Odds N’ Ends
#332 Come up with a good one liner.
From a very early age, Nina always loved to listen to tapes of radio comedians – Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks. She took joy in trying to outsmart the writers by guessing what the punch line of a joke or routine was going to be. She knew that it was all scripted, but wished that she was as funny as the characters seemed to be.
One day she hoped to get it right and cap somebody’s anecdote – her own, a friend’s or (especially) her parents’ – with the perfect one-liner to end the story in triumph. One day, she hit her stride. As the second child, she got tired of her parents’ bromide that they had had a second baby because they wanted to share the love that they had felt with the first, her brother. Finally, exasperated, she announced, “You had another baby because SOMEBODY forgot to put SOMETHING on!”
#211 Write a song
Nina always wanted to write a song, but never got it down.
Have you written a song? What did you do with it?
#166 Stay at the World’s Fanciest Five-star hotel
This list item is a little vague in that there are many five-star resorts around the world, and which one is the fanciest is subjective at best. What’s the nicest resort you’ve ever stayed at? Was it considered one of the world’s best? Was it a special occasion?
#150 Visit the World’s First Public Art Museum
This item was a little vague, but according to Wikipedia, the first public museums were called the Capitoline Museums, outside of Rome, Italy, and begun in 1536. Have you ever been there?
The oldest museum in our relatively young country is the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, founded in 1842.
#144 Take in Memphis Elvis-Style
We’re not really sure what an “Elvis-style” vacation entails, but this one didn’t get checked off Nina’s List. Have you ever gone to Memphis and done the tourist thing, visiting Graceland and the museums? What was your favorite part?
#102 Be able to handle tax forms, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and telephone solicitors
Nina wanted to be able to be in control, and these three items are some of the ones that many people don’t like dealing with. Knowledge of tax rules can be researched, but dealing with people is another story. Do you have any tricks that you’ve picked up along the way?
#099 Visit a renaissance fair
Nina didn’t ever mark this one off the list. How about you? Are you a fan of visiting Renaissance Fairs when they come to your town?
#093 Go on a blind date
Most people don’t like going on blind dates, but it was on Nina’s list. Do you have a memory of a blind date that went really well? What about one that didn’t go so well?
#091 Learn to use a microphone and give a speech in public
Even though most people would rather do anything except public speaking, it was one of the items on Nina’s list. How about you? Are you comfortable speaking in public?