Ceci n’est pas une meme

Laurie, of Chimaera Contemplations, has tagged me with one of those horrible “meme” things. I’m actually going to do it, mostly because I don’t want to “dis” Laurie. Perhaps you’ll buy me a beer, my blog friend, should we meet in person some time.[1]

First, I’m meant to post the “rules”:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
   [So done, above.]
2. Post the rules on your blog.
   [Herewith.]
3. Write six random (or arbitrary) things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Now, it bothers me that people call these list-things “memes”; they’re not what Richard Dawkins had in mind when he coined the term. A meme (sounds like “seem”, lest you try to pronounce it elsewise) is a cultural device by which information spreads. So the only interesting aspect of these things, which I prefer to call “pointless lists”, is that collectively they do form a meme, though they are not individually memes.

I also don’t like the pointless lists, generally. Mostly, they’re boring. You want to know some things about me? Read the blog. You’ll see a great deal more about me than you ever wanted to know, and you’ll get it in deep quaffs, not tiny sips. Want to know my seventeen favourite musical groups or my five favourite plays? Why on Earth?

Apart from that, these seem to be used as cheap blog fodder, when one can’t think of anything else to write about. To be sure, there are times when I have trouble thinking of something to write about, and I have set it as my goal to post every day. Still, I prefer to post a photo or two when I have to bail out, rather than do a pointless list.

Then, too, I’m quite particular about word usage, and “random things” is not a phrase that makes much sense in this context. I suppose I should have to have a list of many things, and then use some pseudo-random-number generator to select from the larger list. Though Laurie, also aware of this usage problem, has put in the word “arbitrary” instead, which is surely the intent. Thanks, Laurie.

I actually have done a few of these things, though, but never from having been “tagged”. I’ve picked ones on my own that I found interesting or amusing enough to do. See here, here, here, and here.

Hm. Let’s see, that’s 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... five. I just need a sixth.

I voted for Barack Obama, and am proud of my fellow voters for also having done so. But you know that already. Oh, well: such is how randomness works.

I’m going to skip the tagging bit; I wouldn’t want to inflict this on people I like, and would rather not give link love to those I don’t.
 

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[1] And by Newton’s Third Law of Pub-Motion, which states that “For every beer treat, there is an equal and opposite beer re-treat,” a never-ending loop will start....