High five

In his Monday post, Mark mentioned five blogs he reads that share the common trait of making him think.  Mine was one of them.  He offers, at the end of the post, for those selected to do the same.

OK, here are my picks.  The only rule I've set myself is that I'm not going to repeat any he mentioned.  These are all worth checking out if you haven't already.

In no particular order:

Paul at Aurora Walking Vacation lives, appropriately, in Aurora, Ontario, a stone's throw from Toronto, soul-sucking centre of the known universe. He regularly posts very well thought-out skeptical rants that cast light on ill-conceived, poorly substantiated, and sometimes confusingly popular notions and practices.  (Sometimes mercilessly, though he's really a very nice man.) The scientific method is an unbiased tool, and he wields it with a pretty steady hand.  Homeopathy and astrology are favourite targets.  As is the existence of a God, though he and I differ slightly on that one. This is bafflingly complemented by junior-high quality internet memes and quizzes like "Which Pirates of the Caribbean Character are YOU?"  There are sporadic updates on family life involving a monstrous dog, a teenage son, and a wife who insisted they buy a futon for the ONE NIGHT I spent at their house a couple years ago.  My only real criticism is that he chooses to blog at an AOL Journal.

Émilie is at Émilie Online. Family life in La Belle Provence, and all that. She has an adorable baby boy and a swell husband. I've met all three. What stupefies me about her blog is that regardless of the length of her posts, she does each in English AND French, and it's not like there's a babelfish doing the translating for her. Ye gods! (Go ahead, click the "Francais" link at the top of one of her English posts. Her bilingual fluency makes me positively sick!)

Marian just (like a couple weeks ago) started up her new blog called Choose Again. It focuses on thought-provoking introspection filtered through her learnings drawn from A Course In Miracles. (I have the book of The Course - sent to me by her - sitting on my night stand, and it's getting harder and harder not to pick up.)  I loved her last blog, and the intervening months of her silence were hard to take. Her family and personal wisdom is something I've come to value highly.

Gordon is the preacher behind Real Live Preacher. A baptist minister in San Antonio, Texas. If ever there was a church I'd willingly attend, it's his.  (They have bongo drums!) This is religion - spiritual community - without the trappings and affectations.  Not a holy man up on a dais preaching the Way, the Truth, and the Life to a herd of bleating sheep, but simply another man in amongst the crowd of wondering humanity who states his questions and observations with a simple eloquence and a humility that awes me.

Amy is my wife.  You'd think I included her site here out of marital obligation, but that's just not the case.  She started up Shake It Off very recently, and for me it's a previously unknown and semi-terrifyingly intriguing look into various parts of her mind that have, until now, been mostly silent.  We are blessed with a wonderfully communicative marriage (and a tendency to smack each other's bum at inopportune times -- don't think those two aren't related), but she is a worldlier woman than I'll ever be (*ahem*), and the opportunity to learn more from her in this funky medium is, mathematically speaking, Funktastic raised to the power of Sexy squared!

OPP = (Fun)^Sexy2

*****

If you want to do the same sort of thing, go right ahead.

Comments

[marian]

Thanks Si. I think today's post will probably freak people out, but I'm aiming for total honesty about my process, so there you have it.

Now I'll go check out the other four!

[Amy]

Well, I am honored. I do think that was an obligatory vote though. I think you owe a HUGE apology to Mark for not putting him in the spot you gave me. His blog is way more interesting than mine. ( a little hot under the collar Si?)

[Émilie B]

I raised my eyebrows when I saw my name on there (isn't it supposed to be blogs that make you think?) and then went 'lol' when I got to "Provence". Ah, life in France...

And now you've gone and exposed my attempt at converting the masses to bilingualism! Like a devout manse in a new land, bible in hand... except, you know, this is virtual ground and all I got's a keyboard.

Still, I'm honoured. I usually resist chain-email things, but I think I might go ahead with this little exercise - even without the threat of great misfortunes over my head.

[Mark]

No prob, Ames (I hope people call you that sometimes. If not, then just ignore it and roll your eyes or something appropriately dismissive and disapproving). I didn't include the guy who nominated me, because I figured it went without saying that the feeling was mutual.

Your blog makes me think. How can it not when you come out and ask direct questions?

[Paul]

Oh, dear me! And here I am getting a job, and slacking off on the whole blogging thing. Also, AOHell has censored me (again), and deleted the hemeopathy post I recently referred back to. Someone couldn't take the light.

[Paul]

I just wanted to add that, if I am not mistaken, you are still the only person to have ever slept on that futon.