bironic

This one's in the same vein as yesterday's. Maybe some of you will have swimming pool-related memories or stories about meeting relatives, since the unconscious shriek didn't resonate much.

And I will be replying tomorrow. The head cold, it muddies the brain, and I had to play catch-up at work today after taking most of yesterday off.


10. High School

( Do they say 'cowabunga' in Australia? )

WTF

(Thought I'd jazz it up with some of these icons. Retroactively.)


8. Middle School

( My friends got mad at me on that trip for reading so much. )

WTF

6. Elementary School

( An unusual danger of video games. )

About the Memoryfest

4. Kindergarten/Elementary School

( We used those speakers, though they crackled and the wires had to be jiggled to work properly, until a few weeks ago when my sister and I bought my father a new set for Hanukkah. )


ETA: Stealing mer_duff's idea: You can listen to a live version of "Scarborough Fair" on YouTube (only slightly off-key) for atmosphere.

About the Memoryfest

2. Elementary School

( Everything is high up when you're young. )

About the Memoryfest

Hey, folks.

Today is the last day of 2006. (Well, it is in this time zone; for those who are already celebrating, Happy 2007!) It's a time of reflection, of slowing down, of looking back. And with the start of the new year, the second annual Memoryfest will commence.

How it works: I will post one memory each day for the month of January, and I invite all of you to post one of your own in the comments. If this year's turns out to be anything like last year's, we'll then get into the most interesting conversations in which we discover cultural and individual similarities and differences, coincidences, etc., and follow tangents into the oddest topics. It's really great fun.

There aren't any official rules. The guidelines I've set for myself are to only post memories that I haven't told many people about, or written in a diary about, before. Not because they're traumatic, but because I want to write about the small stuff—seemingly inconsequential little recollections that become stories in the telling and often reveal more about myself than expected. I also exclude events that happened within the last few years; they're more complex in the retelling, and I'm more interested in the things I can remember all the way back through early childhood.

In addition, to answer some of the questions I've been asked recently: You can post a memory that's related to mine or one that has nothing to do with it. You can participate every day or whenever you feel like dropping in. You can comment without sharing a memory of your own (though I'll be sad). If your memory is very long or very personal, you're welcome to post it on your own journal and put a link in comments. I'd just ask as a courtesy to people who may be reading here who aren't on your f-list that if your post is locked, you please indicate so along with the link. A tip for keeping a memory public when it involves other people is to change or abbreviate the name(s) to an initial.

You can browse through the index to last year's Memoryfest to get an idea of what it was like.

Last year we had maybe ten participants from my small f-list, all of whom I knew personally, from my sister to good friends to people I'd met through HP conferences. We had Americans, Brits, ex-pat Americans in England, an Indian-American and a handful of Danes. This year, there are more than 70 people reading this journal. Most of you I've never met in person and a few of you I've rarely or never spoken with online. From what I can tell, in addition to more of the above, we now have people in and/or from Canada, France, Scotland, Austria, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China and I think Japan. (Have I missed any?) We have a greater age range too. I'm sure this diversity will make for an even more interesting 'fest.

Happy New Year! I very much hope to see you in January.