30 Day (Minute) Book Challenge

A friend of mine tagged me in this 30 Day Book Challenge on Facebook and I thought it would be fun to fill out. I was supposed to wait and answer one of these a day... but I decided instead I would try to answer them all under 30 minutes because I have ADHD and that's just how I roll.

I was also supposed to put this on Facebook in my Notes and tag 30 friends, but I switched to the new Timeline and I can't figure out where Notes is anymore. #FacePalm

Here goes...

Day 1: Favorite book – “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams

Day 2: Least favorite book: I’ve never finished a book I don’t like.

Day 3: Book that makes you laugh out loud: “Restaurant by the End of the Universe” by Douglas Adams

Day 4: Book that makes you cry: “Watchers” by Stephen King

Day 5: Book you wish you could live in: A romance… pretty much any of them. :P

Day 6: Favorite young adult book: “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman – not a young adult book but every young adult should read it.

Day 7: Book that you can quote/recite: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Dr. Stephen R. Covey

Day 8: Book that scares you: “Intensity” by Dean Kontz

Day 9: Book that makes you sick: Can't think of any.

Day 10: Book that changed your life: “Shortcut to a Miracle”

Day 11: Book from your favorite author: “So Long and Thanks for all the Fish” by Douglas Adams

Day 12: Book that is most like your life: “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” :P

Day 13: Book whose main character is most like you: I’m not sure but it would be fun to hear what other people suggest.

Day 14: Book whose main character you want to marry: “Burr” by Gore Vidal

Day 15: First “chapter book” you can remember reading as a child: It was something with vampires. I read a LOT of vampire novels in my youth.

Day 16: Longest book you’ve read: Probably the book I’m reading now, “Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas R. Hofstader

Day 17: Shortest book you’ve read: “Plato: Dialogues”

Day 18: Book you’re most embarrassed to say you like: Can't think of any.

Day 19: Book that turned you on: "Delta of the Venus" by Anis Nin

Day 20: Book you’ve read the most number of times: "Are you my Mother" by Dr. Seuss (with the voices)

Day 21: Favorite picture book from childhood: “Where’s Waldo”

Day 22: Book you plan to read next: “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand

Day 23: Book you tell people you’ve read, but haven’t (or haven’t actually finished) I’ve never told someone I’ve read something I haven’t read.

Day 24: Book that contains your favorite scene: Cant remember the name of the book now but it was a biography of Aaron Burr. The scene was when Burr was in the Revolutionary War and sliced off an unruly soldiers arm to make a point. Bad. Ass.

Day 25: Favorite book you read in school: “Theories of Human Communication” by Littlejohn and Foss

Day 26: Favorite nonfiction book: “Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America’s Politics and Culture” by Brink Lindsey

Day 27: Favorite fiction book: “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams

Day 28: Last book you read: "Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World" by John Robins

Day 29: Book you’re currently reading: I’m reading two, “The Evolution of Cooperation” by Robert Axelrod and “Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas R. Hofstader

Day 30: Favorite coffee table book: Atlas of the Universe

"Drink me."

It’s time to start writing again. I can feel the need rising, like a sleeping giant emerging.

Meh… I have to admit - I make a lame giant. I’ve retreated from myself over the last year, trying to stay small and play it safe.

I don’t write anymore, no podcasts, no photo-slide shows or anything of the like. I’ve spent the last year distancing myself from interactive media as I prepared to transition to a world without Boise State Student Media as the center of my life – I put student media before my kids, my friends, my grades… everything.

I learned some extremely valuable things in that time: one – I need to trust myself; two - I have a voice and I need to be careful about what I choose to use it for because your voice is a very powerful thing; third, I learned the times in my life I’ve been the most happy and successful were the times I didn’t allow myself to wonder what other people thought of me; and four - digital addiction and burn-out are real.

I miss blogging for the sake of blogging – to get my thoughts out rather than craft a message that will help shape my personal brand. I long for the freedom I felt when I didn’t worry about how employers will perceive me, or if what I write will piss off my grandma. That energy is better invested in shaping my voice and injecting all my passion and curiosity back into my writing.

I’m like Alice with the Drink Me bottle, trying to decide how fast and how far I want to grow – doing my best to make sense of this Wonderland we call the digital age.

Bottoms up.