Thursday 20 February 2014

Alzheimer's, old boyfriends and Aussie slang.

Follower or followed, the 2013 A to Z April Challenge, probably bought us together.  I joined at the last minute and embarked on a sleepless month of writing, editing, re-writing and most importantly reading hundreds of blogs. The challenge gave me a new love of the written word and took me places I never imagined - did I mention hundreds of blogs i.e thousands of blog posts.  I even scored a monthly gig posting anonymously for another blog, bring on more of that kind of work - please.

If you want to join up click the link under the image.  Arlee Bird created the challenge, you'll find links to his page and all the other hosts there too.

sign up to the challenge link here
Last year my theme was Healing with Words - based around a deck of magic spirit cards that guided me through many of lives lessons, during my twenties.  Single words that were a seeming, random catalyst for change. A change that was desperately needed. The aim was to find my writing voice.  I'm not sure that happened, I dabble between poetic and prose, mostly prose, I have to edit out the rhyming a lot.

This year I have signed up early, with any luck I will get a lot of my posts written and scheduled well before the start date... or procrastinate, as is my way, and leave it to the last minute once again.
The one major thing getting in the way of being organised is I'm stuck between 3 themes.  A theme is not necessary, this in itself could be my fourth theme, but let's not confuse things anymore than necessary.

Here are my themes so far.

1.  , Aussie slang, as mentioned in my Reflections post.  For the traveller to Australia or a new immigrant these are invaluable, for the curious wordsmith a good laugh.  Some make perfect sense some make none at all... I'm pretty sure I could 'ave a go' without making a 'Wally' of myself, but 'fair dinkum' there are teatowels in every tourist shop with slang on them, and it might be a bit 'daggy.'

2. 26 boyfriends.  From my first crush at 5 years old to my current love story, and all the unrequited loves, mistakes, heart breaking and heart mending romances in between. A snapshot of the many boys and men in my life seems like a fun idea.  A is for Adam - the first love. B is for Brett - my favourite mistake. C is for Con - his mother hated me. D is for Dean - Summer of love love love. E is for Eddie - that cute Scandinavian kid. etc etc

and finally

3.  Remember the time... A journey into Alzheimers.  My recent trip to Australia inspired this one.  My mother was diagnosed in 2012 she forgets things and doesn't even remember she has Alzheimers.  I'm not sure where this theme will take me, the story is fresh.  While watching anyone succumb to a disease is horrible, forgetting can be fun and despite the tragedy of it all we managed to have a lot of laughs. They say comedy is tragedy with good timing and I feel comfortable sharing.  
So bloggers, help me decide should it be 1 2 or 3?



I'll be doing the big A to Z theme reveal on March 21st - find the linky list here


In the meantime, I'll be brushing up on how to do links and visiting some of my favourite blogs from 2013 to see who else will be signing up.


26 comments:

  1. Hi Ida,
    I'm intrigued to read your take on all three! I can't decide, because each one would be great coming from you! #1 was my first pick because I love your humor, but then I read #2 and just had to laugh at the possibilities! #3... not just a good heart wrenching story, but could be great healing for many people readers and would certainly keep one reminded about the preciousness of life, and I'm sure you'd find a way to make us laugh, smile and cry all at the same time. x

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    1. Thanks Tash, the slang would be an easy way to post 26 posts and just participate, but I would like to challenge myself and stir up some emotions... 2 or 3 seem the more obvious choices to me now

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  2. Hmmm, I'd say go with the Aussie slang.

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  3. I'm particularly intrigued by the boyfriends theme. :)
    They all sound good, Ida. And I'll be right here ready to read your story.

    Best,
    Silvia
    SilviaWrites

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  4. Hi Ida,

    I'm back and now commenting on this posting. As you will know, I personally have a dislike over the whole A to Z thing. I wish the whole thing would just go away.

    However and yes, some irony, my satirical take on it actually brought further awareness of it. I would of thought the so-called altruistic hosts of it would have noted how I actually gave some light-hearted relief for those who were struggling with it. Alas, no.

    Strewth, I reckon you should go with the one theme you really want to do.

    Have a lovely weekend, my dear friend.

    Gary :)

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  5. Hi Ida, glad to see you're doing the A-Z!
    Boyfriends - from the past, Mother - present, Aussie slang - language. Sleep on it, you'll make the right decision! I look forward to whatever it is!

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  6. Glad I spotted you on bloglovin as I was thinking it was about time to look for the challenge again. I wrote about half my posts ahead of time last year and kept writing a few a day until I had all scheduled 1 day before it was to begin. 1 day, lol. I added 4 of my 5 blogs, I think...maybe I added my 5th blog, my charity blog? I really don't remember. But, I was so disappointed in how few people visited back after my huge number of visits I couldn't decide if I wanted to do it again. For ever 10 visits I made, I maybe got 1 (or should I say comments, cause I'm not sure how to tell about people who just click and move on). I really tried to continue it, by continuing to visit blogs on the sign up list for several months, then finally decided I still wasn't getting much from it for the huge time expenditure. Then I sorta quite blogging except for here and there (continued daily with the charity blog). But was thinking the other day, the challenge might light my fire again. You know sometimes you need to re-charge your batteries, lol. Trouble is I'll be traveling part of that time the challenge takes place........so maybe I'll start by only signing up one blog and once I get into writing make decisions about the others. Nice to see you again Ida, though we were connect on Bloglovin before as well, but it doesn't look like it, so will follow you now (maybe with all the changes on Bloglovin some of the stuff went by the wayside?).

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  7. Oophs forgot, I think the love theme sounds fun and entertaining. You've got me curiously thinking now if I can remember all the boys names I dated, as my husband always says I dated have the city, before we got married, not true of course......

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    1. Good on you Sandy for giving it another go - I think you were second to none in the amount of support and blog comments you made in 2013. I would have been overwhelmed with 5 blogs one was enough. Though 26 boyfriends may sound like I dated half the city too, I really only ever had two serious ones - the rest we can say were training. :)

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  8. Oh, man, I couldn't choose either. Aussie slang fascinates me. Old boyfriends--wow, I wouldn't miss a single post of that ;) And Alzheimer's, sad as it is, is something I've probably got in my future, so that would interest me, too. Whichever you choose, Ida, please do the others at some point, either in coming A-Z's or sometime throughout the year. Seriously. And join the A-to-Z Theme Reveal hop! This is one I'm sure will bring lots of anticipation :)

    Guilie @ A Hop Within A Hop: The A-Z Theme Reveal!

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    1. Thanks for your enthusiasm Guillie, I have now signed up for the reveal... eek now I have to decide before the 21st of March. All three are topics I want to write about eventually thanks for the encouragement.

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  9. Hi Ida .. glad you're joining in the A-Z once again. Good luck with choosing - quite different topics ... the Alzheimers re your mother is fresh and very possibly is a simple way of recording what was/is your journey together ... which then could be used as a basis for a publication afterwards, or definitely aimed at being a publication ...

    See you there .. cheers Hilary

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    1. Thanks for your input Hilary. It certainly is fresh, hopefully the journey will be a long one.

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  10. thanks for reminding me to get back here! I will be doing the A to Z challenge this year again too and I believe that is how we met! My suggestion would be to make your theme about for getting old boyfriends and usingAussie slang venecular to describe those old relationships! Maybe not! I'm so glad to be back here!

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    1. I reckon I could add a bit slang about the drongos, larrikins and yobbos that made me stroppy or I had a ripper time with - typically good suggestion Zoe - thanks.

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    2. OH MY GOODNESS! You gotta incorporate that somehow...that's FABULOUS!

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  11. Thanks Jemima, I was quite impressed with how simple and effective it is

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  12. No worries mate. yea Alzheimers is a 'ell uva' disease - hard for smart people to suddenly feel like dingbats. Aussie slang could be a grouse distraction :) Thanks Pam

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  13. Bingo! So you do have a theme ready that is probably one of the first things we all need to do for a-z! Yes looking forward to an eventful april :-)

    Richa

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  14. New subscriber/follower from the #atozchallenge! Sister minion from another mother (AJ's Hooligans)! And #49 on your linky list.

    The Aussie slang would be a good 'light-hearted' theme. The journey through Alzheimer's could be very helpful to those #AtoZers who are experiencing that illness in their family. The boyfriend option would provide people with more information about you! :O)

    I know, not a lot of help in your question. Well, I'm a Libra and i think one of our characteristics is the inability to make choices. (You should see me try to pick a restaurant!)

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    1. Thanks LuAnn I must have Libra in one of my rising signs... you have touched on the reasons I chose each of the themes... I like the idea of the AtoZ being lighthearted - the nature of the work I do is to be helpful - A personal challenge of mine has always been to reveal the real me... It's true you really haven't made my decision easier - but certainly given me something to ponder - thanks and good luck with the #atozchallenge :)

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  15. Great to have you on board the A to Z vehicle. Now for the theme, I think all would serve for great food. I would personally love to know about the 26 boyfriends...yeah, that would be exciting :)

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    1. Hi Kajal, thanks for your input and kind welcome. I think women love sharing boyfriend stories, I wonder if the boys would like to know them too?

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  16. I vote for the 26 boyfriends. It could be a very interesting story, not just about them but also how you also grow through the experiences to be where you are.

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  17. I think the Aussie slang would be more fun. My Mum had dementia. Lots of support from me to you :hugs:

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    1. Aussie slang would be fun - thanks Jemima watching people we love suffer requires a lot of support, I hope you have many fond memories of your Mum.

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Feedback and your own stories are welcome.