That’s my Mea Culpa Mug (circa 1952). It’s there because I’m planning to be grouchy and feel a little bad about it. Not bad enough to stifle this post, of course.
at daybreak
what grouchy faces…
Mr. and Mrs. Cat
…. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
… I‘m beginning to understand why Ed the Editor of Blawg Review fame tries so hard to remain anonymous and hard to find (see our prior post). He keeps coming up with annoying “memes” in which one weblogger performs some sort of self-revelation and then “tags” other bloggers, asking them to so the same. The latest, to commemorate Blog Day 2008 (which was August 31st), is “5 Blogs and 5 Blawgers” (Sept. 2, 2008). As Ed explains:
The idea is to post links to five great blogs (other than law blogs) on your blawg and tag five of your favorite blawgers to do the same under the post title “5 Blogs & 5 Blawgers“.
Well — despite being tagged today by one of my very favorite blawgers, Anne Reed of the jury-oriented Deliberations weblog — I make this plaintive plea: keep me out of this meme. Here’s what I said the last time I was tagged (for the “simply the best blawg” meme):
Like Bob Ambrogi (who “truly hate[s] these things”), and most humans with taste and politesse, I find being tagged to join in a self-revelatory blogisphere “meme” event highly annoying, painful, and intrusive. . . . Thus, I let my crabby but attention-starved alter ego Prof. Yabut handle our weird tag duties last year, and procrastinated even more than usual with the Book shtick Stick back in 2005.
This time, I can’t even cajole lonely old Prof. Yabut (who is usually quite a sucker for a pretty face) into pulling meme duty. As he rather sarcastically reminded me: “The whole f/k/a Gang combined doesn’t read 5 “blogs other than law blogs” in the typical month. We don’t even land on 5 different blawgs most weeks.” So, let’s hope this voir dire convinces the judge to strike me from Meme Jury Duty. Please.
p.s. As I often find myself asking: “How do these adult people, who have jobs and families, find the time to read lots of weblogs?” Since I won’t be tagging anyone with this Meme, five of you will have a little extra time to play with the kids, empty that In Box, or surf da web.
lazy cat– 
he cocks his ears
then back to sleep
…. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
Sorry I forgot — it’s easy to see how I did, since you’re almost certainly the law blogger with the coolest non-law reading list. You’ve probably posted about that before too, but feel free to keep reminding us.
Comment by Anne Reed — September 3, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
Hello, Anne. It was fun writing about you, even if not cooperating with the meme. Thanks for being understanding (I knew you would be).
As to reading lists, you give me far too much credit. I do very little online reading. Even with haiku, I spend scandalously little time reading the genre or related ones. That’s probably because I feel far too often that sitting at my computer is a sad (and sadly addictive) alternative to interacting directly with people.
I really couldn’t make a list of 5 blawgs or five non-law-blogs that I regularly read. Couldn’t list five haiku sites either. But, I do envy people with full lives offline and online. They must have 30-hour days, and need very little sleep.
Comment by David Giacalone — September 3, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
i’m not really into these memes either. but i do understand that it gives other bloggers perhaps a way to keep the conversation going.
Comment by kouji — September 4, 2008 @ 4:09 am
Funny, given how I hate these things, that I liked this one. It is interesting to see what blawgers read when they’re not reading about law.
Comment by Bob Ambrogi — September 5, 2008 @ 8:05 am
Hi, Bob. I was surprised to see you had participated in this meme without complaint. The f/k/a Gang is taking a principled “no meme” stance — no matter how interesting the theme or the tagger might be.
Comment by David Giacalone — September 5, 2008 @ 8:14 am