Monday, November 2, 2009

Canada in a Thong

My mother-in-law left a pile of New Yorkers on a side table at my house, and I picked one up and flipped through it, because I couldn't reach my Us Weekly from the La-Z-Boy.  In the August 24 issue, David Sedaris has a piece called "Laugh, Kookaburra."  Like a lot of his writing, it starts out hilarious and then goes somewhere kind of dark. But before it goes there, he describes a trip he took to Australia:
Spend that much time on a plane and you're entitled to a whole new world when you step off at the other end--the planet Mercury, say, or, at the very least, Mexico City.  For an American, though, Australia seems pretty familiar: same wide streets, same office towers.  It's Canada in a thong, or that's the initial impression.
That made me laugh.  And then this morning I click over to my little sister's blog, and they are swimming.  Swimming for pleasure, because it is almost summer in their crazy antipodeal world. Amy, you were wearing a thong, right?

What I wanted to say is that Amy is doing NaBloPoMo, that thing in November where you post every day.  Hurray!  I did it last year, and it is great for growing a blog.  (I have some slight discomfort with using "grow" as a transitive verb like that, but that's what it does, it grows yer blog.)  Y'all please go show her some love from time to time.  As much as I want to crush her in our unannounced competition over who has more blog readers, I know she would like some support as she commits to blogging every damn day this month.  Good thing Thanksgiving isn't a big deal in Oz, Amy, 'cause it was kinda hard blogging through the holiday last year. I know, first world problem.  

You go, Amy!  Is anybody else doing this?  If so, be sure to comment and I'll add you to the blogroll, if you're not already there, so we can pop in and recognize.   

12 comments:

Lawyer Mom said...

I LOVE David Sedaris. The nablopomo thing? Not so much. And it makes me think of NAMBLA. And I don't want to think of NAMBLA.

Michele said...

Your sister is a brave woman. Committing to blogging every day would likely kill me. My lazy gene just would know how to evolve.

Amy said...

Okay, "Canada in a thong"--that is hilarious. I am still laughing about that. Thanks for the plug, Beck! I remember sitting with you in the Arby's parking lot in NC while you blogged through Thanksgiving weekend. I only hope I can display a fraction of the strength and the resolve that you had.

And though you have more blog readers, I think we both know who's A gets kicked around the block on Facebook. Ahem.

Amy said...

Of course I meant "whose". It's just that in Australia, they say who's. Um, yeah.

The Dental Maven said...

Blogging every day? Nuh uh. Not me. Too stressful.

Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

love david sedaris. that piece was brilliant. he has changed over the years. he is in a much healthier place these days right now.

Amy said...

I read that Sedaris on Oz piece too. I'm with Kate - he's grown over the years, and grown on me in the growing.

If I were clever, I would figure out a way to work the transitive verb thing in there, since I just wrote some form of "grow" three times, but here's proof I'm not clever. Or if I am, I'm just real tired. Yeah, that's it.

Way too tired to blog 30 days runnin', too. But I'm all over the Down Under with love!!

Ginny Marie said...

I signed up for NaBloPoMo, and am not sure why. We'll see if I can actually get through the first week, much less a whole month!

(Note to self...need catchier titles...with words like "thong.")

Keely said...

Awesome. Australia IS very similar to Canada. With, yes, the notable exception being Canadians are much less often found in thongs.

Meg said...

David Sedaris rocks. And having lived in Canada and now living in NZ, I tend to agree with his statement. Your sister is in good (or crazy) company for NaBloPoMo. I too am doing it.

And now I'm off to add you AND your sister Amy to my own blogroll cos you make me laugh :)

Becky said...

Awesome, Mad Woman! Pleased to meet you! I'll take you and Keely as the authoritative word on our cross-cultural comparison here.

Yes Ginny, punching up your titles never hurts. Thong is a good one, can't wait to see my google traffic. LOL.

Aviva said...

Wow -- it never occurred to me to work the word "thong" in to a title to get more hits on my blog. Brilliant! :-)

FWIW, I'm doing the NaBloPoMo thing too, my third year running. My mom says she loves it because at least for those 30 days, she knows I'm alive. Good thing she doesn't know that I sometimes write ahead and schedule the posts. :-)

I LOVE your blog, and I'll definitely be popping over to Amy's.