February 14, 2022

Alien abduction? Tell me more... 👽

MAYBE YOUR PLANET IS BETTER THAN MINE?

Happy Extraterrestrial Culture Day! If you are from another planet and reading this, please know that I would love to learn more about your way of life. I know all about human culture already and it is decidedly not my jam. I am definitely inter-planetary-curious.

Today is also Library Lovers’ Day and International Book Giving Day, so a pretty sweet double header for the readers.

I guess Valentine's Day can also have a mention. Want the secret to my happy coupledom with Boredwalk co-founder Matt? It's our shared contempt for everyone else. Except you, extraterrestrials; you can hang.

Dancing Alien

I want to party with this space friend, they seem like fun.

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Celebrating birthdays today:

• Social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman Frederick Douglass celebrated his birthday on February 14th! Douglass was believed to have been born in 1818, although his specific date of birth was not recorded. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

• Actress and singer Florence Henderson, born on this day in 1934! Henderson's career spanned six decades, appearing in game shows, sitcoms, and most famously that font of mid-century swellness The Brady Bunch.

• Actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer Simon Pegg, born this day in 1970! Mr. Pegg is perhaps best known for the titular role in horror comedy classic Shaun of the Dead, though he has also appeared in recent Star Trek and Star Wars films, cop comedy Hot Fuzz, recent Mission: Impossible sequels, and beloved British television shows Spaced and Doctor Who.

It was also on this day in 1859 that Oregon became the 33rd state and in 1912 that Arizona became the 48th state!

Lastly, it was on this day in 1931 that the original Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire was released.

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Alrighty! Scroll on down to learn more about fellow Boredwalk fan Mark W.! If you'd like to be featured in our Monday Q&A segment, reply to this email and let me know — especially since I don't have a new one for next Monday!

We'll be back in your inbox on Wednesday morning with links to fun distractions! If you're in a shopping mood, be sure to use the code YAY10 at checkout to save 10% on orders of $100 or more! Until next time...

Peace, love, and extraterrestrials,

Meredith

Mark is looking especially incognito in his Lurk Laugh Loathe tee!

1. What's your actual day job and what's your dream day job?

My day job is as a senior software developer for a large trades supply company. My dream job is gonna have to be that of a monk. It's the only job I can think of where people aren't supposed to talk to you for at least some of it. If only it wasn't for all that bothersome god business...

2. What's your biggest pet peeve?

Gate keeping in metal music. Get a grip, dude. Nobody gets to claim stewardship over a genre; not even the people who helped create it.

3. What keeps you up at night?

Insomnia and Mass Effect.

4. What's the most useful piece of advice you've ever received?

Don't sweat the small stuff, and everything is small stuff.

 5. If you could have any super power what would it be and why?

Gonna have to go with teleportation like some of the other folks who have been featured. I could get so much more sleep if I didn't have to make time for driving.

6. You can curse your nemesis with a minor annoyance for eternity; what do you choose?

Never being able to find a good place to park.

7. What experience do you most want to cross off your bucket list?

I want to move to a frozen island in the North Atlantic and be a hermit away from everyone.

8. Clear up a misconception (about your job, where you are from, some other topic you know a lot about).

A lot of people seem to think I want to hear their opinion on literally anything. This is in fact a deeply flawed mode of thinking.

9. What is a surprising fact about you?

I love people and have complete faith that humanity can transcend the madness that is now upon us. It's just the vast majority of individual humans for which I have no use or patience.

10. Where can the rest of the Boredwalk community find you?

Playing Mass Effect wherever Mass Effect is being played.