Tales of the Golem; or, the Modern Epimetheus

Outbreak

I created my first Internet memetic virus, which is, "Recount a one-line anecdote for each state you have visited [and then demand that others do the same]."

Here's my own attempt to fulfil the meme:
Arizona: picked up Hopi radio station in vicinity of Grand Canyon
California: had best line in a crummy low-budget movie
Connecticut: discovered that campus legends about Yale buildings are eerily similar to campus legends about Harvard buildings
District of Columbia: found Supreme Court clerks are uncertain of how to get from Pentagon to Supreme Court
Florida: trapped in Orlando airport for eighteen hours
Georgia: crossed racial barriers by getting haircut in black-clienteled barbershop
Hawaii: drove a rented convertible into a ditch twice in 24 hours
Illinois: got married in a Catholic church
Kansas: saw numerous signs regarding tornado danger and tornado shelters
Kentucky: sought out "Thomas Edison House"... where Thomas Edison lived for about a year
Louisiana: saw a bearded transvestite in a bar
Maine: have vague memories of driving tours with family
Massachusetts: demonstrated that Avogadro's number is about 7 * 10^23
Michigan: accidentally given vast Presidential suite by Detroit Marriot, politely ignored daily efforts by hotel computer to check me out again
Minnesota: played miniature golf course at modern art museum, each hole an "installation" by different artist
Missouri: from top of Gateway Arch, observed that large former TWA building still said "TWA" on it
Nevada: failed to win $2 million when robot truck crashed after 22 miles due to software bug
New Hampshire: rented a minivan in Manchester to transport a bunch of undergrads to Boston
New Jersey: got sunburned at beach
New Mexico: drove through the most torrential rain I have ever witnessed
New York: went to jujitsu tournament
North Carolina: had some pizza in Chapel Hill
Ohio: listened to Triumph the insult comic dog on radio while unsuccessfully looking for Wright brothers' birthplace
Oregon: bought great Robert Graves short story collection at Powell's, giant used bookstore
Pennsylvania: flew across country to give talks there four times; on two occasions, actually got to give talk
Rhode Island: had clambake
Tennessee: had some barbecue in Nashville
Texas: inspired mime teacher who adapted my piece into his own routine
Utah: won BYU trivia tournament organized by Ken Jennings, future Jeopardy superstar
Virginia: got lost on an Army base
Washington: escaped being prankishly thrown off the side of a boat because I was wearing my Microsoft employee badge

Matt Weiner helped me inject the virus into his readership. It appears to be reasonably infectious! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9a 9b 10 11 12 13 14 15 It's interesting that it has already started to mutate a little bit.

But this meme needs to be spread further! So everyone who reads this blog is required to tell an anecdote for every state they've visited. And don't forget to make some other people do it too... That's very important.

posted by Richard Mason @ Sunday, March 19, 2006