Day 17: Eat Nothing but Asparagus

"Eat nothing but asparagus today to ascertain just how noxious your pee can get."

I hate asparagus, first of all. I have only tried it once and it was disgusting. Maybe it is about time I tried it again, because that was a couple years ago...but, ugh. It was bad. But also, how the heck can you just eat asparagus all day? We don't have any asparagus just lying around the house, so it's not like I could pack it for lunch or anything, and if I did and that was all I ate the entire day, my gag reflex would probably be activated so many times that my throat would be turned inside-out. That's not a very pretty image, but that's what I'm thinking would happen.

I tried to search online for other things that can make your pee smell/turn colors (let me tell you, I found some very interesting websites) and the only other thing was beets. Or blackberries, but only for certain people. I thought those were just about as unpractical to eat all day as the asparagus, so, it just wasn't going to work out. Brittany and I decided to just eat from one food group all day instead, and we picked fruit.

My breakfast: cereal (Yep, I already cheated.)
My lunch: grapes, peach yogurt (another cheat), whole wheat banana chips (another), and like, 3 bites of a plum
My dinner: hushpuppies, caesar salad, boiled shrimp (cheat cheat cheat)

Conclusion: My efforts on today's task sucked. Hopefully you (meaning Brittany) didn't go all-out on this one because then I'll feel like less of a slacker.

Day 16: Flippin' the Bird Day

Our task today was to "discreetly give people the finger all day." Once again, I kind of forgot about it in the morning, so I started the task in Oceanography class. My most used technique of the entire day was when I had my head resting on my chin in class, I would leave just my middle finger up on the side of my face. I caught a girl looking at me once, but I don't think she even noticed it. I would also fake scratch my face or rub my eye or push my bangs out of the way with my middle finger too.

Once I got home my sister and I were watching TV and something came up in a commercial and I was like, "Look!" and I pointed with my middle finger, but she didn't even notice. I hate it when teachers use their middle fingers to point at something on the board, or at a problem in the book. It's like...why not just use your pointer finger? Isn't that why they named it the pointer finger, so it could point?? I also used my middle finger while doing stuff at work, like when showing the desert tray, I would point to the desert with my middle finger and say, "This is the sugar-free chocolate cake, this is the cherry pie...." but of course no one would notice that because people point with their middle finger anyways. I would also leave my hands in my apron when I had nothing to do, and I would stand there with just my middle finger sticking out of the pocket of my apron while the rest were inside the pocket. It felt wrong flipping off the old people though, so I didn't do it too much. I kinda wish someone had seen me doing it today and they approached me about it because I would have blatantly lied to them and just acted clueless like I had done nothing. I really wanted that to happen actually.

Day 16: Discreetly Give the Finger All Day

This one was kind of fun, but not as fun as I thought it would be. I put on my mascara with my middle fingers up, as well as driving, flipping pages in my books, holding my lunch box, eating my sandwich, putting things in my bookbag, opening my locker, etc, etc. It was kind of liberating, like I was doing something bad and no one knew, but I guess that was the problem- no one noticed! So it got old pretty quickly. I did it anyways though. I'm getting worried worried worried about tomorrow's task and how I'm supposed to do it... I guess you'll find out about that tomorrow after I've figured it out, wont you?

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Now playing on iTunes: Guster - Careful
via FoxyTunes

Day 15: Gay Day

Today our task was to be gay. Or straight if you're gay, but for me it would be gay. Anyways...so, I thought if I was really going to get into it I would wear something a little more masculine than normal, maybe not wear any makeup, and just look a lot less feminine than I usually do. That was my first goal. At 6:30 in the morning when I'm getting dressed however, I'm not thinking of today's task. So of course, this morning I totally forgot about being gay...and I wore a "little black dress" with a pink cardigan and metallic flats. That's even more feminine than I usually dress, so not only did I take a step backwards, I took like...5 backwards. Oh well, once I remembered my task for the day I just thought I would make up for it in my actions.

So, in Calc I was looking at girls and, trying to see them...in that way. And, it was just really weird and I couldn't even do it. I'm not saying I have anything against gay people, I personally just could not look at another woman in a romantic kind of way without feeling totally repulsed, because...I'm just not attracted to people of my same gender. Believe me, I tried, and, it was just...bad. I didn't even get as far as like, flirting or anything, and to be honest I really didn't think I would because I just could not bring myself to do that when I'm not even attracted to them. And it would just be weird. I mean...just thinking about being gay is one thing, but actually BEING gay is another. I wonder how far some people have taken this one. Or I wonder what bisexual people would do. That would be like a day off for them I guess because it would be like any other day...

Day 15: Gay Day

Today we had to be gay for a day. And if you're gay you're supposed to be straight. But as I'm straight, I was supposed to pretend to be gay. Their suggestions were wayyy too over the top, especially for school- they ended the day with some gay sex!
So as you might guess, I tried to modify this. I decided to abstain from thinking about boys or how cute this or that boy is or whatever.
And I actually had a lot of trouble with this! Which surprised me, because I'm not a particularly boy-crazy girl. And there arent a lot of cute boys at my school/in my classes. But somehow I found myself thinking "he is so cute!" "look at his hair..." "aww! his smile is adorable." etc, etc.
And then in art class Mia cut out a picture of heath ledger and I seriously went nuts (he is my absolute favorite, I have the biggest crush on him. I am breaking gay day right now just thinking about him) So I stole it from her and it was a big ordeal because apparently she likes him as well and she almost started to cry (probably faking. but I didnt give in, I kept him) and now he is hanging up in my car.
Gay day was not a success.

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Now playing on iTunes: The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
via FoxyTunes

Day 14: A Day of Compliments

Today we are supposed to flatter people and see if it gets us anywhere.

Ok, so...I didn't really hold up my promise. I kind of totally forgot about complimenting people today, but fortunately I do it a lot anyways because I think it's a good conversation starter (pretty much the only one I know) so I would do it automatically and then remember the task. But I didn't do it as often as I wanted. I think I said about 4 compliments throughout the day, and I really thought I would remember them, but the only one I remember is I told the ceramics teacher at school that I liked her new hair style/color. She got it cut shorter in a layered/choppy bob thing that sounds weird but really does look cute on her, and then she got blonde and red/auburn highlights put in. I'm sorry. That's the only compliment I remember. But I really do love complimenting people because I know whenever I get a compliment it really makes me feel good.

I don't know how well I'll be completing the tasks this week because I am just really exhausted and kind of overwhelmed right now because I have the 7:30 am AP Calculus class that I'm really not used to, then I get out of school at 3:30 and go to work from 4:30-8 ish. I have work unfortunately every day this week. I'm not trying to make excuses...but, during the day, I'm just really thinking about other things. Next week will hopefully be better because I'm not working half as much and I'm guessing I'll be more well-adjusted to the crazy schedule...therefore making me more excited about the tasks. Okay, my little "woe-is-me" spiel is done.

Day 14: A Day of Compliments

Today it says to compliment someone and see where it gets you. I was thinking about this one last night and decided to get a head start by emailing this message to one of my friends. She doesnt really hang out with my group, but I dont really know why (okay, maybe I do, but of course it's complicated) So while the following isnt really a compliment, I see it in the same way. Like, it was meant to make her feel better about herself, you know?

So after I told Tracy* and Mia that I invited you to come on monday (we had already decided to invite you, i was just telling them I had) we started talking and we got into this discussion about how we all like you. Mia was like "you know what, I really like Clementine. XXXXXXXXXX (edited for secrecy and me not getting in trouble, you know) she was so fun at the movies, i thought it was so funny when something funny would happen and she'd repeat it and laugh again. I really like her" and I was kind of surprised that she was announcing that but I was like "yeah, i really like her too.. that's why I want her to come" and whatever I cant remember all that was said but I just thought youd like to know that. and i invited isabel and xena after I invited you and I told them that the four of us (you me Mia tracy) had planned it that way they couldnt say shit about you coming. not that they always do or anything, just now it cant even be an option.
anyways I hope this is a good email and not one that ends up being kind of offensive, you know? I mean this nicely. I should tell you in person, whatever.

and then she replied back with this, which signals that i accomplished the goal of giving a compliment:

awww. XXXX (my nickname that could give away my identity) that makes me feel awesome. I really like all of you all too. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
jesus, so fucking awesome. i really love that Mia said that and you too. you're so awesome and as is Mia and Tracy. it felt really great to be invited on saturday because i'm so used to being not invited when you all are involved but everytime we have all hung out i.e. Arthur's, football game, movies, etc. it has been really fun. maybe it's mostly because XXXXXXXXXXXXX. I really didn't mean this to turn out into a hate message but well, I just can't let it go. you know what I mean? I just can't shake feelings like that. it's probably the worst there is. BUT ANYWAY. enough about that. that was an awesome email and it's totally cool that you told me in a message because i think that it's awesome and whenever i'm feelin' shitty or someone pisses me off, i'll look at this message and be happy.

p.s. i love this song (I had been playing a song on itunes and the link showed up at the bottom of my message) and the shit out of you.

So then today I just felt like I could be nice and compliment people when I saw fit to. I told Kacy that I loved the way her earrings matched her eyeliner. I complimented quite a few people on their clothes. At tennis practice I tried to be extra nice about saying "wow, that was a great serve/volley/hit!"
I think overall It was nice to, well, be nice for the day. Not that I'm mean or anything, but seeing how much people appreciate compliments today definitely made me feel like I should do that more often.

Day 13: Introduce Yourself

Today our task was to introduce ourself to someone we know but never talk to. I thought this would be a really good task for the first day of school because it's the perfect opportunity to introduce yourself to people and stuff. Well, I'm going to be honest...I didn't actually formally introduce myself to anyone today. For some reason I just don't feel that formal, "Hi, my name is Betty, what's yours?" is appropriate unless you're actually meeting them for the first time. I took today's task as, you're going to talk to someone who you know but just never really talk to anymore, for instance...say you had a class with someone in 9th grade and you became friends, but you never had a class with them again and just lost touch...those are the kind of people I was thinking of. And to formally introduce yourself to someone like that would just be weird. I'm probably way off the map with this one, but, whatever.

So, today in homeroom I talked to a guy named Sean who I've known actually since 3rd grade, but to be honest I don't think I have talked to him once throughout high school. Today we just kinda talked about our schedules and joked about teachers and stuff. Then I talked to a guy that I used to go to church with and is now in my Spanish and Yearbook class, and we just made small talk I guess.

Okay, so I didn't even do this task at all I just realized. Both of those times were just cop-outs. I really wanted to put this task to good use...now I'm mad that I didn't. I'm not trying to make excuses but I had so much on my mind today with new classes and classmates and teachers and boy problems that I didn't even want to think about introducing myself to someone. I know it makes me sound like a closed-off snob, but, it's true. Today was a good first day of school though, and I'm really happy with my schedule. I think it will be a good year.

I'm going to do a lot better with tomorrow's task, I promise.

Day 13: Introduce yourself...

... to someone you know but never speak to.
So to be truthful, I totally forgot about his task today at school. Which is a shame because I had lots of ideas for who to talk to and how it would go... but oh well. So I remembered when I was driving home from tutoring my cousin and I decided to go to the library and introduce myself to one of the librarians. I go to the library more than the average person so I kind of know them, but I've never really talked to them or anything. So today I went in and walked up to the information desk where a guy named Will was sitting. I said "Hello, my name is Brittany _______ and I'm a senior at _____ High School. I'm going to be doing an oral presentation on Saint Patrick next week and I was hoping you could help me find some information." Will was very nice and he helped me find a few books. He wasnt happy with what we found though so he got on the computer and printed some things off for me as well. We held some casual conversation from which I learned that his sister's birthday is March 17th and that he isnt much of a Christian if he is one at all. He is intrigued by history, mostly, and also the idea of how people traveled long distances way back when. He has a wife and two young daughters. He loves biographies.
I really enjoyed being so nice and talking openly, you know? I usually wouldnt do the whole "friendly conversation" thing because it's kind of pointless. But it seemed like a nice, adult thing to do. I came out of the library with arms full of unnecessary information about st. patrick but a feeling of accomplishment for sure.
also- two of my tasks thus far have involved the library. I just realized that.

Day 12: Send a Letter to a Mass Murderer.

I havent chosen exactly who I'm sending this to, but I've written it. I didnt do a normal letter. here it is:
Dear (blank):
Here are some lyrics that I love at this moment, in no particular order.
-"So many people telling me one way, so many people telling me to stay, never had time to have my mind made up." Burning by The Whitest Boy Alive. I've found that peer pressure isnt as much people telling you to do things as it is an internal pressure you put on yourself derived from your friends or wherever. And that's harder, I think, because it feels like you want to do it even if you really don't.
-"No amount of coffee, no amount of crying, no amount of whiskey, no amount of wine, nothing else will do, I've gotta have you." Gotta Have You by The Weepies. I think this could go either way: 1) she's fallen in love with someone and just realized how much she needs them or 2) they've broken up but she cant get over him because she loves him and needs him. I think the second one is the more likely one and it's sad but not at the same time because there's the hope tha they'll get back together since she's realized how much she needs him. It's almost sweet.
-"You just laughed, and said well no one here forgets your past, and you ran baby ran, yeah you ran baby ran, yeah you ran" You Cant Fool Old Friends with Limousines by The Thrills. There will always be people who know who you really are.
-"When I jerk away from holding hands with you, I know these habits hurt important parts of you, remember when I was sweet and unexplainable, nothing like this person, unlovable" Back in Your Head by Tegan and Sara. I think I get the same way in relationships- kind of bored and mean, I wish I wouldnt.
-"But love is not these belongings that surrounding me, though there's meaning in there memories they hold, a breaking heart in an empty apartment was the loudest sound I ever heard" Brighter Discontent by The Submarines. Sometimes what you think you want isnt what you really want.
-"A laundry list of problems doesnt make you interesting, and never getting help doesnt make you brave, not listening to reason doesnt mean that you have faith, you're just cutting off your nose to spite your face" Sympathy for the Martyr by Straylight Run. This song is about people who want attention but I love these lines because they can apply to so many different types of people. First, people who complain (myself included), then people who always want to be a martyr (my mother, sometimes), then I'd like to think that the next one refers to Christians but it could also be like if you knew your spouse was cheating but you ignored it and pretended it wasnt true, that sort of thing. This lyric just makes me wonder why people cant be content, you know?
-"You're gonna make me wish for the time back before I was born, when every living breath was another new dawn, like the time I was five on the top of peak hill, and the wind almost took me away." On Peak Hill by Stars. This song makes me cry everytime because I listened to it on repeat for days when I found out I was going to have to move and leave my best friend behind. For me, this song captures sadness in the way where you feel like you could just stop living, not like killing yourself, but drifting off, something like that.
-"Is it the red wire, or the blue wire? Just pick one and cut, it just doesnt matter any more, or did it ever? Because I could never control when the bomb would explode, oh god I love you, I mean forever, I left my body behind to break the news, looks like it's over, please remember all of the things I never got a chance to say" Suicide Medicine by Rocky Votolato. This is about suicide, but I think it's beautiful.
-"Will someone please call a surgeon, who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart that you're deserting, for better company?" Nothing Better by The Postal Service. This is a wonderfully emotional song about a guy begging his girlfriend to come back to him. I wish you could hear it because the harmonies are so beautiful.
-"All the birds are heading down south but you're staying up north you say, I've got jackets, blankets, and sheets, it's going to be a cold December" Cold December by Matt Costa. This is about a girl moving away and then moving on but the boy still misses her and wants her to come home. I think it's a hard realization that someone else has moved on when you cant.
-"If that's all you will be, you'll be a waste of time, you've dreamed a thousand dreams, none seem to stick in your mind" Two Points for Honesty by Guster. I think this is abot being indecisive and not sure of what you want, as well as giving up on what you do want. I'll be going to college soon and there's a lot of deciding and giving up to do, it'll be tough.
-"I feel like singing sad songs all night, I feel like tuning you out, do you want to make it into more of a fight? is this yelling what loves all about?" Bravo Charlie by Gregory and the Hawk. I think this may be a lyric you have to hear to love. It's sung by a girl with just a guitar and that hauntingly beautiful voice. I hate confrontation and fights so this is definitely how I feel sometimes. Like I just want to ignore everything for a while, you know?
-"Well my dad was sick, and my mom she cared for him, her love it nursed him back to life, and me I ran, I couldnt even look at him, for fear I'd have to say goodbye, and as I start to leave he grabs me by the shoulder and he tells me, what's left to lose? you've done enough, and if you fail then you fail but not to us, these last few years, I know they've been hard, but it's time to move out of the desert and into the sun, even if it's alone" On Your Porch by The Format. I love the story behind this just as much as I love the advice part. I think it's about having the courage to move on to bigger and better things and leave things behind that have been holding you back.
-"Secret heart, what are you made of? what are you so afraid of? could it be, three simple words, or the fear of being overheard?" Secret Heart by Feist. Saying what you want to can be tough, especially for things like "I love you".
-"If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the "no"s on their vacancy signs, if there's no one beside you when your soul embarks, then I'll follow you into the dark" I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. Love, right?
-"Well winter's gonna end and I'm going to clean these veins again, so close to dying that I finally can start living" An Attempt to Tip the Scales by Bright Eyes. It's about moving on and not keeping yourself down. I think Ive put quite a few lyrics about moving on in here! hmmm... I'm not really sure what that means.
I hope you enjoy this.
-Brittany

I felt like this way I was giving a piece of myself to whoever gets this and nothing is expected in return. and that way, hopefully they can just think over some of what I said or whatever, you know? Hopefully.

Day 12: Send a Letter to a Mass Murderer

Brittany and I already did this task back around Christmas when we were bored and hadn't actually thought about taking this book seriously yet. We were just flipping through it looking for something to do, and we ended up doing this one. I wrote to Angel Resendez, "The Railroad Killer," who killed 9 people. In my letter to him I was really mean in a sarcastic/facetious kind of way, and I kind of regretted that later because I was watching this special on the Discovery Channel about murderers on death row and their "pen pals" and how sometimes that's the only ray of encouragement/hope that they have, and sometimes people end up getting really close to the inmates. Then I felt kinda bad about what I said to Angel, so I figured that this time I would write him an apology letter. I looked him up on Wikipedia just out of curiosity, and...it turns out he was executed on June 27, 2006. So he didn't even get my mean letter. Yay.

Now I have decided to write to another Hispanic murderer...Richard Ramirez. He is known as "The Nightstalker" and killed 16 people. He, however, has not already been executed. He was known to draw pentagrams, symbols associated with satanism, on his victims and during one trial he held up his hand with a pentagram drawn on it and yelled, "Hail Satan." Not only that, but he started corresponding with a woman named Doreen Lioy by mail when he was on trial and in prison for his murders, and on the third time she visited him, he proposed to her and she said yes.

"Instead of a vicious murderer, she sees an attractive, vulnerable man who still exhibits boyish qualities. 'I never found the one who was everything rolled into one,' Lioy told the newspaper. 'It may sound strange, but that's who I believe Richard is.'" (http://www.angelfire.com/oh/yodaspage2/marriage.html) Isn't that disgusting? They got married in the prison's visitors center, and Lioy says that when Ramirez is executed, she will commit suicide. She sounds about as psycho as he is.

Here is my letter to Ramirez:

Hi Richard,

I just thought I would write a letter to say hi. Don't worry though, I'm not writing you in pursuit of a love connection or anything - I know about Doreen and how that happened and everything. Writing letters is probably one of my favorite things to do I just don't have a lot of time to do it. Do you get lots of mail? Maybe you do because of the book. You're probably wondering what "the book" is. Well, "the book" is a book that gives tasks everyday for you to complete for one entire year. Supposedly if you complete every task, the book will totally change your life. One of the tasks happens to be "Write a Letter to a Mass Murderer" and it lists several mass murderers and their addresses. You are one of them, and that is why I am writing to you today. Someone who has already completed this task and sent you a letter has probably told you all about this, but I guess I would just recap it for you.

I bet when people write you they are either A) sending you hate mail for the crimes you have committed, B) creepily seeking love like Doreen did, or C) asking you tons of questions, like "What made you murder so many innocent people?" "What is it like being on death row?" "Is prison food good?" "Do you and your wife ever get to have sex?" and other stuff like that. Well, luckily for you, I'm not going to do any of those! I'm going to talk about myself.

Tomorrow is the first day back to school for me. And not just any first day back to school, the first day back to school of my senior year. This is the last year of my secondary education. It's kind of exciting, but at the same time very nerve-wracking and sad. I'm looking forward to this year because of the freedoms it brings and knowing that these past 12 years of school are finally coming to a close. I'm also going to turn 18 within a couple months and that's another big step as well. I don't think I'll actually feel older, I'll probably just feel the same, but just knowing that I'm finally considered an adult and I'm going to be independently starting my life within the next year is so awesome. I have really come a long way throughout high school, I've matured and experienced a lot of things that have made me stronger and smarter. When I think about the progress I've made, it's really weird thinking of how much I have grown compared to how much time it feels like I've spent in high school. The time has just flown by, but the experiences that I have had and lessons I have learned feel like they've taken me a lifetime to accumulate and fully understand.

I didn't actually mean to go this deep in this letter, but it feels nice to write about this stuff. I wonder what your high school experience was like. You lived in California, right? I've never been there before. I live on the East Coast, directly opposite of California. It seems like it would be such a different world over there. I wonder what I would be like today if I had lived in California and gone to high school there. I would like to think that I would still have become the person I am today and stayed true to myself and my beliefs. I actually think I would be the exact same person I am today. I have never really been one to conform to what "everyone else is doing."

Well, it's getting late and tomorrow is, after all, the first day of school...so I really need to be getting some sleep. Thanks for listening to me Richard. I hope you and Doreen are doing well. And, I hope you have a good life...or, what's left of it.

Sincerely,
Lily

Yep. So that's my letter. Like I said, I truly did not mean to end up going that deep in the letter, seriously...why would I be telling all that to a mass murderer who probably could care less about me? He has more things to worry about, like...his pending death date. Oh yeah, and I wrote "Lily" because, I'm not going to write my real name, just in case he does escape with help by Doreen and together they go on the run in a mass killing spree across the US and trace me by my finger prints on the letter or something. I wrote Lily because I have always loved that name and I also just finished Harry Potter yesterday (REALLY good ending) and that's his mom's name. So anyways...I really do need to be going to bed now.

Here's to waking up at 6:00 am every morning for AP Calc until next June!

Day 11: What's Your Type?

So today's task was a good one about introducing yourself to someone you know but havent ever talked to. Except for it's Saturday and neither Betty nor I were going to see anyone we knew today really so we decided to shift the days and do that one on monday when we're sure to see someone that would qualify. I dont care if that's cheating.
Today's new task was just to check the box of who your type is so if you get drunk at a party you wont forget. I think this is stupid because 1) you won't have the book with you and would that even happen? and 2) usually people dont just have one specific type. they'll have a few or a mixture or whatever and if you're drunk then that wouldnt even matter, you'd go for anyone.
But if I had to choose of the list I'd definitely pick the "nice guy". although I dont even like it when guys are super polite and whatever, I think it's annoying. but if nice is another way of saying sensitive and smart and funny then I would pick him.
I was pretty disappointed in our choices for guys. They left off a lot of good types. But whatever.

Day 11: What's Your Type?

Ok, so this is going to be very confusing, but just please try to follow along: this post is technically supposed to be under Saturday, August 25 but since I have taken so long to write it, and it's really already Day 12 because it's 12:33 am right now, we're just going to pretend that it's still actually Day 11. The other confusing part is that Brittany and I decided that today's real task wasn't going to work out today (it would only really work well at school) so we pushed it to Monday so that we could do it at school (my first day back! ugh) and then today we decided to do tomorrow's task and then tomorrow we are going to do Monday's task. (I think that's what we decided...we discussed it while we were both on our cell phones and we were having some reception problems and couldn't really hear each other.) Confused? Don't worry about it.

So today's task, (which was actually tomorrow's task) is really stupid in my opinion. It says: "What's your type? Tick here as a reminder at drunken parties." And then for guys it gives a list of different types of girls and for the girls it gives different types of guys. This is stupid because I'm never going to end up at a "drunken" party (but hey, this is senior year, so you never know) and even if I was, I doubt I would have the book with me as a reminder. But, my "type" is definitely the "nice guy." And that's really the only good type of guy that they listed. "Beefcakes" are not attractive at all to me, I just don't like bulging muscles. I'm not going to go for a guy just because he's "loaded." My type is definitely the nice guy. Nice guys don't finish last.

Day 10: Meet Jonas Day (Not)

Today we are supposed to "meet" Jonas Jansson, some random guy from Sweden who the author(s) of the book picked to be their guinea pig for the book. It gave a mini-bio of him (nothing special) and then it just said "Go to www.thisbookwillchangeyourlife.com to check up on Jonas and compare his progress with the book to yours!" So I went there, and it's just the main site of "Benrik," the author of the book. No Jonas anywhere. I'm pretty sure this task was just a ploy to lure everyone to the website. Just some free advertising. On the site you're supposed to sign up for a blog if you're committed to the book, and do exactly what Brittany and I are doing with this blog and write about your tasks everyday, but we decided to do our own thing here on blogger.

One thing I did find through all of this was another person using blogger who committed to the book. Here's the website: http://365daysofhystericalliving.blogspot.com/ It's kind of cool reading from the beginning and seeing what he did for tasks that we have already completed. I don't think he really got into it as much as we have though. But, if you notice, he stopped on day 233. Here is his last post about it:

"If you ever read this with any regularity, you knew this was coming. Really, most of you probably didn't think I would even bother to sign off. This blog became something like an old neighbor: you don't see them out in the yard for a while, so you assume something must have happened. Then one day, you hear that your neighbor is dead, and it's not really a surprise. "Oh, I guess that makes sense," you might say to yourself, or, if you're me, you would say something like, "Oh, he's dead now."

So anyway, those of you who are bitter, don't blame my new job for the end of this blog. If anything, I have more time in front of a computer than I did at my old job. I just don't feel like doing this "thing" anymore. It got to the point where it was more of a chore than fun. "Oh, I've got to go find the book and read the task and then make something up ridiculous to pretend that I did because I'm not stupid/ballsy enough to actually do most of the things I said I did," I can recall thinking on several occasions.

But, it was pretty fun. We had some laughs, didn't we? Anyway, since it is 10 pm on a Saturday night and the extent of my social life is watching the Little League Regional Finals--not even the World Series--and I still get the itch to spread my opinion to the masses, I may go back to my old blog and get that going again. So if you were a reader here, and helped me reach almost 15,000 hits in under a year, which is pretty good for a nobody amateur blogger who doesn't go out of his way to read and/or comment on other blogs, at least I think it's pretty good, stay tuned for a notice to go read about what I think somewhere else. Adios for now..."

I really hope we don't get like that!! That is so sad. I can see where he's coming from though about how it became more of a chore. I just really hope that doesn't happen to us...we'll have to see where we are on day 233...

Day 10: Meet Jonas

Basically today's task isnt about meeting jonas, it's about going to the book's website: www.thisbookwillchangeyourlife.com
And since it is 1:20 AM and officially tomorrow, I'm blogging now. I've just opened up the webpage and it has been announced that I am the 8,830,155th visitor of the page. exciting.
As far as the site goes though, it's not too exciting. Basically it's for people to start a blog like this. and.. that's it. I found a couple places I'll need later on. (send in a task idea, add a line of poetry) and one cool thing: turns out the authors are European and this book was modified from a 2004 Diary they did. and the book that follows this one was the version of their 2005 Diary. THe two books that will change lives are an American only thing. pretty neat!
I guess that's it though...

Day 9: Do Something Before Breakfast

I was on the phone with Betty late last night, just about to start my homework (I had been babysitting, but it really is a routine thing for me to stay up past midnight every night.. unfortunately) when she says "Well I should really let you go, especially since you have to get up before the sun rises for our task" and I was so confused, I had only glanced at it and I didnt know what she was talking about. So I got the book and it turned out that I did have to get up early. Not as early as Betty thought, but early enough to do something productive before breakfast.
I get up at about 7:02, and that's pushing it as far as I'm concerned because I'm not a morning person. Getting out of bed is very difficult for me (and lots of other people, I'm sure). So to say the least I was dreading this task.
I decided I wasnt going to get up suppppper early because I have school and that's not practical. But I didnt wnat to do something dumb like do my homework in the morning because that's not the idea of the task. And I couldnt really leave my house because my sister and I ride to school together and she would NOT be up for leaving any earlier than we usually do. So I figured I would get up early and make my mom breakfast.
My mom gets up at the same time as my sister and I so that she can make us breakfast and pack my lunch. Even if we have cereal or something, she always gets up to see us off to school. It's really sweet, actually.
So I got up at 6 (yuck!!) and got dressed and went downstairs and made her a big omelet, sausage, and toast. Then I brought it up to her room, but she wanted to eat it downstairs, so I put it back downstairs. She wasnt as excited as I thought she'd be... I really thought she would be ecstatic, but instead she was like "Could you just not sleep last night? Is that why you got up so early?" and I told her I just wanted to and I think she just thought I was weird. So that was that. I finished getting ready, ate my own breakfast, and went to school. Now I have to do homework and go to tennis practice and I'm feeling tired just thinking about it.
Let's just say I wont be getting up at six again any time soon.

Day 9: Do Something Before Breakfast

I have always wanted to see a sunrise. I've seen the sunset, many times, but I'm not much of a morning person, so I've just never gotten up before the sun to see it rise. Since today's task was to do something before breakfast (aka: earrrrly in the morning) I decided that today was the perfect day to do it. Since I live at the beach, I also figured that I should take advantage of that too and decided that I would watch it come up over the ocean.

I didn't really want to be at the beach all by myself at 6:00 am, so I asked my mom if she wanted to go and she was like, "Awww, yeah! I'll go with you." She thought it was really sweet of me to want to watch the sunrise with her. Then I asked my sister, and she said she would go too but she had a friend spending the night, so her friend would have to come too. I didn't care. So, all four of us set our alarms for 5:30 in order to make it to the beach before the sun came up. We got there around 6:10, and it was SO weird seeing the roads and parking at the beach so deserted. During the day it is impossible to park or get anywhere because of all the tourists. We got to park literally right next to the beach. There were only three other cars there. Then, it was even weirder seeing the beach itself so deserted. You could look down the beach both ways and probably only see 4-5 people just walking along the water. It was really neat having the beach all to ourselves.

We all laid out our towels and laid down to wait for the sun. I had charged my camera battery overnight so that I could take pictures of the sunrise, but of course, I forgot my battery and just brought my useless camera. I was SO mad. Once I finally got over it I remembered that I do have a camera phone, and even thought the pictures wouldn't be very good quality, they would still be pictures. Here is a view of what it looked like as we were waiting:

As you can see, it was pretty cloudy, and unfortunately the clouds covered up the sun completely. :( We just kept waiting and waiting, and we could see little bright orange parts of it peeking out through holes in the clouds, but we never got to see the full thing because it seemed like as the sun got higher and higher, the clouds did too. Here is what it looked like right before we left:


You can kinda see the sun above and a little to the right of the fourth light post on the pier. And doesn't the runner kind of make the picture look like one of those inspirational posters that has below the picture something like "Strength" or "Perseverance"? Oh yeah, and here's a picture of my feet in my mom's AWESOME sandals because I cannot find my rainbows anywhere:


Nice case of the long toe, right? Yeah...so anyways, even though we didn't really get to see the sun rise, it was still a really neat experience. I liked getting up that early actually because it was such a peaceful time of day, and it felt neat being up before the rest of the town. I'm also not really a beach person and therefore never take advantage of where I live, but this really made me appreciate it and I actually liked just laying out there on the sand and listening to the ocean (which I don't usually enjoy because whenever I have gone to the beach it's always during the day and packed with screaming little kids, pooping seagulls, and other distractions). All-in-all, this was a really good task and I'm glad I did it. I'm so glad that we decided to do this book, Brittany. :)

Day 8: Addiction-Free Day

So, I'm pretty sure what falls into this category would be cigarettes, or alcohol, or even caffeine.
Unfortunately I'm not addicted to any of those things so not doing them would be extremely easy.
I decided to change it a little and pick something I'm actually addicted to.
Now don't laugh.
I chose to deny myself of chapstick today. I will never be found without my strawberry chapstick. seriously.
I put it on when I first wake up. It's part of my make up routine. I eat breakfast and then brush my teeth, so then I need more. There's a tube in my car. And two in my purse. One in my bookbag. Pretty much, chapstick is a huge part of my day. It's instinctive to put it on really.
So today was pretty bad. I reached for it when I got out of bed, but had to stop myself. Again for make up. And again after brushing my teeth. Again at a stoplight. Again and again and again during school. I was parnoid about my lips being chapped. I rubbed them together constantly and was sure that they looked dry. So I kept going to the bathroom to make sure they weren't and they didnt look any different at all. It was purely psychological. On the way home my mouth was drying up and I kept licking my lips (which I never do) and I nearly gave in. Just thinking about it right now is seriously making my lips feel like they're throbbing in need of chapstick.
So I would say that my addiction free day has been successful. No wonder people have so much trouble quitting (smoking, drugs, you name it).
For me it's just the routine of it, I guess.

Day 8: Break Your Addictions

I didn't really know what I was going to do today because I'm not really "addicted" to anything. I'm not a druggie, I don't drink, I'm not playing video games 24/7. So I kind of made the word "addiction" synonymous with "bad habit." I do have a lot of bad habits. And I also realized that when you think of breaking a bad habit, you think of stopping an action or thought or something that you do, but it can also be reversed. For example, one of my bad habits is being lazy. So to break that bad habit I would have to be productive, and actually do something instead of not doing something...if that makes sense.

So, today, I cleaned the den and my bathroom (I also cleaned the den partly because my mother told me to, but, it worked well with today's task). I also went on a walk in the park. Okay, so it wasn't the most productive day ever, but, I feel accomplished. But I am planning on FINALLY finishing the last Harry Potter (which I've been meaning to do since the day it came out now) after I post this, and that will make today be 10 times even more productive.

Another bad habit of mine is wasting too much time on the internet, and I am proud to say that I have not spent one single minute on the computer or internet today besides the time I have spent on this post. And once I am done with this post, I plan to immediately close out the internet window and leave the computer at once because I know I will be tempted to check my email and facebook and everything else, but I'm not because I'm breaking my bad habit, if only for a day. Oh, and I also didn't eat anything unhealthy today which is definitely another bad habit of mine, but that's kind of cheating because I have to do that anyways with this "family lifestyle change" that I'm doing.

Well, now I'm going to go read Harry Potter. And I'm REALLY excited about tomorrow's task!

Day 7: Our Day Off

Well, today's task was little...awkward. Actually, really awkward, to actually complete and blog about, so Brittany and I decided that it probably would just be best if we took the day off. So, until tomorrow! :)

Day 6: Out of Order and Opening Sentence

So I copied the out of order sign on my printer and did a few loops of tape on the back. I put saran wrap over the tape so that I could put it into my bookbag and have it ready to get out and place on something at any time. I hoped to get to school early so I could put the sign on something good, like a stair in the main stairwell or the boy's bathroom door by the gym or one of the main doors. But even though I left early we got to school too late and it was much too busy for me to get away with. I didnt get the opportunity to leave it somewhere until lunch so I pretended I was putting my books away or searching for something in my bookbag while everyone walked into the school. The seniors get to sit in the Senior Courtyard on picnic tables so I put the out of order sign on one side of the table I sat at today. I have the first of three lunches so I figure it made an impact, I'm just not sure how big of one. I was afraid to ask anyone from second or third lunch with out making it look obvious it was me. I just like to imagine everyone squeezing on to the other side of the picnic table, thinking that the one side was really out of order...
As for today's task:
I'm supposed to write the opening sentence of my debut novel. I've tried to think of this one, but it has stumped me. There are just sooo many possibilities!! Would my novel be about me? or a work of fiction? or would it be something like a textbook?
I've decided to just wing it right now for the sake of time and the fact that it will probably not be any better if I spend hours thinking about it than if I were to just throw something out here.
"I awoke ready to face my 52nd year of life, my 14th year of being alone, my 3rd year of considering online dating an option, when the SWAT team busted through my bedroom door and changed everything."
That novel has some possibilities, doesn't it? The main character could be a man or a woman. I could get into why they're alone. And why they're finally ready to find companionship. And then there's the whole thing with the SWAT team. Is he/she a criminal? is he/she somehow involved in a big crime? hmmm...
I would never read that book though because it sounds kind of lame.
but that's just me and maybe you dont always write books that you like.

Day 6: Write the Opening Sentence of Your Debut Novel

"She liked macaroni and cheese drowned in hot sauce."
-My Nonexistent Debut Novel by Me

Yes, I know that is an odd opening line to my novel, but, I like it. I think opening sentences should be kind of off-the-wall because that way they will really catch your attention. And they shouldn't be thesis-like either. The opening sentence shouldn't sum up the entire point of the book (unless it's done in a really obscure way. Like, mine could be the thesis of my book but it's kind of a read-between-the-lines kind of thing, or a hidden meaning). It's a book, not a research paper or an essay, so the opening should be fun and not boring.

Mine would continue after that opening sentence and be something like: "She only wore orange underwear, and the small scar on her chin was from the time she fell out of a tree when she was 4. Her favorite movie was 'Bye Bye Birdie,' and she read harlequin novels, but not for the sex, for the vehement and indestructible love the characters had for one another. But no one knew any of this."

It would be a story about a high school-aged girl and pretty much her trying to find herself in the "adolescent world." I've always wanted to write a story about that, and kind of base it on myself and my experiences/views (but none of those things I wrote up there are about me. At all.) on high school and being a teenager, because...you know, I know so much about that. :) I would have her character be completely raw and you would know every detail and flaw about her, but it would make her be so much more relative to readers. I really like this task because it's making me actually think about something I've always wanted to do but have just been too scared, I guess, to do it.

When I was trying to figure out what my opening sentence should be, I remembered that I loved the opening lines to the book Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli: "They say Maniac Magee was born in a dump. They say his stomach was a cereal box and his heart a sofa spring." That is such a good book. Another one of my favorite openings is from one of my all-time favorite books, of course, The Catcher in the Rye: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." I love Holden Caulfield.

Day 5: Mass Social Experiment

Today we were supposed to put an "OUT OF ORDER" sign on some kind of public facility to create social hysteria and breakdown across the globe or something. (I would put the exact wording, but I had to cut out the sign from the page and I cut out the description too. Oops.) I cut the sign out, had it all ready to go in my purse with tape handy and everything, and I decided I would put it on a bathroom stall at church this morning. When I went into the bathroom, there was already a mother and daughter in there by the sinks, and apparently the girl had fallen outside and cut her ankle, so her mom was trying to fix it up for her, and after pointlessly washing my hands to buy time, I decided they would be in there longer than I would have time to unsuspiciously wait. So I vetoed that plan.

The next "public" place I went that day was work. I really wanted to stick it on the huge ice machine maker that we have because that way I would immediately see my coworker's reactions to it, but when I went in the dishwasher guy was already in there, and there was no way I could anonymously stick it on the ice machine. My next idea was to stick it on this emergency eye wash thing we have out in the hall next to the breakroom. (Don't ask me why we have that thing, it's not like working in a retirement home is a very dangerous place.) People always play around with it before we clock in for work, so I thought I might be able to see peoples' reactions to it. Well...I didn't have time to stick it on there before it was time to clock in, so my next best opportunity was when everyone was out in the dining room working, and I just snuck into the back hall and taped it on there. The only flaw in my plan is that there are cameras in that hall that got everything on tape, but there is a lot of speculation that they are totally fake because no one has ever been accused of anything that our boss "saw on camera." It's probably just to scare us. And plus, why would taping a fake "out of order" sign be such a terrible thing that someone would have to go back through hours of tape to find out who did it? I'm not too worried about that.

Unfortunately I never really got to see anyone's reactions to it. At the end of the night, I pointed it out and was like, "That's weird." But no one even said anything. So I would say I'm pretty far from creating social hysteria and breakdown, especially since I didn't create any kind of reaction at all. I work tomorrow, so I'm going to see if it's still there. I'm kind of disappointed because I really wanted to put this task to good use. Oh well. I'm excited about tomorrow's task.

Day 5: Bad News

So I got home a bit ago and decided to work on today's task. Which I thought was something to do with the opening sentence of your debut novel. I got the book out to read exactly what I was supposed to do only to figure out that last night I had read the wrong page... and today's task was to put an "out of order" sign on something. Which would have been fun today because I went putt putt golfing and shopping... I am now home and it is late and it is too good of a task to waste on something stupid like my fridge... so as much as I hate to do this: I'm going to bring it with me tomorrow when I go to school.
I'm sorry. I hope this doesn't count as failing today because it was an honest mistake that will not happen again.
Tomorrow I will have two extra good posts. I promise!

Day 4: World Coloring in Day

So today we're supposed to color in a map on the page using a key. I've made mine a bit more general as they use "Hope to visit this year" and others that are pretty impractical for me. So I colored this one in on paint since my scanner isnt so great.
Green= been there
Blue= want to go there
Red= not so much

The blue isnt really specifically the only places I want to go. It just gives a general idea. I selected those places in Africa at random, except Egypt, because I just want to go to Africa and I'm not too picky about where. I feel like I should explain the red places.. it's not that I have anything against the people there or anything, I just wouldnt be interested in touring there any time soon. I really had to resist coloring the entire map blue! I want to travel so badly. I also wanted to make my green places blue because I want to go back...
This really makes me wish that I could study abroad this year.. but no.

Day 3: Throw away something that you like UPDATE

So I was in sort of a rush to get to Mia's when I remembered that I was supposed to be looking for places to leave the elephant. Luckily she lives downtown so there were plenty of places to choose from. I picked the library because I have so many memories of going there as a kid, and because the elephant is very likely to be adopted by someone else. So I pulled up and put it on top of the book return and took some quick pictures. I feel okay about leaving him, although I was a bit sad.

Day 4: World Coloring-In Day

Alrighty, today we are supposed "work out your globetrotting plans for the rest of your time on earth" by coloring in a world map given to you in the book. It gives a key for how you should color them in: GREEN - been there done that, BLUE - intend to go there this year, YELLOW - intend to go there sometime before I die, RED - happy never to set foot there in my whole life.

Since my number 1 life goal is to travel the world, and I've never set foot out of the USA, my whole map is pretty much yellow. I don't intend to go out of the country this year, so there's no blue places, and besides Afghanistan and Iraq, I would be pretty happy to go almost anywhere, so there's hardly any red. Again, I would take a picture/scan my map for you, but there's that whole fear I have about my computer exploding so I can't do that. But, I can do something else.



create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

I used this map creator thing to make a map of all the countries I want to go to. It's really supposed to be a "visited countries" map, but it can work for my purposes too. I wish it had the names of the countries on there though, or somehow you could click them and see them. But basically all the red stuff is where I want to go. I would seriously see the entire world if I could, but I know that's not going to happen so I just picked the places I REALLY want to go to. I want to travel soooo bad!! Ahhh...I need to get a job where I'm traveling all the time. Is there such thing as a traveling psychologist?

Day 3: Throw Something Away that You Like

Today's task is pretty much what the title of this post is. It seems pretty simple, but when it gets down to it, it's really not. It took me forever to decide what to throw away. I knew it would most likely be something out of my room because that's obviously where everything I like is. I thought about throwing away a food item...like a banana or a perfectly good piece of bread, because I really like both of those, but that would have been cheating. It has to be something valuable to you and...semi-irreplaceable. I say "semi" because, I really don't think the object of this task is to throw away the charm bracelet that you've been adding to since you were 5, or a blanket that you've had since you were a baby. Maybe it is, but I'm sure as heck not gonna do that. I wanted to throw away something that really meant something to me, but that I wouldn't cry about or want to shoot myself later because I didn't have it anymore.

I finally decided on a ring. I took pictures of it because I want to remember it, and I really wanted to put one on here because that would be very appropriate for this post, but my computer is dumb and keeps complaining about not having enough space, and I'm afraid that by adding even just one more picture to my hard drive, my computer will go into complete meltdown and just explode or something. Maybe I'll put it on here later. But anyways, I decided on this ring that I got last summer in Shreveport, Louisiana when I was visiting my grandparents. The are both really into antiques and stuff and they have passed their love of antique-shopping/"junque" collecting to me. So we were at this antique store there, and there was nothing really that great, but I was looking at their jewelry and noticed a ring that looked kinda cool. I tried it on and it fit perfectly, and my grandparents really like it too, and I can't remember but I'm pretty sure they ended up buying it for me. It was just a simple copper band but it had deep purple enamel on the outside and these little copper sea monkey looking things on it. It was weird, but really neat because I had never seen anything like it before. My grandpa, using his antique skills, thought it looked like it was Native American inspired. Well, from then on I pretty much wore the ring everyday. It reminded me of my grandparents and Shreveport, and I seriously love that town, I don't even know why, but it reminded me of my memories there so it was special to me. I had probably been wearing the ring for several months or so and the enamel started chipping off. I decided not to wear it anymore because I didn't want all of it to come off and ruin the ring, so I just put it in a drawer with the rest of my jewelry and kind of forgot about it.

I figured that it was the perfect thing to throw away because it did mean something to me and that way I wouldn't just be copping out of the task by throwing away something stupid, but I wouldn't totally be heartbroken that it was gone because I have those memories of my grandparents and Shreveport in my head, you know? I don't need the ring to "keep" them for me. Then the next thought was, how do I throw it away? I really didn't want to just chuck it in the trash can. That seemed too informal. If I really would have had my way, I would have been in the middle of the ocean on a boat and tossed it overboard like Rose did on Titanic, just because I'm sentimental like that. But, since that plan definitely was not going to work, I figured the next best thing would be to toss it out of a window. My sister's was the best because a) she has no screen on hers and b) she has bushes underneath hers so that the ring will be lost "forever"down in all the brush and branches.

So, I did throw the ring out of my sister's window, never to be found again, but not after being interrogated by her and feeling like a freaking idiot for having to explain that "I just need to throw this ring out the window and then I'll be done. Thanks." I can't say that I feel any sort of life-change yet by completing this task, but maybe it's one of those long-term things...

Day 3: Throw away something that you like

It's that simple, that's all I have to do. but being a pretty materialistic person, this was difficult. I decided before hand that it had to be something out in my room because if I liked it I would have it out. and I couldn't compromise too much- i actually had to like what I was going to throw away and kind of regret doing it. I ended up picking this jade colored glass elephant figurine I have on my shelf. i really like it. I bought it at the flea market a while back and it looks nice in my room. I used it last year as a model for a clay elephant I made in art class. When I picked it up I had this feeling inside like "nooo! this will look cool in my college dorm!" so I put it back down and began to look for something else. But I went back to it, knowing it was what I needed to choose. I'm not going to throw this in the trash, however. I'm going to put it somewhere. I got the idea from Harold and Maude, which I just finished watching. Harold gave her something he made that said "harold loves maude" and she comments that it is the best gift she has received in a very long time before throwing it into the ocean. he is puzzled, so she explains that "now i'll always know where it is"
I think this is the perfect philosophy for my little elephant. I havent decided where I will place him, but I will update when I do because I have to go now. There's a bonfire tonight, fun!

Day 2: The Love of Your Life

So today's task was to "gaze at everyone wondering whether they might be the one true love of your life." Unfortunately, I still haven't really gotten the hang of this thing yet, so I kind of forgot about it until later in the day, but it was still okay because I was at the perfect place to do some people-watching (or possible-love-of-my-life-watching): MYRTLE BEACH! Tourist capital of the world! Packed with possible loves of my my life. Mostly redneck, tattooed, or hairy possible loves though, but hey, the book said everybody. Oh yeah, so that was my main problem. Was I supposed to gaze at women too? Babies? Children? 90 year old men? It may sound kinda sick, but I did. I wanted to follow the books instructions to a tee.

So, I was walking around the outlet mall when I remembered my mission, and if I remember correctly, the first person I gazed at was a 40s/50s-ish looking man, balding slightly, with his wife and kids. Now, if this guy was supposed to be my one true love, I really wanted to gaze at him, you know? It couldn't just be a quick glance. I had to really look at him and try to imagine myself...with him. Which was disgusting first of all because he could be my dad (and I'm telling you right now I am NOT going to end up with some guy old enough to be my dad) and second of all because, if I was meant to be with him the rest of my life...that would mean I would have to tear his family apart somehow so I could have him all to myself, and it was just getting too complicated. But, while I was thinking all of this, I was still gazing at him I guess, so then he started gazing and me, and then he wouldn't stop and it was REALLY creeping me out. So...I moved on. Yes, I looked at women and children like I said before, but that was just wrong so I only did that for a little bit, and then I narrowed it down to just men, but then there were the old ones, and the REALLY old ones that (sorry to be morbid) could probably kick the bucket before I'm even a sophomore in college, and...it was just hard to be realistic with those guys. And I didn't like gazing at the 40s/50s-ish men either because it seemed to always turn out into the same scenario as the first guy...he thinks I'm giving him "the eye" or something, and he gives it back.

So pretty much I decided that I just needed to be gazing at males around my age or a little older (20s). But of course, I still made it complicated. Instead of gazing at them with genuine appreciation of the fact that they could be my soulmate, I was analyzing them from top to bottom. I would look at a guy and be like, "If I were to marry him I would DEFINITELY make him shave that stupid goatee" or "How annoying that he walks like that...if we were holding hands and walking together or something he would always be walking into me." I was just being really critical and mean. The only two guys that I felt like I could be soulmates with was this guy that worked at Ben and Jerry's who was tall, slender, tan, with brown hair and a yellow bandanna tied around his head like he was a teenage mutant ninja turtle or something, and he had ice cream stains all over his shirt, but he seemed really nice even though I didn't talk to him or even hear him talk. And then this guy that did air brushed caricatures of people for a ridiculous price. But that was just because he was kinda cute too. I was totally going based on looks! This was a good exercise to see how shallow I really am. Now I feel bad.

BUT. There was one moment that stands out above the rest. On the way home from Myrtle Beach, I was driving down Highway 17, the main highway that cuts right through the center of all the tacky touristy gloriousness of the town, and I was listening to a really good Coldplay song on my ipod (I think it was Don't Panic) and I saw this guy riding his bike down the side of the road. He had longish shaggy kinda brown hair, and a yellow shirt, and he wasn't even that cute, but he just looked kinda nice, and I really gazed at him hard (without losing concentration on my driving...no, I'm not that irresponsible) wondering if he was the one for me, and then when we passed each other, I got kinda sad and kept watching for him in my rearview mirror until he was gone from sight. With the Coldplay song on and everything, it really felt like a scene from a movie. It would have been like one of those dramatic irony things where the audience knows that we are meant to be together forever, but we the characters have no idea, and we are just SO close at that very moment, but oblivious to each other's significance and existence, and just pass each other, and keep moving farther and farther apart. After that experience, I really felt like I completed Day 2's task. Will yellow t-shirt bike boy and I ever cross paths again and discover our (possibly) true destiny? Time will only tell.

Day 2: The Love of Your Life

Today's instructions say to gaze at everyone wondering if they may be your one true love meant for only you and think about the possibility that you might be passing them by forever.
Since I'm a daydreamer, I ended up picking boys from my classes and imagining how my life would be like when we were in love and married.
I'll go through the ones I thought about in my most boring class, Calculus.

Ethan* and I don't get married. We live in an apartment and I'm working some shitty job, like as a waitress or something, and he's really smart, like computer smart, but he doesnt apply himself. He tends to play video games at home and read all the time. I love reading, and this was initially attractive, but now I'm getting frustrated. However, he is a very sweet guy and I couldnt be more in love with him. He's like a kid but I dont mind working all day just so we can be together.

Kevin and I are married. He's not so attractive, but he's very loveable. We're in our forties and he's retired and we get to travel in an rv like old retired people do. Life isnt passionate, it's just comfortable, but I'm happy. I’m kind of plump but so is he so it’s not a big deal. We watch tv together and are content to just hold hands every once and a while.

Oliver and I are lovers. I am unhappily married to a skinny business man and I tried the whole business wife thing but it got boring. That is, until I saw Oliver goofing off with some of his guy friends and decided to be brave and go talk to him. We are meant for each other, but I enjoy the stability of my current husband so I am having an affair with Oliver. We mainly meet up in his apartment. There is an age difference (he’s younger) but he’s mature and I enjoy his spontaneity. We’d probably end it mutually, knowing that we’ll never be happy without each other but also know that it’s impossible for us to be together.

Quintin and I are the typical country club couple. He’s a bit older, but not much. I’m pretty hot for a thirty year old woman. We have two kids but we live like it’s still just the two of us. We host parties and dinners frequently. He golfs and I play tennis and I pretend not to notice when he looks at other women because I love him and I know he would never cheat on me. And he really wouldn’t.

Ulric and I ended up talking at a party where we both felt kind of out of place. We both definitely felt a connection but nothing really happened for a while. We started talking online and eventually go out on a date. As it turns out, we have a lot in common and we begin to fall in love. It is the very sweet kind of first love and we are young and it is wonderful. Our families are thrilled to hear that we’re engaged. We have the wedding of my dreams and it is all very nice.

Keagan and I met at a bible study. We got into a bit of an argument about something but after class he approached me and asked if we could go out and discuss it a little more. I fell in love with him He was very devoted and it was to argue with him. He even let me win sometimes. We were in our late twenties and he was training to become a pastor. Keagan was more religious than I am, but I loved him too much to tell him that. I just went along with it. We are married and I became the pastor’s wife, you know, the one that is so nice to everyone and bakes things all the time. We have four kids that we’re raising in a loving but God-fearing household. I don’t mind faking my Christianity if it means being with him.

Yep, so today was pretty fun. It definitely killed some of the boredom. The funny thing is that I cant see myself dating any of these guys, but now I’m wondering if maybe…. No, never mind.

*As you may have guessed, names have been changed*

Day 1: Warm Up (UPDATE!)

Okay, so I don't know if this really counts since I already posted about completing my task, but...there was an ant on my computer screen, and I figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to insult an insect. So, as I flicked it off the screen (with my middle finger, I might add) I said, "You stupid anthole!!" Anthole is a REALLY bad pun in two ways: asshole, AND ant hill. I don't know how calling a bug an ant hill is an insult, especially when it's an ant, but, what can I say, I am the master of reallllly bad jokes.

Day 1: Warm Up

So today was the first day of school. And needless to say, I didn't enjoy it (I've realized that this year is going to be, well, difficult!) But when I got home and saw that a package came, one that I've been waiting for, one with a book inside called This Book Will Change Your Life, I was ecstatic.
See Betty and I (well, mostly Betty) decided to follow the instructions in this book every day, hoping to liven up our senior year and stay connected since I've moved and we're still the best of friends. Pretty much this blog will be our way of keeping up with each other's progress.
Here's how it's going to work:
At night we'll read over the next day's task, trying to think about how we'll do it or alter it to make it reasonable for us (school during the day can really limit things)
The next day we'll do the task
That evening we'll blog here about what we did and how it went, all of that
This way we each do our own thing but we are held accountable by the other. Also, it'll be so fun to read what the other one did and all that. We're going to avoid talking about the tasks before hand, as it will be a lot more interesting to see how each of us decided to do the tasks that could be done in different ways.

So enough about how this works and on to today's task.
There's a big list of random little things and the task is to choose only one for the day, as a warm up (hence the title). I marked all the ones I'd be interested in doing and then chose one. I picked "insult an insect".
During dinner I thought about insults I've never been brave enough to say that I could say to a bug but I couldn't think of anything great. Then I remembered this site I stumbled to (stumbled referring to by using Stumbleupon) that has a list of Shakespearean insults in three columns. You just pick one from each and you have a nice insult. I went through and narrowed down until I had "puny rump-fed foot-sucker". Then I went searching for an insect. I was walking around my house, hunched over, scouting for bugs, in my pajamas. I finally found one by our front porch- a little ant scurrying around on the sidewalk. I said in the meanest voice I could muster "You puny rump fed foot sucker!!" At this point my five year old brother, Brandon, opened the front door and asked why I was outside in my pjs. So I went back in, feeling accomplished.
I dont think it was as big of a deal that I insulted the ant, but more that I did something I never would have thought to do. I mean, even if I were mad at an ant, I wouldnt think of anything more creative than "you stupid ant" to insult it with. And then there was just the satisfaction of completing my first task and knowing that I have an entire year's worth ahead- it was exciting.
More tomorrow,
Brittany

Day 1: Warm Up

Well, I was going to explain the concept of this blog, but Brittany did a pretty good job summing it up. So...onto my first task description:

Alrighty, so since today is the first day, the book gives you some pretty easy choices (or "warm ups") for you to choose from to complete for your first task. According to the book, they will only change your life a little bit. I chose to do two tasks: whisper a white lie when no one's listening, and decide which one of my toes is the prettiest. The white lie was easy. Dallas (my younger sister) was making me really mad, and I whispered to myself, "Dallas is the most understanding person in the entire world." Which is actually not a white lie, but a complete lie (at the moment). Deciding which one of my toes was a lot harder because...I kinda hate all of them. But, I finally came to a decision and it's my middle toe. It's the perfect length, not too chubby or anything, and it's a little pudgier at the top which I think is cute. Like anyone would even notice that though when I have my freaking 5 foot long second toe overshadowing the rest of them. Whatever. Today's task is complete and I can't wait for tomorrow. :)