Howl

So I've been tagged for the "25 random things" meme. The title's pretty transparent: you publicize 25 random things about yourself, then invite other people to do the same. I have a (not so) secret, shameful fondness for memes, so you'd think I'd jump on this one, but in fact it leaves me cold. 25 random things? Not about me, friends. If you want to know something, just ask.

See, the whole attraction of a meme is that it's a little machine, a tiny apparatus that takes your useless input, turns it, tweaks it, and turns it into useless output! Something is demanded of you, and your response shapes, and is shaped by, the product. Kind of like filling out forms (another of my secret, shameful addictions, and the reason I don't mind doing my taxes as much as I should). There's a constant -the meme- and you supply the variability. And as in theme and variations, the tension between the constant and the variable is where the interest lies.

25 random things is just 25 random things. You supply both the question and the answer, so there's nothing constant, no interaction between input and output -just you nattering about yourself. That's not a machine; that's a wind tunnel.