A Year in Review, With a Twist
Fun January 2nd, 2008I’m a big fan of trivia and quick-read books. Both loves are satisfied with the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series. It helps if you envision me reading them outside the bathroom. Promise me you’ll do that.
The Uncle John book series offers speedy stories covering a number of topics including science, history, pop culture, geography, biographical accounts and general stuff you were too lazy to look up and learn more about. Most articles are three pages or less, for readers "on the go," as the authors put it. For a really quick read, you can stick to what they call "runners" at the bottom of each page: one-sentence trivia nuggets that are fun, curious and sometimes stupefying.
On this second day of 2008, I’m a little late to the game on reviewing 2007. I thought it might be fun to revisit some of my favorite posts from the year, as they relate to some of the Uncle John’s trivia nuggets found in the Curiously Compelling edition. Here we go!
1. How about you? 54% of American kids ride the bus to school. I was in that other 46%, at least in grade school — or hell, as I like to call it. Read it and weep.
2. The main cluster of riders in a bicycle race is called a peloton. I was once in a bike race with my sister. Down a hill. Fast. One of us made it to the bottom a bloodied, battered mess. And all because of a tasty snack treat.
3. What? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention: Aprosexia is the inability to concentrate. I have it and it’s made worse because I’m plagued by annoying little noises that no one else can hear.
4. Good news for teenagers: There is no evidence that eating chocolate makes acne worse. But seeing hairy chocolates is guaranteed to make you sick.
5. It is illegal to board a plane while it’s in flight. It should also be illegal to subject passengers to coach if they started out in first-class.
6. The diameter of the universe is estimated to be 620.000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles. And I can’t even navigate two tenths of a mile of it.
7. Animals that give birth to live young are viviparous. Animals who dispense tech tips from their butts are called awesome.
8. Odds that a sports injury will involve a wrist and hand: 25%. Odds I would do it while sledding on ice: 100%.
9. If your cat snores, or rolls over on his back to expose his belly, it means he trusts you. If your cat is about to bite the head off a praying mantis, it means you should RUN!!!
10. How about you? A 1,200 -pound horse eats about seven times its own weight a year. So do I.
Happy New Year to all my faithful readers! Thank you for making blogging some of the most fun I’ve had in my life. I appreciate all your support and friendship. Cheers, and all the best to you in 2008!
Stumble it!
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:25 am
What kind of sports injuries are we talking about here?
I didn’t read your bus post, but I can tell you that my experiences riding the school bus are at least 40% of my decision to homeschool. I don’t want my kids to EVER have to go through that!
Marie’s last blog post..I’m a Lumberjack and I’m Okay
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
First, a tip. The quickest way to get someone to do what it is you don’t want them to do is to tell them not to do it. But that’s OK, I’ll deal with the visual you created with your opening paragraph.
Thanks for the review. Gave me a chance to sample some of your classics that appeared before we “met” online. Great stuff.
Have a great New Year, Kathy.
Lee’s last blog post..Leave it in 2007
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
My dog once dispensed a nursing pad from her butt, but unfortunately I can’t get any tech tips.
Momo Fali’s last blog post..Don’t Want To Look Forward? Let’s Look Back
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Happy New Year, Kathy. What a coincidence! My daughter got me “Uncle John’s Ultimate Bathroom Reader” for Christmas. I love it, and I took it our of the bathroom and I read it on the sofa in my den before I go to bed. That is, when I am not writing, of course. How funny is that? Great book. -Michael.
Mr. Grudge’s last blog post..First Name, Last name, Shouldn’t be a Pain
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Marie — The book doesn’t specify the kind of sports injuries, but mine were the kind you get when you save your face by sticking your arm out in front of you to stop your skull from being crushed. My grade school post is about school, not the bus. The bus incidents I have seen all involved boys getting the crap beat out of them. It’s criminal what boys do to each other.
Lee — Oh, I laughed so hard at that. I’m sorry to have given you a vision. Did you ever see “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”? Maybe you can have that vision erased. Happy new year to you, too!
Momo Fali — You have to let your dog sit freely on the keyboard. You’re probably a lot less tolerant of that than we are!
Mike — You know The Reader!!! That’s so cool. I have never met anyone whose read them before and I always get weird stares when I say how great they are. Little tip, if you’re going to order more of them, be sure you don’t already have it. The covers are similarly designed and they’re hard to tell apart. I almost bought one I realized I already had. I have about 10 in my collection now and anxiously await the news ones when they come out, about once a year I think.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Great post! I love how you related some of your best work to a publication as sophisticated and informative as Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. My favorite? Number 7. And I agree: awesome!
JD’s last blog post..I Play the Telephone Game so you don’t have to
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Hey, if it weren’t for the bathroom I would never read anything at all.
I think this recap thing is a great idea. I never saw your “round and round” post and like all your others, it cracked me up as well. Especially the phone messages to your husband. He’s a very lucky guy.
Jeff’s last blog post..Bless the Invisible Children
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
JD — That’s me! All class and sophistication! Hey, at least I know now that Mr. Grudge likes the Reader and he’s a REAL writer! That makes me feel tons better. As to Shadow’s butt, it’s borderline famous now. I really think this is going to make some kind of “What’s Hot in Technology for 2008” list.
Jeff — If that “Round and Round” post wasn’t so funny to me in hindsight, I’d still be crying and having nightmares about it. I swear, I could not get out of there for the longest time. Not one of my prouder moments.
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I see a top 10 list,, but no Letterman….
you know Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader can also be used in an emergency as….oooh don’t what to go there…never mind……..
gt281’s last blog post..THE MINDAR…………………
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I didn’t get to read about your getting lost in the neighbourhood before. I do sympathize with you because I am surrounded by friends who phone ‘me’ when they are lost or need directions.
They even have a nick-name for me which I cannot share here (is this a G rated blog ?)
It starts with “Road-master…”
The hairy chocolate still gives me the creeps !
When I was hardly 1, both my arms were plastered for two different accidents – first when I fell off a chair and another when my cousin fell into a fountain while she was holding me.
Have a very delightful 2008 !
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
This is pure, unadulterated, inspired, amusing comedy…..very entertaining.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 pm
gt281 — I hear Letterman’s going on tonight during the writer’s strike. Maybe he needs a new Top 10 List writer?
Jaffer — Getting lost is a disease. I’m thinking of starting a 12-step program for it. I know. The hairy chocolate is disgusting to look at, yet I can’t look away. You’re one unlucky person. Are you working on the legs next?
lotus07 — Someone emailed me this morning with a very nice compliment about my blog and it made my morning. And now yours has made my night. Thank you so much!
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
The Bathroom Reader series books are great — I like to read stuff like that when I’m “using” the bathroom and when taking a bath.
I rode the bus when I went to school, as I lived too far away to be a “walker” and very few parents personally ferried their kids to school in the sixties and seventies.
How does one board a plane already in flight??? Are they anticipating Scotty’s transporter and making the law ahead of time?
My 12 year old female cat snores like a buzzsaw. I think it’s funny.
Libertine’s last blog post..It’s a Plot, I Tell Ya!
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
As promised no visuals here….how about a Grmin GPS to expand your no get lost area for a few miles…:):) your like my sister who gets lost going to Walmart which is 5 blocks away…:):)
robert bourne’s last blog post..A Little Redneck Christmas Stuff
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I would give my the third toe on my left foot to be as cool as you. Seriously.
I know that it doesn’t seem like a giant important toe, but it is. It’s a very important toe.
there is no room in any of my bathrooms for any additonal reading materials. Its nothing but Mark’s photo magazines, photo books, music magazines and political books de jour (sp??). No room for the bathroom readers. But I LOVE trivia and stuff like that.
Margaret’s last blog post..Very Serious Question a.k.a. MOO!
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:49 am
I think i have aprosexia… or ADD. Aren’t they the same?
Jaywalker’s last blog post..My most depressing video by far
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 am
Kathy you are one of the most entertaining writers online. Talented doesn’t begin to describe you. All the best in 08.
Grizzly’s last blog post..Happy Holidays Everyone
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 am
Libertine — I was a walker for grade school, though I rode the bus for HS (still had to GET the bus at my old school, so I was still a walker for that). The Bathroom Reader has some very bizarre trivia on weird laws. Somewhere in the world, a person put that one down on the books!
Robert — I’m giving serious thought to a GPS system. Now that the holidays are over, I’ll have time to seriously research it. I know how your sister feels. Believe me.
Margaret — Wow! A toe compliment. I’m honored! I guarantee, if you stick a Bathroom Reader in there, it’ll be the only thing that gets read and you can throw the other stuff out.
Jaywalker — I’m not sure about those two… oh wait… what were you saying?
Grizzly — I’m humbled. Thank you so much and same to you for 2008!
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Oh wow, i need to get some of those books! Just to keep myself occupied, you know, outside the bathroom. 😛 Do they come with protection by the way, in case water somehow finds its way out of the bathroom? That would be really useful.
On second thought, i’ve got lots of others bathroom things to do. School’s gonna start again soon and my homework/studying’s got to be settled some time, right? Outside the bathroom, mind you.
Oh wow, you went through all that trouble to relate those facts with your blog posts! *Salute* I’m too lazy and forgetful to do anything like that. Plus i might have aprosexia too. XD
“It is illegal to board a plane while it’s in flight.” – Is it even possible to board a plane in flight? Haha..
“The diameter of the universe is estimated to be 620.000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles.” – Apparently someone has alot of time on their hands.
“10. How about you? A 1,200 -pound horse eats about seven times its own weight a year.” – Only seven? That’s so little compared to how much I eat.
BYE!
p.s. Chocolates here i come!!
p.s.p.s. Happy and productive New Year to you!!
usws’s last blog post..Spread the EnveLove!
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
This proves that the only reading material needed for the bathroom is your blog, because I’m cutting out the middle man of that book and sticking with you. Happy New Yea!
Deb on the Rocks’s last blog post..Freezing Away in Margaritaville
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I hope you have a wonderful new year too, with many more amazing posts to come.
StephanieC’s last blog post..happy new year!
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Hi Kathy,
Just wanted you to know that I nominated you for The Bloggies in the “Most Humorous Weblog” category. Hope you win! 🙂
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
usws — The Bathroom Reader is very addictive. Perhaps wait until May or you’ll never get anything else done. You should be studying everywhere you go, right? Happy new year to you as well. Good luck with the spring semester!
Deb on the Rocks — Do you think I could create a Junk Drawer series? Like for when you only want light reading?
StephanieC — Thanks so much! I’m looking forward to my first full year of blogging. I hope I make it worth coming back for visits. All the best.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Some very impressive statistics listed here. One final one worth noting, its important to know, that 67.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot….
just thought you should know… =)
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Carla — A heart-felt thanks! That’s so nice of you! And if I win, I shall remember you in my acceptance speech 🙂
Cap’n Schwartz — It wouldn’t surprise me if the Bathroom Reader listed that statistic as a statistic somewhere!
January 5th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Happy New Year to you too, Kathy. Thanks for all your help in the past. Here’s to a great 2008!
Maureen’s last blog post..A New Year, A New Obsession
January 5th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Maureen — Well, I know for a fact that your 2008 will be a very artistic one. I still can’t believe what you’re accomplishing with your graphic design tools. You know, I still want to put a picture of a junk drawer in my header. Hmmm, do you freelance?