Thanks for the Meme

Have I mentioned how much I hate Blogger tag games? Not so much for myself, since I don't mind providing the information, but for the others I'm supposed to then tag who may be less in the mood to play.

So I only do half a game. I'll respond if tagged. But I will NOT tag anyone else.

Tricia at Blogging Away Debt has tagged me for the 123 book meme. The rules are simple, especially if one is following only four of the five.

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Wouldn't you know it, the book I'm currently reading is entirely apropos to blogging.

I'm almost finished with Julie Powell's Julie & Julia, a book that had its genesis in a cooking blog.

Julie, nearly 30, working as a government secretary in NYC, married to her high school sweetheart, is bored. So she makes a pact with herself to try all of Julia Child's recipes from the 1961 two-volume opus Mastering The Art of French Cooking within one year. To chart her progress and keep herself "honest," she creates a blog that allows her readers to follow along.

As it turns out, there are some dishes that cannot be saved, even when they are French and even when made by Julia Child:

"I simply can't see Sam [Samuel Pepys of diary fame] making
gelee out of calves' feet for himself. For one thing, it
turns out, making gelee out of calves' feet makes your
kitchen smell like a tannery. The gelee also, in my
admittedly limited experience, tastes like a tannery."

Julie's blog readers weigh in on her every move. Her husband gamely eats whatever she puts in front of him (though occasionally opting to call Domino's Pizza afterwards). Her friends provide social context to young married life in NYC. Julie intersperses her narrative with riffs on the lives of Julia and Paul Child--interesting because Julia Child came late to cooking.

So the book has everything: blogs, obsession, failure, and something like redemption.

Kinda like most of our personal finance blogs, huh!