Friendly Advice

Blogging material can come to you in a number of ways.  You can receive it by divine inspiration (yes, I said that with a straight face), you can use life's experiences, and you can also ask others for it.  The first two don't require an awful lot of effort because you either got it or you ain't.  The last, however, takes a bit of effort and courage on your part because you are basically at the mercy of someone else's thoughts and suggestions.  So I decided I was going to give it a shot and take the biggest risk known to blogkind (that's mankind in Blogspeak) and write exclusively about subjects that others suggested.  I took the plunge recently and on Facebook asked what I should write about.  Here goes, Norwich Rose!

I decided not to use anyone's real name to protect the innocent...although after reading some of the Facebook comments there weren't too many innocent people out there - you know who you are!

Enitsirhc chimed in first and thinks I should write about THE FLU.  Really?  How do you make a subject like the flu funny?  Make sure it's something you don't catch.  If you do get the flu and go to the doctor's office, leave immediately if the office plants are dead.  And if you do decide to stay to see the doctor and she says that your cough sounds bad, scold her by telling her you have been practicing all night.  (Read that sentence again, you'll get it...the joke, not the flu!)

Dahc suggested the subject of youth and the difference between the generations...deep!  I could go the old joke route and say something like "back in my day on the East side of Norwich we walked to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways".  I actually did walk to school up to the third grade, and it was about 3/4 of a mile.  And back then it snowed from early September through the middle of June...every day...only while we were walking...it still amazes me to this day.

Treb gave a number of ideas.  One dovetails with my walking to school story, and that is where did winter go?  True!  It seemed like way, way, way back then there was always ice on the ponds - not so much anymore.  I think someone in the 1970's lost the recipe.  I used to love winter.  Now I can barely tolerate it. And, no, it wasn't I who lost the recipe - I can think of nothing more fun than to be out on the ice, slipping and sliding, you know, breaking parts of your body that should never be broken.  At least if that were to happen you get to stay in a warm hospital room...next to someone with the flu.

Yhtak mentioned a story on how to buy the right snow blower.  If you have been reading my blogs from the beginning (and who hasn't?) you will know that I got blamed for the horrific winter snows we got two years ago because I did not purchase a snow blower.  The theory?  Had I purchased a snow blower it would have stopped it from snowing.  I'll bet you had no idea that I hold that kind of power!

Cram stayed on the same theme and said that the subject should be the benefits of moving to Florida and never having to shovel snow again.  Here's what I think...I could absolutely handle that!  Got an extra room down there Cram?

Ekim went all political on me and when he was done he ended by saying that his thoughts on the subject would not be published anyway.  Yup, you're right Ekim, even though I agreed with them!

I once wrote a blog about music, and in it mentioned my least favorite song of all time, Maggie May by Rod Stewart.  My "friend" Yttap brings it up every time I hear from her...bless her heart!  Her actual suggestion?  Write about Rod Stewart's favorite song.  Nice try, pal!

There were other suggestions but if I used them all this would not be a blog, it would be a book.  Well, this experiment proves one thing - that people read the status updates in Facebook.  I want to personally thank each and every one of the people that made comments that I was able to use in this blog.  I'll think of you all the next time I am walking to school, uphill, both ways, pushing a snow blower, humming Maggie May while thinking about the political ramifications of not having winter...with the flu.