA when it comes to hometown sports pride!
Have you noticed how I’m not gloating? Because, you know, I’m not the type to gloat. And *this* is definitely not gloating. Even though I could. And it would certainly be warranted. If I were the type to gloat. Which I’m not.
Sir, your restraint is a source of perpetual wonder to us all.
Let me begin:
1)Who’s your favorite member of The Drones Club? Which of the Eggs, Beans and Crumpets is, in your “humble” opinion the funniest, the dumbest or the most charming?
2)Could you please give some more excerpts of your pre-teen autobiographical ramblings?
Another one for while you’re looking through the archives:
What NTKOG, if any, has made you question what kind of girl you really are, or are becoming?
What’s your favorite kind of shoes?
Are you team pie or team cake?
Any tips for relating to people with whom you really don’t have very much in common at a place you’re interning and hoping to work some day?
Do you have a really funny hair dresser disaster story to share?
Suppose a person enjoys reading good books, but somehow has never read any of the books you’ve read; Which three books would you recommend to them?
Would you ever want to be on TV?
Is there a NTKOG thing that you want to do, or have started to do, but you keep finding yourself chickening out (so far)?
Of all the 199 NTKOG things so far what is the one that is now, definitely, 100% a TKOG thing?
How are you liking Boston and the East Coast in general? Can you see yourself staying after school or do you still have the tug back West?
1) How do you stop feeling super self-conscious during certain NTKOGs? I am very, extremely, painfully shy and I can’t imagine doing the things that you do without feeling incredibly embarrassed and turning bright red… how do you do it?!?!?!?! Seriously, I envy your courage SO much.
2) What is your personal style (fashion-wise)?
3) When you write on your friends’ Facebook walls do you make sure that your message is punctuated properly and the grammar is perfect? Do you use emoticons and <3s and LOLs and such? I am curious of these things.
4) What place in the world do you want to visit the most (that you haven't already been to)?
5) If you could only use five adjectives to describe yourself, what would they be?
I’m going a James Lipton-ian route:
What sound or noise do you love?
What sound or noise do you hate?
And, of course, what is your favorite curse word?
At the end of all this, do you feel like you don’t really like the girl you were before? Or have any regrets for living as you did before? Or is life all one big self improvement changing experience?
Do you love me, now that I can dance?
Ok, so last night (so random) I had a dream we met (FINALLY) and I was all like, “wait, but I don’t know your name” and you were like, “Oh, it’s ADRIAN” and I was like, “You don’t look like an Adrian. Weird”.
See? Random.
Well, since I do know your real name (sort of?) I won’t ask that. Although if I had a big fat Q on the brain, I’d probably ask you your name. Your real one.
I ask everyone what their name is. Even if I see a cute baby, my first question to the parent isn’t “how old?” or “boy or girl?” it’s always, “oooh, and what’s her/his name?”
Anyway…
I guess my question is: have you, throughout this process, ever fallen out of love with your blog for any reason?
What has been the biggest, and least expected, change that being TKOG has made to your life?
I am lost and confused. Your opening paragraph talks about entry 200, a few paragraphs later you mention 237 entries, and your “all about” blurb says you want to do 250 NTKOG things. Sooooo confused!!
As a California born, East Coast transplant myself, I’d love to know what 3 things you miss the most about California life.
Oh, and how do you feel about toe socks?
I’ve done almost 200 NTKOGs out of the 250 I have planned for the year (which ends on August 23, 2010). But because I have some non-NTKOG entries, like this one, my post count is actually 237. Hope that clears it up!
Thanks. Sleep deprivation makes one a little slow, I suppose! In my defense, the “I could whip out two more entries, go silent forever, and still have passed this deeply insane personal challenge” was what made me question the 200/250 thing. I am usually a bit more astute than my previous post implies.
Blame the time change. 5 years and I’m still on PST. Makes it hard to function on weekdays about noon.
Until ABOUT noon.
Arg. Must. Go. Take. Nap.
Aaand, just to make this the world record of ridiculous number of replies by the same person, I’ll add that August 23rd, aka my birthday, is a fabulous day to end your challenge. I sense a party in the making …
Who can sing the TMNT theme song faster: you or me?
Are we totally on for New Year’s?
I know this is really random but here is my question :
can you believe that a girl half way around the world (in Hong Kong) ( who also likes Waugh) regularly reads your blog?
Because she does :) Your project is cool – we all have to get out of our comfort zones sometimes – I just wish I had your courage!
Okay, my first question is embarassingly personal, but I’m curious: why did you and The Ex break up? You seem like you did, and still do, get along great, and he even vajazzled you post-break up. So I’m curious…why? What happened?
And my other question: what was/were your favorite book(s) when you were younger? What’s your favorite now? Your top five, desert island keeper?
Dear, who do you think your real dad is? Could you put sister’s vacuum
cleaner together and show her how to use it? Are you watching the current or the old 90210 series? BC Dad was a little upset when he heard you might be breaking our Christmas tradition and watching 90210 with sister.
The Ex. I want to know about The Ex, and why you’re not together/will you ever be together again.
But I’m preparing myself for some not so off-hand jokes with this one…
Ok, although I am VERY SERIOUS about the watermelon/raisin question, I have a few others:
I think you want to pursue a MFA program for creative writing, correct? What would be you DREAM grad program and why?
What is your most favorite of all baked goods?
Have you stopped smoking completely/do you think it is possible to be a casual social smoker after being fairly addicted?
Going along with the Ex questions…how many times would you say you’ve been “in love”–if at all.
Have you read/do you like Harry Potter?
The end!
OH MY GOD! MICHELLE! You read my mind with two of these questions! Literally, yesterday morning, when I was deciding whether it would be douchey to put out an open call for questions, while I showered I pretended to be on a talk show and practiced answering random questions I thought might come up. Then I was like, “Dude, you’re crazy. Nobody’s going to ask you how many times you’ve been in love. That’s ridiculous.”
Thank goodness my shower practice wasn’t all for naught!
Haha, hooray! That is excellent news!
If you had grown up in England (God save the queen!), what would you say instead of dude?
What’s the most unadventurous TKOG thing you do in your everyday life that makes you proud?
Is there a shameful secret weighing heavy on your mind that you’d like to share with your loyal blog readers?
Dude, British people (well some of us) do say “dude”. Ok, it’s partly a mood thing. partly who we’re talking to rather than a default selection.
Equally, depending on circumstances, I might address a random guy I met in the street as “Jimmy”, “Big Man” or “Wee Man” depending on our relative heights, and the random woman might well get “Hen” irrespective of age.
First of all, I NEVER leave comments here but I read your blog religiously.
Now, my question is (please don’t think I’m a crazy stalker ok?)
Were you featured in the July issue of [a national magazine]?
There was a girl from Boston with curly hair who said something about Wodehouse. I immediately thought of you and went “Dude, OMG!”
If you won two matching $5.00 gift cards from a noted online book store, would you buy Wodehouse or Waugh (assuming quite correctly that you owned neither, but decided to give one of them a shot; Because after all it was costing you almost nothing)?
Yes, the far longer parenthetic segment was by design.
I’ll start with the obvious question: Are you, and also the folks you regularly feature in your tales, actually real human beings? And not, like, some 56-year-old dude coming up with all this while he’s supposed to be running spreadsheets at work?
Have you found it easier to be “that kind of girl” for this year-long experiment since you have a measure of anonymity on the blog?
What’s your middle name?
Are you Calvin or Hobbes?
This is nerdy, but what are your all-time favorite books? Which ones do you recommend most often?
Also, I have been wondering: SERIOUSLY WHO ARE YOU AND HOW ARE YOU SO AWESOME?!
Hoping I’m not too late and with apologizing for not reading every comment, I suppose I have a few questions.
Were any NKOTGs too traumatic to write about?
Um, how is it being a star on the internet? Seriously, you’re famous and I’m curious!
Yeah, I’ve never been too good at asking questions…