The Month of Living - Day 1

Oh what, you think just because I succeeded at something I'd stop there? Do you even know me? I have something entirely new planned!

This month, I am going to live.

Now that sounds easy enough. Just don't die, really. Easy success. One of the easiest successes you can possibly have. At the end of the week your coworker doesn't ask you, "So, did you die this week?" because you didn't! You did that correctly, even if everything else failed you. At least you didn't succeed at dying. You failed at that too. Wait.. I was going the other way with that. Yay! You succeeded at not dying!

I've been reading a book penned in the late 1880's called How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. You can get it free from project Gutenberg. It's a great whimsical read about how, as creatures of this earth, we are all given the same amount of time each day as another person. We are all given 24 hours. We cannot take more. They cannot be taken from us. When I wake up I have an entire day - and every day I wake up I will have that.

The key is to use it.

The author mad an example of the symphony. You can say you love music but do you really know everything there is? You don't have to be able to play - but do you know WHY the orchestra is organized like it is? Do you know WHY the architectural shape of the building was so important? The author says if you take time to learn this, suddenly the symphony comes alive. You can appreciate the sounds you hear from their mathmatically placed locations on the stage, you can go, "Aha! That is why they did that!" and you can really immerse yourself in the experience... and you can leave still not knowing how to play a damn note.

There are things I've always wanted to do. Things I've always wanted to learn. How to sing. How to dance. Politics. Philosphy. Creepy sci-fi tinfoil hat crap. I want to learn all of it. I'm going to live. I'm going to take the opportunity to do things I wouldn't normally do (this doesn't mean clubbing - yes I'm looking at you, slightly over eager friend)....

Like recently a friend of mine suggested going out at night to the cemetary and trying to conjure ghosts. Now, this is silly. This is weird. Nobody does this except 14 year old snotty teens and witches... so why the eff not? What's the worst that can happen? What's the best? At worst I bet I end up cold and shivering in some graveyard slightly disappointed. At best, I have a life experience.

Oddly enough, I am incredibly ill today so there isn't much 'outside' stuff I can do - but I believe I can still do indoor stuff. Things that would improve my life or give me experiences or help me live or at least, learn. So today I'm going to crack open a book or two on politics. It's something I've always wanted to know more about and I'll be a voting citizen next year so I should really understand what's going on around me in my ner country.

So here's month #2 - The Month of Living, under budget of course!