Random Challenge - 215-words about Why AVERAGE is AWESOME!

I'm pretty much average in practically every way. Pick nine random other people and line me up with them. Rank us on anything you like and I'll fall somewhere in the middle nearly every time.

Looks? Normal.
Height? Average for an American.
Weight? On the heavy side of average.
Brains? The smart side of the scale.
Funny? Just as much as that guy in the other cubicle.

I define normal. I am the yardstick of normal.

I am awesome!

Know why? I try not to measure myself against other people. I am not in competition with you, only with myself. If I am always trying to compete against what I perceive as your strengths I'll always fall short. But if am only in competition with myself, I control the whole system. That makes me awesome.

And since it’s me vs. me in everything . . . I win!

I am an average guy in a one-on-one battle against my average self only. This isn’t to say I don’t try to improve myself. I do. But I do not try to outdo you, only myself. I can never be as _______ as I think you are (never mind your faults that I’ve ignored) but I can be my best _______ and proudly.

I AM AWESOME!

Random Challenge - 215-words to Explain the Validity of Facebook to Grandpa

Well, it’s a way to keep in touch with friends and family without having to call them or visit.

No, not because we’re avoiding them or too lazy. We’re keeping in touch BETWEEN visits and calls. And besides, many of my Facebook friends aren’t people I want to call or visit.

Because they’re not that kind of friend. They aren’t my best friends, just the casual kind from high school that I’ve lost touch with. I can see what’s going on in their life and they can see what’s happening with me if they’re interested but we don’t have to bother each other about it.

I don’t know. Things like what books they’re reading, what they thought about a TV show, if they have the flu. Stuff like that.

Right. That’s what a status update is, the pointless stuff at the end of a dying conversation rather than the interesting or meaningful stuff.

Pretty much all it is, yeah.

No, if you join I won’t substitute Facebook for actual visits and phone calls. (Shoot. He’s not as senile as I thought!)

Now it’s your turn to - Explain the Validity of Facebook to Grandpa in 215 words or less . . .

Random Challenge - 215-words without using the word "THE"

One of my silliest feats was to complete this challenge of writing a 215 word passage without using English’s most common word. You can find that word listed as part of this challenge’s title. Really it isn’t a great accomplishment, and it hasn’t been particularly hard. I thought it would be. Truthfully, though, I think we use that word as a crutch of sorts. With a concerted effort, it seems any word is superfluous.

(Man! My thesaurus is getting a work out!)

I thought up this challenge with expectations of sky high difficulty since we use that word so much. And I have rewritten nearly every sentence you’re reading at least once to eliminate my challenge’s no-no word. In normal speak we say it approximately 5.5 times more often than English’s second most common word “I” and 11.8 times more often than “they” which is third on a list I found through Google. Astounding. Can you even tell it is missing from this whole stupid post?

For my next trick I will bore you to tears by omitting humor from my posts. That’ll teach you all a very valuable lesson – even laughs ain’t free.

Try this challenge for yourself. You’ll be unimpressed by how easy it is to work around that three-letter word. Try now!

Now it's your turn to write a 215-WORD THING WITHOUT USING THE WORD "THE" . . .