Democratic Party | It’s as simple as putting the biscuit in the basket

Tag-Archive for » democratic party «

February

It has been quite a week on this blog! For anyone who hasn’t been up to speed with the happenings, let me tell you what 14 other bloggers and myself have been upto!

In January 2009, this blog began it’s participation in NaBloPoMo. NaBloPoMo is an innitiative as such, to get bloggers to post on a daily basis. The idea is also to try and blog on a particular theme, but it is not mandatory. The theme for January 2009 was “Change”. It was a subtle theme to begin the year with because January is normally about change, about resolutions, about improving yourself; but January 2009 will also stand out in history as the period in which this world witnessed a truly historic political change which affects almost everyone.

As part of my daily blogging routine, I wanted to gauge how “change” was going to affect the people who read this blog, and more importantly, what is their view of change as they see it in their life. To measure this (using no particular scale as such), the 7 posts in 7 Days (7Pi7D) project was born. The scale of the initial project had to be altered, but the concept remained. This blog was opened to fellow bloggers and non-bloggers to air their views, opinions, and thoughts on this subject of change.

The result of this was amazing, and far exceeded my expectations. The quality of posts which each of these 14 bloggers put together was pretty outstanding. Moreover, I think we can clearly identify that the daily battles which most of us face may be unique to each one of us, but is something that each one of us can definitely relate to. I love the fact that new blogging friendships were forged during this project, and hopefully each one of these guys will see and benefit because of the newly formed alliances.

Another aspect of the 7Pi7D project was a prize for the 500th comment; the prize would go to the 500th commenter ofcourse, and the blogger on whose post the comment appeared. The winners are AnonymouslyMe (blogger) and Digital Niqabi (commenter). An Amazon voucher, and a charity donation are on their way!

As for this blog, well, NaBloPoMo in January was very enjoyable! Saying that, I don’t think I will participate in NaBloPoMo for a while. A major part of my blogging experience is to actually read other blogs, and relate to them from my personal experiences. Unfortunately, during January, I have hardly had time to read and comment on the blogs which I love and follow. I miss this big time, and want to get back to this ASAP. My studies have also taken a fair bit of a hit because of the marathon blogging and the time which it took last month; I want to pick that up again too.

Saying that, I am not one to sit down and continue with a fixed routine! I want to definitely give the blog a facelift, and this is top of a priority list over the next two months. I am also looking at collaborative blogging, and need to further thrash some ideas out in that area. What I do know is that I am reading more blogs outside of my comfort zone, and these are helping me identify challenging areas as a blogger. A little bit of work on the ideas, and we can have something interesting going, not only here but also on other blogs.

I will begin February 2009 by going “shush” for sometime. Work is a little hectic at the moment, and I am begining my month out of London for most of the coming week. I should be alive on twitter, and hopefully back to my blogging best by the end of the week!

The last week of January 2009 was great fun! I want to thank everyone big time for participating. Each of you is in my reader already, an hopefully I will catch up with reading and commenting in the coming days.

I will leave you with 14 of the best! They are linked below in the order of their appearance:

MY *updated* – One more for good measure!

Have a good February everyone!

Share and Enjoy:

Category: Posts Tags: 7 Days, 7 posts in 7 days, 7Pi7D, Amazon.com, Arts, barack obama, Blog, blogging, Business, Changing Directions without my GPS, Comfort zone, democratic party, Dubai, England, family, google reader, history, Holiday, Home, john mccain, London, Me, middle east, NaBloPoMo, On the Web, Recreation, republican party, republicans, sarah palin, Twitter, UK, United Kingdom, United States, USA 2008, Weblogs, weekend, Work 14 Comments

We gotta make a change… (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

Change a word used many times, yet to little affect

“We gotta make a change…
It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.
Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live
and let’s change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn’t working so it’s on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.”

Its like reading one of Obamas speeches isn’t it?Yes a black man wrote this, yes he was an American but those aren’t Obamas words, those are the words of the late Tupac Shakur.He wrote those words and demanded change more then 14 years ago.So the main questions are has anything changed thus far, if not can Obama change things in his 4, possible 8 years of presidency?

Yes we all agree we need change, but to do that we need to agree what we want to change and then how we want to do it!But no one alone can make huge changes, we must all contribute to it no matter how hard it gets.But in this cushioned world we live in, when we are used to the good life are we prepared to give up some of the commodities to help the greater good.Surely Herbert Spencer coined, and Darwin later borrowed the phrase, its the survival of the fittest and not the survival of the one who gives up the most so the rest can enjoy!So only after we overcome our selfish side we can start making some changes.

We must decide first on what we think is right and what we think is wrong in this world, or in our lives.But doing that means coming together which will be hard if not impossible.It sure will take longer then we would like it, and even if at first things will look like they changed its probably just a temporary patch.

But some things look as though they will never change, such as the wars in the middle east, it has been going on for far too long and it seems no one can do anything about it no matter how hard they/we try.

Conclusion:

Time and only time will show if things have changed for the better!Until then we have the only thing left, the thing that never ran from Pandora’s box, Obamas second favourite word, we have HOPE.

So lets hope things change…

author: Lili:) http://sprungl.wordpress.com

Share and Enjoy:

Eyes Wide Shut…. (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

Perhaps it’s narcissistic. You probably don’t give a damn about the inner dialogues of my mind. But, no matter how many times I sat down to write about the momentous change we all were privileged to witness last week, I was unsatisfied. I deleted it five times over. I gave up, shut my lap top, drank buckets of coffee, and drummed my fingers on the table. Was it spectacular? Yes. Did a tsunami of hope come over me when I watched Obama swear into office? Of course. Can I tell you anything that a million other writers haven’t already said a thousand times over, with more eloquence than I could ever hope for? Nope.

So, here is my story about change. My change.

I grew up in a five bedroom house in oil rich south Texas. No, I don’t have an accent.

When he was governor, I once saw W standing on the steps of my church. I like listening to him talk. 2004 found me living, courtesy of my father’s pocketbook, in a small college town in east Texas. A staunch conservative, a shiny black W sticker glistened on the bumper of my Ford mustang. I voted for Bush.

I still cringe a little when I say the word. Liberal. I still feel a little out of place in my own opinions, kind of like wearing a prom dress in a bowling alley. It just doesn’t fit.

But, my eyes were ripped open in 2005 when I married an immigrant, lost my health insurance, and began work as a domestic violence advocate in a shelter for women and children.

Where to begin?

I poured every dime into just keeping my husband living in this country, legally. I worked two jobs to pay for fees and forms and legal advice. I parked my car up against a tree to keep it from being repossessed. I defaulted on my student loans. I dropped out of college. I gave away my cat. I pawned my beloved diamond charm bracelet. I moved to Canada.

The US government lost our paperwork. We had to start over. No refund. No apology. Start over.

Dropping out of school, I lost my health coverage. Due to medical conditions, I could not afford more insurance. There is still a stack of red envelopes on my kitchen table, bills from emergency rooms and hospitals.

Years later, my first real job out of college in a shelter surrounded by women who cannot afford housing, health coverage, clothes for their children, psych meds. Fathers deported, leaving behind five US citizens under ten years old to live very meagerly off of social services and charity.

I have seen first hand the magnitude of the hurdles facing people just to live in this country. I have seen people shackled together in an immigration office. I once saw a starving women, in the United States of America, shit in her pants at the table because her body didn’t know how to react to a full stomach. I have seen children covered in dirt, and sores, and lice – living in cars.

Liberal? Really, you?

Yes.

I lived it. I witnessed it I became a victim to my own blind choice. I changed.

Change is in the air, and as most citizens of this country and other countries watching worldwide, I am standing with open arms ready to embrace it.

My Name is Katherine, and you can read me on Katherine Unabridged.

Share and Enjoy:

Change doesn’t have to be monumental…. (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

Like every other person on this planet, I’m pretty decent at belting out advice on how you can become a better person and in all honestly I might even do it more frequently. My closest of friends will probably vouch for that. That said, it makes redundant anything else I say on the topic of change. When I realized this I hit this major wall in my thought process and could not for the life of me figure out what it was that I wanted to write about. I remember sitting down and firing up a Word file so that I could draft with ease. After that point I probably sat down through anywhere between 8 to 12 drafts, and suffice to say I was pleased with none. I did not want to write anything generic, but I couldn’t think of anything. I didn’t want to give T a crappy article either. Sometime after the millionth draft I might have figured out what it was that I want to convey. Emphasis on the word ‘might,’ as I still may not have. I thought that maybe if I could relate this to the audience through a personal medium, it’ll be better that way. So here goes:

A while ago I was going through a rough patch. And I felt like I needed to change myself in order to get through. I have no artistic talents, I can’t draw, write prose or poems, play an instrument, I listen to fairly generic music (with the odd different taste here and there), I have regular hobbies, nothing too fancy, ya know? So I thought to myself, “What’re you gonna do chum?” The answer was fairly instant. “CHANGE YOURSELF!” Sorta like Extreme Makeover, minus the botox and excessive surgeries.

So in secret I started writing poems. Yes, this is the first time I’m mentioning this in public, EVER. I went on this ridiculous search for rare and uncommon music and began downloading and listening to it. One of my friends played guitar and I watched him and tried to practice with him. I would scrutinize my writing style and bitch and moan about how terrible it was (I still do, but to a much lesser degree). This was roughly the time where I started reading a lot more blogs, trying to improve my own style.

Either way, this carried on for a while. Some of these attempts died out, like the guitar and the poems, but some stuck around like the music and the blog hopping. At its end I realized I had gained very little. I still felt the same, and still thought the same.

I guess it was around this point where I had my little epiphany. I’m not a bad person. I’m a cross between a jock and a geek, and I like it that way (I’m actually kinda chuffed about it ) I love my football, scuba diving, paintball, cricket etc., and at the same time I could sit at a PC all day and keep me occupied (I’m pretty sure I’m going to get glasses soon. Glasses with thick frames.) There’s nothing that I needed to change about myself to feel good about myself, or the way I lived my life.

But there was something that HAD changed. My perceptual process had changed. As a person, I am the same I was then, but I now think a bit differently about my past and present than I used to and I guess it’s made all the difference in the world. Why should I blame myself for any misfortunes or bad experiences in the past? Most of them were things I was witnessing for the first time, so I had no background to refer it to. Now I know what went wrong, and where I was and/or wasn’t wrong. Since I didn’t know any better, I can’t be blamed for it then. If it happens again and I make the same errors again, then *doh!* it’s my fault. But you can not let past misgivings or experiences define how you think about yourself, but you should let it define how you act or will act in the future.

Life is like a First Person shooter. You run around, complete your objectives, get your rewards, fight off bad guys, recover from injuries, find the treasure, save your best friend (or the damsel perpetually in distress) and occasionally you cheat. Throughout the course of this game, you’re thrown choices and you have no experience in how to pick ‘em. But you do anyway. Some of them turn out good and others turn out bad. But none of them are your fault. For the most bit, we don’t know any better. So if you did it right once, stick with it. If it turned out wrong, don’t fret about it, but don’t do it again. Stop blaming yourself for anything that goes wrong in your life, and make sure it never happens again.

If you make a mistake or have an unpleasant experience don’t change the person you are. Change the way you think about your mistakes and experiences. That’s all you need to make it better.

I realize that this post may be off-topic (I hope it’s not!) and for that I apologize. But it’s something that’s been on my mind for a few months and I’m glad I got it off.

Here’s to making something out of 2009.

Cheers!

Hi! The pseudonym’s MaliZOMG and I blog @ Gone Fishing, Without My GPS. Today’s guest post was on me, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Share and Enjoy:

Realists, Food and Some Other Stuff… (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

When asked to write an article about ‘change’, the last thing I wanted to do was write something that was obvious – or had the word ‘change’ repeatedly in the first sentence. (A moot point now)

Anyhow, with everyone excited with the change of hands in the US administration and the overall feel-good that comes with the start of the year, there’s a feeling the this year will be different. Somehow. For the better. In my opinion, I do get a little irritated that the well-being of the world depends on the well-being of America. But hey – doesn’t matter if everyone ends up feeling all happy and content.

But will things really change for the better? There’s a saying I read on a mat of a cool vegetarian restaurant I ate at recently:
” An optimist sees the glass half-full. A pessimist sees the glass as half-empty. A realist knows that someone will have to wash the glass.”
As most people can see where I’m getting at, I agree with the realist. Regardless of whether this year will be better or worse, it’s up to us to make it work – ‘wash the glass’. All the crap of last year can truly be a thing of the past if we take it upon ourselves to fix the mess we got ourselves into in the first place.

But I don’t want to continue on a lecture about responsibility – I’m sure there’s enough on the web if you search hard enough. I like light and fluffy things – sounds either like food or a soft toy. I’m generally very frivolous in my posts and articles and I like it that way – although the darkness creeps in from time to time. This post might ramble on and have no meaning. That’s fine by me too. That’s how I write and think. No human being thinks like a well-written essay. That’s why you can’t write in one go. You stop, think, edit and plan your way through the word limit given. Being the nerd/geek that I am, I actually enjoyed my English exams – gave me the chance to speak my mind in an essay. No straight-lace stuff about “My Pet” or “How I Spent my Summer Vacations…”. I’d always pick the essay which had something on the lines of “Insert the following phrase into your essay”, followed by some weird sentence. Those were fun to write. My one regret was the school not letting me sit for English as a First Language and instead made me give English as a Second Language. I aced that of course – but I knew I would have aced the First Language one too. Their reasoning was: “The Cambridge examination board does not expect foreigners to pass that paper”. What BS.

I promised TJ/Cookie Monster/biscuitinabasket (take your pick) that I might include a recipe in my post. I’m a foodie and I generally add recipes on my blog from time to time (shameless plug to my blog). So, I’ll hand over a recipe (which I will re-publish on my blog after the 7PI7D is over – sorry TJ) which has ‘evolved’ over time and is a popular comfort food/weekend brunch dish in my house – well mostly just me:

1 pkt of hotdogs (about 10)
3 large potatoes, chopped into 1cm cubes
a condiment of your choice – generally a smoky sauce like BBQ or thai chili sauce does well
olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
crumbly cheese (optional)

Heat a non-stick pan and add 1-2tbs of olive oil to the pan. Add potatoes and cook until somewhat crispy and golden on the outside and is mostly cooked. While sauteing the potatoes, cut the hotdogs while frozen into very thin slices. It’s easier doing it while frozen. Once the potatoes are sauteed, add hotdogs and cook for about 5 minutes, when the hotdogs have browned somewhat and are cooked. Add about 1-2tbs of the sauce of your choice, along with salt and pepper. If using a salty cheese later, omit the salt. Cook for another minute and add cheese. Blend quickly and take pan off the heat. Serve hot with eggs or eat plain.

Now about the cheese used, this was a recent modification. I never used cheese before but got a really yummy, salty fresh cottage cheese from Dhaka. It was in a ball and had small holes, like Swiss. The consistency was that if heated, it would melt slightly, giving it a stringy appearance, but retained its shape. That’s the type of cheese I would advise to use. If you use cheddar and/or mozzarella or the melty stuff, I’d advise to add it after you take the pan off the heat. This recipe makes enough for about 4-6 people, depending on appetites and if its added as a part of big weekend brunch. It will stretch to 8 people if used in a big brunch.

My name is Mars, and my mind is ticking on The Inner Workings Of A Media Junkie

Share and Enjoy:

Category: Posts Tags: 7 posts, 7 posts in 7 days, 7Pi, 7Pi7D, Arts, bangladesh, barack obama, Blog, blogging, brunch, Business, Cook, Cottage cheese, democratic party, Dhaka, Dubai, English as a Foreign or Second Language, English language, family, food, Gaza, google reader, history, Home, India, Me, middle east, Olive oil, On the Web, recipe, republican party, republicans, sarah palin, Summer, swiss, UK, United Kingdom, United States, USA 2008, Weblogs, weekend Leave a Comment

Anonymously Me…. (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

This was contributed by “Anonymously me”, a buddy of mine…..

I’m not a blogger… Not by any stretch of the imagination! But once in a while something comes along which stirs me up a little bit. So, you will have to bear with me in this post… Quite likely my first blog post ever!

So here goes…

You’re sitting on the train and you get to the end of the line… Here in England, you’ll usually get some kind of an announcement – “All change please!” So you either get off the train or get on the nerves of the conductor who wants you off. Oh, and of course – “Please make sure you take all your personal belongings with you!”

Life can be a bit like a train journey. You get on at a station and you’re off! The signs at the station tell you the destination of the train and all the stops along the way. It doesn’t always turn out like that, though, does it? What happens when you get on a train, only to find it’s actually the wrong one? It doesn’t stop just for you, you have to wait ’til the next station. Sometimes the next station is a long, long way from where you thought you’d be.

Sometimes, you stop before getting on board and ask someone if you’re getting on the right train. They say you should really be getting on at platform 3… Only after that train has left the station, with you on board, do you slowly begin to realise you’re on the wrong train! And you should have been on the one you were about to get on right at the start! This train doesn’t have many stops, so you just have to go along with it until you can eventually get off…

So what does all this have to do with change? Well, for me it has everything to do with change. I could have written about global change and how something must be done about the Middle East. Or how climate change should be addressed and have a moan about everybody messing it up. But we can all talk about that until the cows come home… or rather, until the train pulls in at the station. No… I decided that I should write about what change is for me.

You see, I’m on a train at the moment (not literaly – for those who may get confused). I’m talking about my life’s journey. I’ve been on this train for the last 13 years, or thereabouts. I got on because I stopped and asked someone who I perceived to be a wise elder if I was getting on the right train – he told me to get on at platform 3… While the journey has been interesting, with some great scenery along the way, I’ve come to realise that this train is heading in the wrong direction. However, I don’t regret getting on this train. The people I’ve met, the friendships I’ve made, the other passengers on the train, it’s all been great. There have been challenging moments, times when I’ve upset other passengers, had a few “run-in’s”, even changed to a different carriage a couple of times. But regrets? Not a single one. Because this journey has made me who I am today and I probably wouldn’t have been ready for what’s to come.

But it does mean that I have to get off at the next stop and find my way back to the train i should’ve been on back at the station. The great thing is I get to take a whole bunch of passengers with me! Ok, that may seem a bit wierd, but I couldn’t think of a way to say that I will still have all my friends I’ve made along the way…

So now, the time for change has come. The train is still some distance from the next stop, but I have to start preparing to get off. So what changed my mind? Did I really change my mind? For some it would be the circumstances in which they find themselves. For others it could be a change in attitude. What about love? That’s a big one! Love can make you do all sorts of crazy things… No, for me a series of events and situations has rekindled something that has been buried for far too long. I belong to an organisation which has as one of its sayings, “Think global, act local”. This pretty much sums up what it’s all about for me. I look at the world around me, as I’m sure many of you do, and think to myself, “Something has to change!” And so… I may not be able to change the world, but I can sure have a go… and I’m going to start with where I am now.

(Cue the soundtrack… “This train terminates here – All Change Please!”)

Share and Enjoy:

Category: Posts Tags: 7 Pos, 7 posts in 7 days, 7Pi, 7Pi7D, Activism, Arts, barack obama, Blog, blogging, christmas, Climate change, democratic party, Education, England, Environment, history, Home, Impacts and Indicators, London, middle east, On the Web, Policy, Single, UK, United Kingdom, United States, Weblogs Leave a Comment

Be the change you wish to see…. (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

As a white, American born, female of Irish and Cherokee descent, I am living in what may be the biggest period of change for my country. At 24, I have been able to vote in 2 presidential elections, and on November 4 I cast my vote for our first non-white president. And on January 20 I stood in a room with four year olds and ironically watched him sworn in on a black and white tv.

I think that it is more important that our 44th president is of mixed race, not that he is “black”. As our country moves forward and breaks down the barriers that have plagued us for hundreds of years, something as taboo as a white woman and a black man together is starting to be re-examined.

I don’t expect Obama to change the whole world in the next four years but I am hoping that he will inspire changes that each American can take to heart and explore and expand upon them. But what is great about this is, is that Obama’s reach goes beyond just the United States, it reaches parts of the world you would never expect.

While this is a time of great change and possibility it is also a time of high anxiety. Sometimes I feel like this is 1959 instead of 2009. Have you seen the specks on this beast of a car he drives around in? It is able to deal with rocket launchers. Like really why is it that people are so afraid of change that they could possibly be launching rockets at a simple man who loves basketball and his blackberry and has taken this broken country into his hand in the hopes that he can fix the mess.

For the first time I am proud to be an American, I don’t want to walk around with an accent, pretending that I am off the boat from Ireland.

Obama gives me hope.

Hi my name is Pipi from The Lubricious Menagerie of Pipi the Nefarious and today, I was your guest blogger!

Share and Enjoy:

Waiting… (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

“Heraclitus once said that “one cannot bathe in the same river twice”. Why? Because it won’t ever be the same river – since water is in constant movement – and because, I believe, one is not the same person either.

We are always changing. Getting stronger. Weaker. Happy. Sad. Automatic. On standby. Alive. I change everyday and so does my life.

I’m tired of thinking stupid stuff but that’s something I can’t help. I’m a thinker, which doesn’t mean that I think useful things, I just think all the time. Anyway, this time…I’m thinking about our future, my future.

I’ve been waiting for a blessed phonecall that won’t make my phone ring yet. I’m moving to the USA this year, soon, but I don’t know when or where to. This is exactly what I’ve been telling the whole cyberspace. Sigh. Sometimes I’m afraid people will start thinking I’m a liar. I’ll work as an Au Pair. I’ve been feeling miserable all this time because I never got a single call from a host family that would be willing to receive me at their house. “Be patient and wait till Obama takes office” – people have been telling me for months. It’s been four days since. I am excited. I must admit I’m both excited for the states and for the whole world, and because this is the only token I have left. My only hope. If he makes them feel at ease again, maybe, they will call.

It is funny to think that I believe a president will change my life – in a certain way. People just think that’s what is missing, Obama and the stability he’ll bring with him.

Nobody stopped to think that maybe the fact that I quit smoking may have its influence too. Or the fact that I’ve been volunteering at a Summer camp. Or the fact that I’m no longer picky about children’s ages.
I wonder who I’ll be within some months. Once I’m away from this bedroom with its pink walls that have been my escape for years. I wonder what I’ll become. I will change. More.

Our world will change and I’ll see that from a new perspective, soon. I’ll start living the american dream one day, and I’m afraid – sometimes – that it will change me, too much.

I am Antonella, and I blog at From the Stupidest corner of my mind.

dreamer

Share and Enjoy:

Category: Posts Tags: 7 posts in 7 days, 7Pi7D, Alive, Arts, Au pair, barack obama, Blog, blogging, Cyberspace, democratic party, family, history, On the Web, Smoking cessation, Summer, Summer camp, thinking stupid stuff, United States, USA 2008, Weblogs, weekend Leave a Comment

This is where it begins…. (7Pi7D)

January

biscuitinabasket

It’s Saturday… It’s beautiful this morning…. I have slept 4 hours… but I am wide awake… I am excited… I’m about to launch my first “blog project”… what are we waiting for…?… Let’s go!

The 7 posts in 7 days (7Pi7D) project is an initiative on this blog as part of it’s participation in January’s NaBloPoMo. The idea is for 14 people to each write 1 blog post on the theme of the month – Change. Over the course of next week, you will read the words of 14 such bloggers and non-bloggers, who will entertain you with their thoughts and experiences.

Do visit the all the links below; these guys are good writers, and I guess a lot of them are embracing some sort of change by guest posting for the first time! Also, do take part, comment and let these guys know your thoughts on their posts. There is a prize/giveaway for the 500th commenter on this blog too! There are 68 comments left to reach this target, and if you are the 500th commenter, I will get in touch with you and we can sort out the prize. An equal prize will be given to the writer on whose post the comment appears. My roster for this project is….

MaliZOMG from Gone Fishing Without my GPS
Lili from Lili’s Blog
Anonymously Me (non-blogger)
HFM from Drinking Raindrops
Antonella from From the Stupidest corner of my mind
MY from For the Love of Life
Mars from The Inner Workings of A Media Junkie
Falak from Starry Eyed Book Lovers
Outcastrebelchic from Organised Chaos
Digital Nomad from Digital Niqabi
Pipi from The Lubricious Menagerie of Pipi the Nefarious
Dallas Diaries from Because it’s the Dallas Etiquette
Katherine from Katherine Unabridged
Melanie from No, The Asian One
(In the bullpen*) Sarah Elizabeth from Jacks, Yurman, and Bobbi Brown

Right…. so everyone ready? Cool… Let’s play ball!

* Bullpen – (baseball) An enclosed area for pitchers to warm up in during a game.

Share and Enjoy:

Category: Posts Tags: 7 posts in, 7 posts in 7 days, 7Pi7D, Arts, barack obama, Blog, blogging, Changing Directions without my GPS, democratic party, Directories, England, google reader, history, Lili, Love of Life, Mars, Me, On the Web, Recreation, UK, United Kingdom, United States, USA 2008, Weblogs, Writer Leave a Comment

The weekend that was… and the week that will be….

January

biscuitinabasket

Well, it was some weekend! Not overly exciting, but I did everything and more on my to-do list!

Saturday started with cleaning my room, and pulling out the clothes which I have been wanting to give to charity. Hopefully the Islamic charity that I donated the clothes to will send it off to Gaza. Next was food shopping and cleaning the car. Then I sat to study a the chapter which I have been studying for the last 3 months; I finally finished it on Sunday! Next came the Google Reader catch-up session; I sat reading approximately 500 posts which were waiting in my reader all week, and I recon I commented on atleast 80-100 posts too! Saturday night ended quite late… well, late into Sunday morning. On Sunday, after a little more stuying, I watched He Got Game, which stars Denzel Washington. I think I can watch anything which stars Jim Carrey, Will Smith, and Denzel Washington – their acting is pretty immense.

On early Sunday morning, I officially “launched” the 7 posts in 7 days project. I started January with 10 resolutions; my aim was to get life back on track after an indifferent 3 years or so. As part of the changes, I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo; co-incidently, the theme for January 2009 is change. My post on Numbers supplemented my resolutions, and in an attempt to come out fighting in 2009, I began posting something everyday. I wonder how many people, if any have noticed, but I have attempted to accomodate the theme of change in every post that I write; it may be obvious sometimes, and subtle in others, but I want to try and write posts which makes the reader think.

Since this is my first attempt at NaBloPoMo, I decided yesterday to offer my blog to 7 (or more) bloggers for 7 days. I have 2 objectives. My first objective is part of my resolutions – to forge new friendships, and social media is an excellent medium to go about this at this moment in time. The second objective is to get people out and talk about something which they aim to see or do in 2009. I want to gauge in a “debate” on the theme of change, and I want to know how you the reader see change in 2009.

The rules of this project are simple:

Anyone can participate; you dont have to own a blog to take part.
You can participate as many times as you want over the 7 days, you are not limited to a single post.
The 7 days in question are from Sunday 25th January 2009 to Saturday 31st January 2009. You can participate on one or multiple days – it all depends on how many posts you write!
The theme of the post has to be “Change”. The title and content of the post – well that is up to you! It can be a personal post (based on the content of your blog, or experience), it can be a general post, it can be 2 lines, or the works of Shakespeare; quite what you write is up to you…. as long as it has something to do with the theme.
In your post, it will be cool to mention your blog or website, and in return, I will direct traffic towards your site via shout outs to the posts and your blog on 3 social network sites. If you want to post anonymously, then that is fine too; I will appreciate the post regardless of the person who is posting!

Another objective which I want to reach, hopefully before the 31st of January, is the 500th commenter. Now, I originally mentioned that the commenter will get a cash prize either in the form of a gift card/voucher (or e-voucher) of their choice, OR I will donate that money to a charity of their choice. I want to extend this prize a little. If the 500th comment comes during the period of the guest posts, I will offer 2 prizes – one for commenter and one for the author of the post. Now, the added incentive is on you to market your posts, and to raise awareness of 7 posts in 7 days. As it stands, we are a 100 comments or so away from 500 commenters.

Ok, so I have highlighted my idea of the project; the next step is – how do you participate? Well your options are -

Leave a comment with your interest to post;
Drop me an email with your interest to post (biscuitinabasket [at] googlemail [dot] com);
Twitter me with your interest to post.

Once I get your message, I will contact you and let you know how you can post. I am arranging for guest logins, but if you are not comfortable with using wordpress, you can always type up a post as you want it to appear (in MS word, or in an email etc), and I will ensure that it is presented well as a post.

If you have any questions or queries, just ask You don’t have to be a great writer to participate…. if you want to take part – you’re in! The earlier you throw your name into the hat, the more shout outs you get! I will be mentioning my posts on Twenty Something Bloggers, NaBloPoMo, and Twitter.

The people who are on the list to take part so far (almost certainly!) are……

Mali from Gone fishing without my GPS

Lili from Lili’s Blog

From… well, no where specific – The Legend of G

HFM from Drinking Raindrops

Antonella… or Anto… or Ace… or Thrice… (one of those four) from From the stupidest corner of my mind

I look forward to cameo posts from silent readers, and passers by… the more, the merrier and better!

Tomorrow is the start of some real change in the world…. what are your views on change? Want to talk about it? I’ll give you the platform… the stage is all yours!