In comments to the visited states map Richard Mason propose a new time-wasting challenge: Recount a one-sentence anecdote for each state you've visited. Actually the anecdotes are verb phrases. And I am not constraining myself to make these anecdotes interesting. If you are aware of a more interesting anecdote involving me from that state, keep in mind that I'm trying to do this pretty quickly. Also, many of these states were visited while moving across the country.
Here goes:
California: visited Disneyland, which I barely remember
Connecticut: listened for a long time to a skipping CD in the next room, creating a surreal effect as it shifted back and forth between tracks
Washington, DC: parked legally right in front of my friend's apartment building in Adams Morgan
Delaware: listened to a white gospel group on a radio station broadcasting out of Elkton, MD (if this did not take place in Delaware, replace with "got stuck in traffic")
Florida: learned of Fametracker from my brother after pointing out a sign for J.T. Walsh Real Estate
Georgia: walked a mile or two to eat lunch at a food court that sold pig knuckles
Idaho: was photographed with a fellow philosopher in a way that made me look much drunker than I in fact was
Illinois: failed to meet Ben Wolfson, Adam Kotsko, and Ogged, but attended an excellent concert marking the AACM's 40th anniversary
Indiana: called from the congested turnpike to arrange to pick up some belongings for a friend in Tinley Park, IL
Iowa: drove a few hundred yards off I-80 to get a hamburger
Maine: for the first time, drove on roads where the speed limit was 65
Maryland: grossed out a fellow performer by pouring much water into my trombone and emptying the spit valve at the end of the piece
Massachusetts: imposed myself on a friend for several hours before finding my key in a recess of my pocket
Michigan: was caught in driving snow after helping a friend buy a component for her car stereo
Minnesota: attended a wedding reception in an aquarium
Missouri: saw a lot of signs for the Precious Moments Chapel
Nebraska: bought a postcard in North Platte to send to a friend who had spent several days there with her mother and two cats, involuntarily
New Hampshire: drove through on the same trip I drive through Maine, presumably
New Jersey: discussed with another epistemologist whether there is chocolate cake in heaven
New York: on Memorial Day, wandered around deserted downtown Syracuse with several friends from Pittsburgh
North Carolina: was upbraided for ordering Rolling Rock when not in Pittsburgh
Ohio: played with laptop pachinko-style pinball machines in attic of cousins' house
Oklahoma: was stuck by the side of the interstate, and then in a rest stop, for about five hours when the U-Haul threw tread off a tire
Pennsylvania: was born 'n'at
Rhode Island: tried to make contact with a high school classmate while (temporally) between trains
Texas: reached perhaps the highest point in Lubbock, on an overpass
Utah: finished 1982 Janine sitting in Temple Plaza
Vermont: ate superb ice cream at a dairy
Virginia: visited colonial Williamsburg, as I vaguely remember
Washington: rented a car in Spokane and drove to Pullman on a two-lane highway
West Virginia: took a boat on a lake with family friends
Wisconsin: helped a family with a U-Haul find the dropoff point, so we could get their truck after U-Haul had refused to honor my reservation
Wyoming: drove up through the high plains in a lashing thunderstorm
Somehow these remind me of something from Life: A User's Manual, though surely not as good. To make this an internet meme thingy, I suppose I should tag three people with it. So: apostropher, Ben Wolfson, Jackmormon, you're it.
[UPDATE: whoops, skipped Virginia]
Posted by Matt Weiner at March 14, 2006 07:42 PMWhat did you think of 1982 Janine?
Posted by: ben wolfson at March 14, 2006 07:56 PMI think I like this better than the stupid map thingy.
Posted by: bitchphd at March 14, 2006 08:14 PMThis is such a great idea. It should win a Memey. No, wait, the idea of a Memey Award itself should win a Memey.
Posted by: Richard Mason at March 14, 2006 10:34 PMOh! Okay, this is a much better meme than more of the ones I've seen floating around. Give me a few.
Posted by: Jackmormon at March 14, 2006 11:19 PMHey, I like this one - I may post to LJ. I've visited a lot fewer states than you however.
Posted by: Julie at March 15, 2006 12:04 AMEveryone should feel free to do it even if not tagged (I think that goes without saying for memes, but at least it has been said). bphd, thought of tagging you but wasn't sure about the anonymity.
Ben, I thought it was very good; actually I've like all his novels I've read except A History Maker.
Posted by: Matt Weiner at March 15, 2006 06:55 AMI should tag three people with it. So: apostropher
Posted by: apostropher at March 15, 2006 07:01 AMMatt, in Delaware you: Visited the remains of DuPont's early explosives manufacture at Winterthur, but did not enter the famous mansion.
Posted by: Matt's mom at March 16, 2006 01:45 PMI don't remember that at all. Were the remains scattered over a very large area, or did the explosives manufacture just get abandoned?
Posted by: Matt Weiner at March 16, 2006 03:30 PMThis is one of those moments where you really wish you still had your own blog to take care of this business on ...
Alabama: competed in a science fair, and ate grits for the first (but not the last) time.
California: got lost in a cave, and thought I was going to die there.
Connecticut: bet my entire $700 “Dissertation Fellowship” check on a single hand of Pai-gow P______ [game cannot be named for spam-control reasons, apparently].
Florida: realized that manatees are very, very, very slow.
Hawaii: ate a baked chicken while watching a volcano erupt.
Illinois: went to college, in spite of myself.
Indiana: got drunk on a train to Chicago with a good friend, to the delight of several innocent and impressionable passengers.
Maryland: parked my car in some commuter lot, after driving all night, in the early morning before an anti-war rally in DC.
Massachusetts: saw the best sculpture of our day, at the MIT museum.
Michigan: here is something you can’t understand – how I could just be born and raised in Michigan.
Missouri: told a friend’s great-uncle, at her graduation party, that the US should not have dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, which enraged him (having fought in the Pacific).
New Hampshire: drove through the White Mountains in the middle of the night, talking philosophy, on the way to a conference in Quebec.
New Jersey: picked up my bags on New Years Eve, before driving up the turnpike to Providence, for no other reason than to get as far away from the APA Eastern Division Meeting as possible.
New Mexico: drank Shiner Bock for the first (but not the last) time, and ate some damn good enchiladas.
New York: realized that art is everything.
North Carolina: speared flounder at 5 am, fried and ate it at 6.
Ohio: picked up cheap cartons of cigarettes; then drove back to Michigan.
Oregon: ate an incredible meal of shrimp-and-crab-cake Benedict.
Pennsylvania: flirted with a woman my father later (drunkenly, and correctly) disparaged as “boring” (to put it politely).
Rhode Island: ate four lobsters in one sitting, granted PhD as a result (or was it mere constant conjunction?).
Tennessee: got within sight of the Appalachian Trial, but turned back due to a sudden snowfall.
Texas: got respect and credit for my work for the first time.
Vermont: watched as no one, on the bus from Montreal to Boston, claimed a bag that border police were suspicious of.
Wisconsin: denied a request, of Steve Albini’s, to dance less vigorously at a Shellac show.
I'm a little sad that my list is so short ... can we do European nations next?
Posted by: Allan at March 20, 2006 02:31 AMPainstaking research shows that the powder mill was started in 1802 and abandoned in 1921. I remember it as exhibits strung out along a canal, but apparently it was the Brandywine River:
http://www.state.de.us/sos/dpa/markers/ncc/DuPONT%20POWDER%20MILLS%20NC-60.shtml