(no subject)

Mom on our nightly walk: Have you ever heard of "blogs"?
Me: Uhm... yes?

Seems she was speaking to my aunt, the reference librarian, and finally heard what the mainstream news media acknowledged years ago: that there are bloggers out there with thousands of readers, and that some of them even sell ads and stuff on their sites.

Me: Do you even know what a blog is?
Mom: It's like a chat room or something, right?

Based on that "understanding," she decided that, between my wit, ecclectic knowledge, and "tendency to blather" (thanks, Mom), this would be the perfect way for me to make a living.

I suppose I could have told her that I have a blog. That I have readers from around the country, even around the globe (*checks flist* ... 7 countries!). That yes, I have been offered the opportunity to support my blog with advertizing. That I've created a unique icon (using someone else's professional art) which is internationally recognized as mine.

Instead, I tried to explain to her that becoming that successful as a blogger is about as easy/likely as going into the library and using their public access TV station to become rich and famous.

Mom: It could happen...
Me: *sigh*

Eventually, she dropped the subject, but I still don't get the feeling she's actually convinced.

What can I say?

Parents.

(no subject)

( The terrifying tale of... The Shower Monster! )

I'm probably going to regret this...

Borrowing from brianamj...

Well, not exactly.

My musical repetoire is fairly limited, and I don't think I'd be able to learn a song well enough to sing it within a reasonable time. Not to mention that doing so would entail listening to the song over and over and over again, which is not something I really want to do if someone picks a song I hate.

Which does kind of put a damper on the whole thing. Not really playing fair, is it?

To make up for it, I'm broadening the field.

Here's the deal. I'm bored. I've got time, a headset, some basic sound recording software, and a yousendit account.

Name something that I can do with that. Pick a song. Pick something for me to read. Or say. Or try to do. Preferably something that won't be loud enough to disturb anyone sleeping on the far side of the wall behind me.

I reserve the right to say "I don't know how to do that," but otherwise, it's pretty much open season.

Songs, scripts, stories, routines, books, answering machine messages, personal messages... You name it, I'll try it. (Within reason. Such as it is. I'm not exactly known for sanity...)

No backing out because I'm too embarassed to try. No backing out because, even if I know how to do it, I don't know how to do it well.

I can sing in a reasonable (if rusty and untrained) tenor. I can't do falsetto, and I start going painfully off-key if the pitch gets too high. (Sometimes, to spare us all, I'll do a key shift into my range.)

I can do (or try to do) some basic voices and accents, though I'm pretty rusty at those, too.

Some sound effects, maybe. Though perhaps not as fun when they're planned. (Life needs spontaneous sound effects...)

I can probably do some other stuff, too, but it's not coming to mind at the moment.

Use your imagination.

The request line is open.

Post whatever you want. (Even if it seems boring or stupid or whatever.)

Just remember... you'll have to live with the consequences. ;)