Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!

by Kathy on September 19, 2011 · 19 comments

in ALI Community, Background, Blog Hops, Life, Memories, Time, Time Warp Tuesdays, Writing

It’s just a jump to the left and then a step to the right. Put your hands on your hips…

Okay, maybe not exactly *that* kind of time warp.

When I was in college at the University of Illinois one of the local bars had a theme night every week called “Time Warp Tuesday.” My friends and I were regulars and we would go there to socialize, have a few drinks and sing along to our favorite tunes that the DJ would play from the 1980’s. We each had “our song” and we would get very excited when it came on.

My song was “Cool it Now” by New Edition and I could (and still can) sing/rap almost every word to the song! I even won a trivia contest there one night for being able to name four of the five last names of the members of New Edition (I knew Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, Mike Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe, but didn’t know that Ralph’s last name was Tresvant). At some point during the evening the DJ would play “Time Warp” (the theme from the Rocky Horror Picture Show) and then near closing time, just before 1:00 a.m., they would play “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, usually followed by the theme from The Greatest American Hero television show “Believe it or Not” (remember that?).

I knew so many people that went to “Time Warp” every week, that often on Tuesdays when I had a lot of school work to get done, I would study down the block at a coffee shop and then around 11:00 p.m. I would head over to the bar by myself, with my backpack on and “do a lap.” I would stay as long as I saw people I knew and wanted to visit with, which often would last me until close (two hours later). It’s funny to reflect on this now, as these days I am usually in bed between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. and asleep by 11:00 p.m. at the latest. Except for now and then when I give in to my natural tendency to be a night owl.

Anyway, I was in the shower the other day, where I do some of my best thinking, and I had this idea for a “blog hop.” I have really enjoyed participating in a handful of blog hops over the years. Two of my favorites, each of which helped to inspire me to do this in their own way, are: Lori’s Perfect Moment Mondays (originally a weekly event, that went on hiatus this summer and will be returning on a monthly basis September 25th) and Mel’s Blogger Bingo (which I actually won the first round of back in September 2009). I have contemplated trying to host a blog hop in the past, but never felt like I had a worthy concept until now. This is my first go at it, so please bear with me and let me know if you have any feedback as I get this rolling. I will do my best to explain it here and I would LOVE for any and all of you to participate when I kick it off one week from today.

I decided to use the title Time Warp Tuesday for this blog hop, inspired by that nostalgic event from my college days. Every week I will share a topic, theme or question and you will have one week to browse through your old posts and find one that you think relates to it.

The idea is to revisit and share some of our favorite blog entries from our archives and reflect on our journeys since we wrote them.

So after you choose one of your old blog entries, write a new post in which you introduce the topic and your old post, link to your old post and write about how your situation and/or perspective may have changed since then. As participants in the blog hop, after you write your post and link up here, I encourage you to click through to read and comment on other’s posts (both the new blog entries and the older ones that the other bloggers chose to link to).

My hope and intention in doing this is to help us all to realize how far we have come over the course of our blogging journeys (whether you have been writing online for 4 months, 4 years or more). I see it as a way to give us ideas and inspiration for new posts (in the spirit of Prompt-ly), as well as to encourage us to visit and comment more on other’s blogs while continuing to build and strengthen our community.

You do not need to be an Adoption, Loss and/or Infertility (ALI) blogger to participate in this blog hop. You also do not have to participate every week to do this. You are welcome to join in this blog hop as often as you like, whether you post weekly or now and then.

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The topic for next week is: WAITING

Look for a blog entry in your archives where you wrote about a time in your life when you were waiting. Maybe you were waiting for some news or important test results, or maybe you were waiting for something to happen that you were hoping would take place. Then write a new post on your blog about what has happened in your life since you wrote that blog entry.

You can write about whatever you want in your new blog entry. However, if you need some help and inspiration to get started, here are some questions to consider:

How did things turn out for you? Did you get the news or results that you were hoping for? How has your perspective changed since the day you wrote that original post? Do you think you would still feel the same way now if you were writing it today? What have you learned about having to wait for things in your life since you wrote your original post?

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To recap:

1) Browse through your old blog entries to find one that fits this topic.

2) Write a new blog post in which you introduce, link to and then reflect on your journey since you wrote the older blog post and put it up on your blog next Tuesday (September 27). Please include this link http://chicagobensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Time%20Warp%20Tuesdays in your blog entry, so your readers can find their way to my post with the list of other participants, in case they would like to read more or participate themselves.

3) Share the link to your new post here (on my post next Tuesday, I will either be using a linking program or you can share the link in a comment) and then visit, read and comment on the other blogs that also link up here.

4) After you have done all of these things, you are welcome to grab the code for the the Time Warp Tuesday button by clicking here and put it on your blog. The link will take you to a Google Doc where you can copy the code. If your browser does not allow access to your computer’s clipboard, you can use Ctrl-C for Copy and Ctrl-V for Paste, or use your browser’s Edit menu.

5) Check back here every Tuesday to find out the topic, theme or question for the following week (I welcome your ideas and suggestions) and then return to Step 1 of this recap.

Have a great week! Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you back here next Tuesday when we’ll “do the time warp!”

{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Kir September 20, 2011 at 6:13 am

Oooh I like tbis idea very much!!!! I will start looking for my "WAITING" posts!!!!

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2 Lollipop Goldstein September 20, 2011 at 7:40 am

This is such a cool idea. At first, I was wracking my brain to try to think up a time I was waiting, and then I realized that if you use the search bar on your blog, or you google like this:

site:http://stirrup-queens.com waiting

It will bring up all entries where waiting is mentioned. Didn't know if others knew that googling trick.

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3 HereWeGoAJen September 20, 2011 at 8:01 am

What a good idea!

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4 Lollipop Goldstein September 20, 2011 at 8:29 am

I'm ready to go: found my old post and wrote my new one. It was fun to revisit that story. It's for Tuesday, the 27th, right?

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5 Kathy September 20, 2011 at 8:36 am

Kir – I am glad that you like the idea and are looking for your "waiting" posts! Can't wait to see what you find and share!

Mel – I am glad that you think this idea is cool too and thanks for sharing the tip about searching on our blogs or Googling the topic! That's awesome you found an old post and wrote your new one already! It is fun to revisit and yes, it is Tuesday, the 27th, not the 26th (I got mixed up w/ the dates and just edited the post to read correctly now).

Jen – Thanks! I hope you will join in! 🙂

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6 Lavender Luz September 20, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Great idea! Putting on my remembering cap…

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7 Kathy September 20, 2011 at 2:06 pm

Thanks Lori! I look forward to seeing what you come up with! 🙂

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8 Knock knock - it's cancer! September 20, 2011 at 10:01 pm

Hmmm… I wonder if that would work with mine? All the waiting for tests…yuck, who wants to re-read all that? LOL.

I'll see if there is something more 'benign' – pardon the pun.

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9 Jjiraffe September 21, 2011 at 12:29 am

Can't wait! And thanks Mel for that tip.

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10 Suzy, Not a Fertile Myrtle September 21, 2011 at 6:47 am

This is such a fantastic idea! I can't wait to do this.

Bravo!

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11 Elphaba September 21, 2011 at 7:29 am

Cool idea!

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12 Keiko September 21, 2011 at 9:22 am

To clarify, does my Waiting post have to go up next Tuesday, or can I post it on my own earlier and then leave the link next Tuesday?

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13 ~Jess September 21, 2011 at 11:01 am

Sounds like a great idea!

ICLW
Jess
Life in the White House

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14 Kathy September 21, 2011 at 12:35 pm

Michelle – Very punny! 😉 I would love for you to participate! I am sure you have plenty of posts to choose from, as you certainly have done more than your fair share of waiting this year. I appreciate that many of your posts may be painful to revisit though, so I certainly understand whatever you decide. It would be so fun to have you be a part of Time Warp though. It might be a fun way to get your mind off other things… xoxo

Jjraffe – Yay! Me too! Mel is so awesome like that! 🙂

Suzy – Thank you! I am so excited that you are in too! 🙂

Elphaba – Thanks! I would love for you to join in too! 🙂

Keiko – Yes, I would like for the post to go up sometime on Tuesday, but not before and then you can come over and link up here. So glad you are in! Can't wait to see what you write! Thanks for tweeting about this too! 🙂

Jess – Thanks and Happy ICLW to you! I would love for you to participate in Time Warp too! 🙂

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15 Deborah September 21, 2011 at 1:38 pm

Here from ICLW – I have never participated in a blog hop, but I think it would be fun. So waiting is for next Tuesday? I don't remember writing much about waiting, but maybe I'll find something I forgot about. That's the idea, I guess. 🙂

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16 mommyodyssey September 21, 2011 at 2:25 pm

As a former RHPS cast manager (yes! I actually did that!) I already love this blog hop just from the title. Looking forward to taking part in it!

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17 Kathy September 23, 2011 at 9:00 am

Deborah – Welcome! I do hope that you will participate. Blog hops are a fun way to visit with and get to know other blog/bloggers. I enjoy that typically w/ blog hops the participants are all posting about the same or similar topics. Yes, waiting is the theme for this coming Tuesday. Hope to see you back here on Tuesday for Time Warp, if not before! 🙂

Mo – That’s so cool that you were a RHPS cast manager! Excited that you plan to participate in the blog hop too! 🙂

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18 JustHeather September 27, 2011 at 1:12 pm

I love love love RHPS!! It's been years since I've seen it and even more so, someone who would want to see it with me. I may have to coerce some friends in the near future. *big grin*

I've thought of doing blog hops, but never actually done one. I'm game for this! I've even found my "old post" and started composing a new on in my head.

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19 Kathy September 27, 2011 at 2:56 pm

JustHeather – Awesome! I would love to go see RHPS w/ you if we lived anywhere near each other. I am in Chicago! How about you? 🙂

So glad that you are in! I saw that you linked up, so I am heading over to read and comment on your posts. I hope you enjoy this blog hop as much as I am. So excited to have you "doing the Time Warp" with us! 🙂

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