That Deserted Island

The 24/7 news reporting on the tragedy in Japan makes the possibility of being stranded on a deserted island more of either a possibility or a desirable thing! That said, I thought I would do a meme about things to bring to my isolation on a deserted island, just in case. Here's the challenge:

You have to spend a year in quarantine -- alone -- "they" will provide the following items for you: Food, Water, Toiletries and a Bible. Plus you have the Basics of Couch, Table/Chair, Bed/Bedding & Electricity for: Lights, Heat, Air, Cooking, Cleaning, Listening to Music and Watching Videos ONLY.

You have to pack your survival bag. You can bring...

2 CD's
3 Books
3 videos
1 project
1 article of luxury
1 item of comfort

And can request a years supply of your favorite "junk" food.

OK--so what do I bring. A year without a computer??? Oh my...already I’m going into withdrawal. But let’s get practical here.

2 CDs...

Well, obviously it would be a Steve Schalchlin CD and a John Denver CD. Those are constants in the car and I probably have listened to them over and over again for a year anyway, so why should my period of quarantine be any different. The trick would be choosing which of their CDs to bring, but probably one of the "Best of John Denver" CDs, since those are longer than others, and Steve's recording of himself singing the songs from The Last Session.

3 Books would be a bit trickier. At least "they" (whoever "they" are) would be providing me a Bible, which is a nice long book and will fill in the times when I am bored with the three books I’ve brought. I wouldn’t want to bring a real page-turner because I’d finish it too quickly.

Stephen Peithman, a friend of ours, once published "The Annotated Works of Edgar Allen Poe," and I think that would definitely be one of the chosen books. James Michner’s "The Source" would also be a good book. I’ve started it several times and never made it through to the end, though my mother loves it and has read it several times, so that seems to be a good recommendation (and during a year, I’m sure I could finally get it finished!). I think the last book would be Steinbeck’s "A Life in Letters," the collection of a lifetime of letters by John Steinbeck, which is a fascinating book. I could easily read that more than once (and have!). Or I might bring the impossibly long "Ladies of the Club," another recommendation of my mother's that I could never get into before.

As for Videos (or DVDs)...Well, "A Star is Born" would have to be there. Just because it’s a nice comforting movie to have with me. I think the other two would be "An Affair to Remember" and "Dave." Just because they’re all "comfortable" movies that I enjoy watching more than once and usually watch whenever they come along.

As for a project, since I obviously can’t have a computer, this gets a little tricky, but I think I’d pick scrapbooking. With no computer, no digital camera, and lots of time on my hands, perhaps I could finally finish putting all of the photos in scrapbooks. Of course "they" would have to pay for all the supplies, since one thing which is keeping me from finishing that project is the cost of supplies.

As for an article of luxury, I’m going to chose something weird--it would be a luxury for me to have some way to write. If I can have a computer, I choose that. If I can’t, I’ll choose a typewriter. If it has to be a manual typewriter, I’ll take that. If I can’t have a typewriter, I’ll have an endless supply of paper and pens. Writing is both work and a luxury for me.

Oh...and I get to choose a year's supply of my favorite junk food....Hmmm...what to choose... Well, donuts would get pretty stale after a few days, so I won't choose that. Same goes with any sort of drive-in junk food. I love chocolate, but I do get tired of it, believe it or not. So I guess I would choose either peanuts or peanut butter.