Zulkey is a thinky humor site, and I met Claire Zulkey years ago at SxSW. It turns out she’s still smart, and funny, and good at getting it all down on paper. An excerpt.

“Things I Have Learned About Vegetable-Matter-Based Packing Peanuts

3) Demonstrating how I learned this makes people uncomfortable.“

I met Zan at the Mighty Haus launch party, and I wish I’d had more time to get to know her while she was in town. She writes over at A Cup of Tea and a Wheat Penny and lives in New York. An excerpt from her site:

“They’re all readers down here in the tunnels, just like up on the buses. Only here they turn the pages faster.

With two underscores.“

Poem from the May 12 New Yorker:

One Can Miss Mountains

and pine. One

can dismiss
a whisper’s

revelations
and go on as

before as if
everything were

perfectly fine.
One does. One

loses wonder
among stores

of things.
One can even miss

the basso boom
of the ocean’s

rumpus room
and its rhythm.

A man can leave
this earth

and take nothing
–not even

longing–along
with him.

–Todd Boss

Catching up on a year’s worth of old magazine subscriptions. Some snips:

Julie Morgenstern in O Magazine — “If I ran out of time today, what would be the one thing that, completed, would give me the greatest sense of accomplishment and contribution?”

New Yorker Mar. 20 article “Pretty Things,” about Hedi Silmane models — “They seemed in imminent danger of getting laid.”

Dave Grohl in Esquire Nov. 2007 — “Anybody who has to focus on being real has a problem. It’s like having a panic attack over how you’re prone to panic attacks.”

I’m still reading the comments from my 100 Things to do Before I Go posts. The best one so far is from Claire, who says:

“…the direct result of you writing this excellent list is me quitting my stupid, stupid admin job and heading to uni to study nursing at the ripe old age of 27. Thanks Maggie … I really needed this!!! Reading your list and seeing all the fabulous things you would get up to got my bum into gear to start living my life too.
xx”

Well done, Claire. Go! Go! Go!

Here are some ideas that intrigued me from the lists you posted on your sites. I like the way they all sound together:

Sarcomical
show photos in a gallery
participate in a humanitarian mission in another country
have a rose garden
Daaydreaming
22. Find my best friends from growing up .. Maria Salas, and Phillip Avila
29. Be debt free
41. Learn to accept that I will always need meds for my depression
This Happy Home
1. own a store with big display windows.
12. embroider a self portrait.
24. make my own wine.
Writing to Sanity
12. Do not go online for 3 consecutive days
61. See an author read from his or her work
73. Learn the correct way to hold and shoot a gun
The Littlest Tree Hugger
7. Learn Spanish, French, Arabic and conversational Japanese
12. Help put my niece thru college (if she wants to go)
25. Keep a goldfish for longer than a month
The Fray
1. See sloths in Costa Rica.
5. Live off the food in the kitchen (a la Laura) for one month
11. Spelunk.
Lucky Magpie
28. Find out the real name of my biological father
49. Do something to get into the Guinness Book of World Records
72. Have part of my income come from something internet related
Esmon.net
1. Make my own cream soda.
6. Spend a night on a train.
19. Build and furnish a dollhouse.
More Kisses Please
3. ride a giraffe
13. spend a night in the room Janis Joplin died in
16. pay someone’s rent for the month
The Nonhipster Mom
7. Make really great marinara sauce.
12. Stop being mad at my parents.
19. Make puff pastry from scratch.
Scarlet Words
23 Build a time capsule
24 Read the dictionary from beginning to end
73 Have my dog’s teeth cleaned
The Metamorph
8. Own a Victorian style home, complete with claw-foot tub, window seat, and sparkling crystal chandelier.
14. Learn to sing again.
24. Stay a night in Dracula’s Castle.
Spandrel Studios
3. Have tea at the Plaza
8. Design the perfect jacket
9. Flip an egg in a pan