{"id":9875,"date":"2023-11-22T23:30:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T23:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/?p=9875"},"modified":"2023-11-22T23:31:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T23:31:18","slug":"trending-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/2023\/11\/22\/trending-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Trending Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter from America.<\/b><\/h1>\n
\n

For all I know, this has been going on since Miley Cyrus twerked her way out of her mama\u2019s birth canal, but the new-to-me trend on Facebook begins with an assignment of a random number from one to 25 (or thereabouts) to a poster\u2019s friends.\u00a0 Upon receipt of a number, a friend is obliged to write a corresponding number of items about him- or herself\u2014facts not known to anyone else, or to which only a very few are privy.\u00a0 \u201cI love to wash dishes by hand,\u201d and \u201cI am allergic to olives\u201d\u2014even, \u201cI was the most popular kid in the sixth grade but by my senior year in high school I was president and only member of the Milli Vanilli fan club; \u2018nuff said?\u201d\u2014are typical responses.\u00a0 Some Facebook members who participate in this craze, however, are in their responses far more introspective, personal, creative, and\/or flat-out full of malarkey.\u00a0 Some lists include a few heartbreaking statements.\u00a0 Other lists comprise an item or two that elicit gales of laughter.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know where he got his comedic gene, but my older son\u2019sentire list cracks me up.\u00a0 Number 11 on\u00a0Drew O\u2019Donnell\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0list states the following:\u00a0 \u201cWhen I was in fifth grade, my life took a peculiar Faustian twist when I sold my soul to the Devil for a Turbo Grafix 16. The Devil\u2019s terms were simple: I had to sacrifice three of my five senses for the coveted game console. I chose to keep my sight and hearing so that I could fully enjoy my videogames. To this day, I am satisfied with the deal. Although I do have trouble knowing when the cat\u2019s litter box needs changing, on the bright side, I neither feel the tears rolling down my cheeks nor taste their bitter saltiness when I run out of \u2018continues\u2019 while playing \u2018Bonk\u2019s Adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early on in the reading of his list, you\u2019ll discover that Drew has, in recent years, \u201camassed a very impressive collection of toenail clippings. I proudly display them in zip-lock bags taped to the walls of my living room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell me you\u2019re not chuckling already; I\u00a0dare<\/b>\u00a0you!<\/p>\n

On the subject of comedy genes,\u00a0Libbi Manley Murray<\/b>, who is one of the wittiest women I have ever known, admits this in her list:\u00a0 \u201cI wish I had tried to be a stand-up comedian when I was younger.\u201d\u00a0 Libbi, you heard it here first:\u00a0 It\u2019s never too late to realize a dream, especially in your case.\u00a0 You have now a wealth of material that was unavailable to you in your youth.\u00a0 I\u2019m of the opinion that you\u2019d be an even more successful stand-up comedian now than you might have been at the age of 25, so go for it.\u00a0 If there isn\u2019t a comedy club in your neck of the woods, start one!<\/p>\n

The list written by\u00a0Regina Coleman Kampa<\/b>, another woman who missed her calling as a stand-up comic, contained items that were surely a surprise to some of her friends.\u00a0 I would recognize her singing voice anywhere, as she invariably greets me (whether telephonically or in person) with a rousing rendition of \u201cCara Mia,\u201d but I never would have guessed that she studied the piano for many years, and for almost as many years was a student in a local ballet school.\u00a0 Her love of crochet was not quite as shocking to some; however, the fact that she crochets as a relaxation technique must have shattered in her friends a few misconceptions about her, because she never appears anything but unruffled.<\/p>\n

Some lists are bloated with boasts.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a fine example:\u00a0 \u201cI learned the Heimlich maneuver from Heimlich himself.\u201d\u00a0 Well, my, my, my,\u00a0Anne-Marie Cottone<\/b>!\u00a0 Aren\u2019t\u00a0you<\/b>\u00a0proud of yourself!\u00a0 Get over it!\u00a0 I suppose you\u2019ll tell us next that Mark Spitz taught you how to swim.\u00a0 Or that you and Mother Teresa used to go bar-hopping together, but you showed her the error of her ways and she ended up on the fast track to canonization!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to say that I pay cash on the barrelhead for every purchase I make!\u201d brags\u00a0Mitchell Purdy \u201cStrumph\u201d Strumphenhoffel, Jr<\/b>.* in his list.\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t have anything to do with the fact (recently revealed by you) that you have applied for every credit card known to man but have been declined by all of them, would it, Strumph?\u00a0 On a wholly separate subject, though, we are relieved to learn that since your adoption of a gluten-free diet, your \u201cflatulence has abated considerably.\u201d\u00a0 Remind me to let you know when the old gang is getting together next.\u00a0 We\u2019ve missed your company at the last few dozen parties.\u00a0 Oh, you say you haven\u2019t been invited to a party since the Nixon presidency?\u00a0 Must have been an oversight.<\/p>\n

One friend, to whom I assigned the number three (simply because I was sure she had no more than one \u201csecret\u201d that she hasn\u2019t already shared with others), is a master of the obvious.\u00a0 \u201cI dye my hair,\u201d\u00a0Elizabeth \u201cBitsy\u201d Brannigan Boothby<\/b>* informed us as her Item #2.\u00a0 Oh, do tell, Bitsy!\u00a0 We\u00a0never<\/b>\u00a0would have guessed.\u00a0 Who would have thought that you weren\u2019t\u00a0born<\/b>\u00a0with those lavender locks, so chunkily highlighted in playful shades of magenta and plum?\u00a0(Note to self:\u00a0 Check list of friends on Facebook after this piece appears in print.\u00a0 Chances are good that I\u2019ll have been summarily \u201cunfriended\u201d by Bitsy.\u00a0 Who\u2019d blame her?)<\/i><\/p>\n

Defeated Tennessee\u2019s elusive\u00a0Lori Hugh<\/b>\u00a0is without question not a gal who is particularly fond of making lists\u2014not to mention employing proper spelling and punctuation\u2014but, over the course of our Facebook acquaintance, she has provided me and the rest of her followers with a plethora of little-known factoids about herself.\u00a0 \u201cWell, today ima go\u2019n to the Corbin Bernsen retrospective at the Defeated, Tennessee\u2019s movie theater? Ima sneak in some Little Debbies underneath my flesh folds. shh!\u201d\u00a0 Now, just in case that isn\u2019t enough to let us know that Lori has a thing for movies and Little Debbie snack foods, what follows proves it:\u00a0 \u201cWell, \u2018The Hunger Games?\u2019 Y’all got Little Debbie in the future? Cause if\u2019n ya don’t, I don’t want any part of it!\u201d\u00a0 Thank you, Lori.<\/p>\n

Many of you might ask yourselves who on God\u2019s green earth would want to share with mere cyberfriends any of the tidbits, real or imagined, mentioned above.\u00a0 Whose lives are so interesting that others would want to read about the minutiae therein?\u00a0 Still more of you might wonder who has the\u00a0time<\/b>\u00a0to write and\/or read list after list after list of others\u2019 personal frailties, foibles, quirks, and peccadilloes.\u00a0 In point of fact, the numbers stagger the mind.<\/p>\n

Consider this:Drew declared in his own list,\u201cI don\u2019t have time for foolish games! I do, however, take several minutes a day to listen to Jewel\u2019s hit single, \u2018Foolish Games.\u2019\u201dWe all have a few moments to spare each day for foolish games.\u00a0 (True, some of us have more time than others have.)\u00a0 Foolish games refresh and rejuvenate.\u00a0 But if I want to spend that time reading lists, Drew is one of the millions of list-makers whose composition is actually worth the time it takes to read it.\u00a0 Some people crochet to relax; I pick up something written by my son, sit down for a while, and relax in the laughter his words inevitably evoke.\u00a0 Write on, Drewbert; write on!<\/p>\n

*Name has been changed at individual\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

<\/b>By Cara Sheridan O\u2019Donnell<\/p>\n

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.<\/span>” mce_’ + path + ‘\\” + prefix + ‘:’ + addy52487 + ‘\\’>’+addy_text52487+'<\\\/a>’; \/\/–><\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2013, DPNLIVE \u2013 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letter from America. For all I know, this has been going on since Miley Cyrus twerked her way out of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-and-style","category-living-in-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9876,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9875\/revisions\/9876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}