The Monday Mashup is an experiment, designed to get my creative juices flowing. I get a random word and a random number, and I write a list based on that mashup.
This week’s mashup: Six Fares
This photo is here not because it relates to fares but because I think it’s lovely.
1. Farmgirl Fare
A fun side-effect of doing the Monday Mashups is discovering new sites or people. Perusing the interwebs’ myriad options for “fare” brought me to Farmgirl Fare, a blog that captured me with its daily “doses of cute” via photos of the animals that inhabit the farmland with the blog’s author. And then I read the author’s bio blurb, and was even more fascinated. Here’s what she says:
When I was 26, I sold my little bakery cafe, packed up 200 boxes of books & antiques, & waved goodbye to my native California. Armed with a very basic knowledge of gardening, an overenthusiastic sense of adventure, & lots of naivete, I ended up on a 280-acre, 140-year-old farm in the middle of nowhere. I became cook, gardener, shepherd, farmhand, vet, surrogate mom, wildlife expert, sheep midwife & animal undertaker. My prep school education & graphic design background were useless.
I love a good tale of self-reinvention. Visit the site if for no other reason than the lambs are completely adorable.
2. FareStart
Taglined “Great Food. Better Lives”, the Seattle organization known as FareStart is helping people through food. It offers culinary training alongside life skills training and employment assistance for homeless and disadvantaged individuals. Plus, FareStart supplies meals to homeless shelters and childcare centers in the Seattle area 365 days a year. Food as a catalyst for change. I like it.
3. Farewell
“Let’s not unman each other – part at once; / All farewells should be sudden, when forever, / Else they make an eternity of moments, / And clog the last sad sands of life with tears.” –Lord Byron (achingly true and beautiful)
4. The How Are You Faring Project
Since asking “How do you fare?” is synonymous with “How are you doing,” I thought this entry fit. The How Are You Doing Project, part audio art project and part fascination with other people’s lives (from the mundane to the funny to the heartwrenching), provides a toll-free number to call and answer that one question: How are you doing? The responses are recorded and displayed anonymously on the website, creating an audio mosaic of experiences and thoughts. The last update was Thanksgiving weekend; I hope this project continues.
5. Because where else online are seafarers going to hang out?
Did you know that there is a social networking site specifically for Seafarers? Yeah, there totally is. It’s called MyShip. It even has its own “Shipspedia.” I love the internet.
6. Busfare
I like looking up words in the Urban Dictionary. It’s like a wikipedia of slang. Turns out that someone uses “busfare” as a synonym for “Oh, that sucks,” or “Bummer.” The busfare entry says, “Used to describe sumthing that is really shady or bad… made up by abran one nite when he kept saying that he needed busfare for his ride home[.]” So if I said, “Damnit, my mouse button isn’t working and it’s taking twice as long to get this post published because of it,” an appropriate response could be, “Dude. Busfare.” I’m highly amused by this, and plan to use this newfound phrase liberally in conversation.
The fact that no one except for a couple of Urban Dictionary users will understand what I mean? Busfare, man.
Your turn!
How do you fare today? What fares come to mind for you?
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I’m Marissa, can-do-ologist, perpetual Curious George, and daily adventurer. 
