Meandering Missive: Google "What You Need" meme

Friday, January 06, 2006

Google "What You Need" meme

I don't know if this meme has an actual name, so I took the liberty of giving it one. ;) It's almost as inane as the meme itself -- which is probably why I'm doing it. Inanity is my middle name! Oh wait, Jennifer is, according to my birth certificate! (heehee)

Anyway, over at Live Journal, where I have a user profile and pseudo-blog because many of my friends blog there and I can't comment in their blogs without an account, I came across this meme. It was written Dec. 18 in the blog of a gal named Natalie, whose I.D. is Brandnewpower54. I don't know her, but found her blog when I did a keyword search for Live Journal users who listed "oak trees" in the Interests portion of their profiles. More folks like oaks than I thought! :) If I had enough additional interests in common with these folks, I introduced myself either via a blog comment or via an email, if their address was available.

I commented in Natalie's blog that I liked this meme so much that I was going to try it myself, and I let her know how to find my Blogspot blog. I did try it, but I never actually blogged about it. Alas, life got in the way (holidays, out-of-town guests, me getting sick, etc.) and I plum forgot. HOWEVER, it's never too late to join in the fun!

Here's what you do. Go to everyone's favourite search engine, Google and type in your name, followed by the word needs. Put quotation marks around it to keep the results focused. For example, I typed the following: "Shari needs" and got a surprising amount of results, despite the relative rarity of this spelling. (Las Vegas Shari is apt to agree!) As you scroll through your results, copy and paste the first sentence of the first 15 different results, and comment briefly on each, if you wish. (If you don't want to do 15, do whatever you like, but at least 10 -- that way there's enough variety).

I emphasize different because you may end up with repetitious re-runs. For example, a gal named Shari Kurzrok of New York was in urgent need of a liver transplant last year, and lots of people quoted pretty much the same info about her on their various websites and blogs. So I didn't keep using that for my meme. The good news is that in August 2005, Shari got a new liver! :) Her blog hasn't been updated in months, but from what I can tell, she's doing OK. I hope she continues that way. I may even drop her a line! She sounds like a smart, generous and kind person who's done a lot of good for others, so hopefully that good is now coming back to HER! :)

And now, without further ado, here are my "Shari needs" (*grin*)

1. "Shari needs our help."
This was from a website raising awareness of organ donation and Shari Kurzrok's plight.

2. "Shari needs a complete liver."
Same as above.

3. "Shari's needs for protection and predictability have not been met."
That sounds like something a psychologist would say, if they were analyzing why I was dissatisfied with some facet of my life. *chuckle*

4. "Sleazy Shari needs to lay off of the lip liner."
LOL! Sometimes I may be breezy, but I'm definitely not sleazy. Also, I don't use lip liner, but I do admit to being addicted to yummy flavoured lip gloss!

5. "Shari needs to learn that respect is earned, not commanded."
I don't think this particular Shari has much in common with me. I know respect must be earned, and I have never been the type to command anything of anyone.

6. "Dan reveals why Shari needs a makeover."
I only know one Dan -- a friend of mine and husband of my friend Jenn -- but I know he'd never insinuate that any of his female friends needs a makeover!;) Especially if he knew what was good for him! (heehee) Then again, I *do* need to do something about my under-eye circles....

7. "Shari needs a 20' cable instead."
Instead of what? I could make a naughty joke about the length of things in inches vs. feet, but I won't. ;) Instead I'll make a more mundane comment, that I wish my new laptop had a longer battery life!

8. "Shari needs to come down from her mountain and join the rest of the not so righteous!"
This is another Shari who I probably don't have much in common with. I feel bad around self-righteous people, because they're generally not very open-minded. And they often have an "It's my way, or the highway" mindset. :( Not the type of person I'd want for a friend, even worse than the Shari in #5.

9. "Sandy and Shari need a variety of 'meaty' articles for this issue."
Back when I worked for the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, one of my co-workers was named Sandy, and she was an awesome person! So this brings to mind many good memories of working with Sandy.

10. "Shari needs to go buy more balls!"
I've never been very good at most sports, and never really enjoyed playing sports, so this one is funny! About the only sports I enjoy that involve balls are miniature golf, bowling and pool/billiards. I think the mini golf balls would be the least expensive, eh?

11. "Shari Perry said she had received a request to use the courtroom for the filming of two television commercials."
This and #13 are the most specific of all the results. I don't recall who Shari Perry is, or what the commercials were for, but her name certainly has an amusing rhyme to it! Of course, "Scary Shari" is a better rhyme. ;)

12. "Shari needs to see what her Lord would have her do."
I am spiritual, but not particularly religious, so I don't have much to say about this one, other than it does not describe my feelings.

13. "Shari needs to know the citizens of Oceanside are upset with these sorts of actions."
Like # 11, this one is interesting because it's so specific. (I forgot what Shari's faux pas was, though!) Also interesting is that Oceanside is in California, and I'm a CA native and have actually been there. It's a very nice town .It's pretty far away though; way down south between Los Angeles and San Diego.

14. "Shari needs to learn to trust was the message he sent."
The syntax of this sentence is a little awkward. It's paraphrasing what some man said about Shari; I think it would read better if he was actually quoted. "To learn to trust" also sounds kind of awkward. (Okay, I'll take my copy editor's cap off now! *grin*)

15. "As a witness, Shari needs protection."
Yikes! I hope this never applies to me. The idea of a witness needing protection sounds scary! The only thing I ever thought I'd have to serve as a witness for, would not have gotten me in trouble. It was for an accident in which a young mother of two crashed her pickup truck into a county bus. The accident was neither her fault nor the bus driver's, but rather was caused by something extremely slippery in the intersection where I, and then she, made left turns. I nearly lost control of my car! Fortunately, I salvaged the turn. Unfortunately, she didn't. She wasn't hurt, and one of her two kids only had a bruise. No one appeared hurt on the bus either. However, you never know if someone on the bus would later lie and try to squeeze money out of this poor woman. So, I wanted the police and the county transit supervisor to know it was not the woman's fault; as I experienced the same dangerous conditions the other woman did, and that there was NO way to have avoided it!

And there you have it -- the Google What You Need Meme! Feel free to re-name it if you use it. I hope at least someone else will try it -- it really makes for some amusing and interesting blogging!

Today I am feeling amused.

posted by ScaryShari @ 4:37 PM

1 Comments:

At 10:33 AM, Shari said…

Fun! I tried this variation once - looks like the Google results have changed enough that it might be worth another go. (Finger wiggles at you.)

P.S. Got your msg re Flickr/iStock - will be happy to poke around as soon as pre-midterm fever allows me to do so in a useful manner. :) I have four photos there now, but no bites yet. (Try Shutterstock.com, too!)

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