Chamber Sweats

Tomorrow begins my first Challenge Month: The Month of Conditioning. The intention of this month is to instill a sense of discipline that can then be carried forward into the rest of the challenge months in addition to all the other aspects of the project. I'm not entering into this month "cold turkey"; I've been slowly ramping up my daily practice to ensure success. Here are the terms of the month:

1. Rise at dawn
2. Cold Showers
3. No Television, No Video/Phone Games, No Mindless web surfing
4. Daily Meditation

Day One for Imaginary Life Seven, Survivalist:

Looked up how to start a fire without matches. It looks surprisingly easy. I'm going to see if I can do it three different ways:

-Old School: Rubbing a stick on another stick.
-Nerd Style: With my own glasses
-Bow method: Rubbing the stick but with a bow instead of your hands

I also looked up some methods for water retrieval in the wild. This life will be two tiered: Research and then practical application. I might try to do some this weekend if possible!

Haiku of the Day:

Persistant neck sweat
trickles down the knobbly spine
a luge to my ass

Today's Drawing

Nadir

1 : the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer
2 : the lowest point

Words Escape

Day One for Imaginary Life Four, Poet:

Already this one is a little tougher than the others...Poetry has always been a "lightning strike" kind of artistic experience - The words seek my out and demand to be released. I usually have very little say in the matter. Scheduling will be a challenge...

-Later that day-

So I didn't end up getting to write the poem I wanted. The day and my own fatigue snatched it away from me. I did find a fun poem site that I've begun perusing each day to keep the flavor close to the surface. I will pay this life more mind next time it comes in the cycle.

Haiku of the Day:

Tangy yellow paste

scooped from tin foil crevices

with a wooden stick

Today's Drawing

Attenuate

1 : to make thin or slender
2 : to make thin in consistency : rarefy
3 : to lessen the amount, force, magnitude, or value of : weaken
4 : to reduce the severity, virulence, or vitality of

You Can't Be Serious!

Day One for Imaginary Life 6, Voice Actor:

The first few days for most of the Lives will be devoted to immersion and planning. Yesterday I spent a couple of the spare hours I could muster in my day researching and brainstorming and generally living in a Board Gamer mindset. Trying it on like a hat. Today I've been looking up different sites for voice actors and looking at who are the successful ones to emulate and study. I've already stumbled on a couple books for voice training and I plan on implementing some basic voice exercises into my day to day where possible. One of my favorite ideas so far is to create a bank of tongue twisters for practicing.

Here are three different voices doing the same line reading from a random dialogue generator:

Jon McClember
Len Cheep
Frank Oz Knock-Off

Haiku of the Day:

Crackling knee joints

protest the endless staircase -

Tell it to the judge.

Today's Drawing

Licit - conforming to the requirements of the law : not forbidden by law : permissible

Jack the Cracker

Day One for Imaginary Life Two, Board Game Designer:

-I realize when I talk about board games folks might get the impression that I'm talking about Monopoly or Scrabble, which is only partially the case. Many of the games that I own don't have a physical board associated with them (think Yahtzee) but at least some chance based element like dice or card drawing. There are games with heavy themes that are cleverly backed by their mechanics. They're created by nerds, like me, who enjoy storytelling paired with probability. It's like a video game but you end up having to do all the math and imagining yourself. 

-I'm going about the soul searching for this all wrong...I think I need to start with a theme, something I find really compelling and then find a set of mechanics that meshes with the subject matter.

Idea!

Wards - Patients in a mental hospital must stave off insanity while attempting to get through a whole day. Each player has a different cocktail of disorders and must use that to their advantage to avoid particular pitfalls and hazards on the way. There's a variation where one player is the therapist and can help treat patients and give them options while still adhering to the rules of their position. I'm interested in whether or not this would have a "win" condition and what that might mean. 

• Pros: I have familiarity with the subject matter and it excites me to no end.
• Cons: It is a minefield of controversy and could end up very easily being distastefully done. UPDATE: It has been done, but in a horror setting. I just found its Kickstarter campaign from 2015. Bummer. Will have to revisit this idea with this new information.

-I spent a good few hours doing research and brainstorming...I think it'd be worth doing again next time with a little more focus. It was interesting.

Haiku of the Day:

The great snooze button

A reset of our waking

Skinner box for sleep

Today's Drawing

Crackerjack - of striking ability or excellence

Sunday Blueprint Begins

First Sunday Planning day!

So I have a busy first week to start off on... three days of rehearsals, one friend date and then the wife and I head out for a wedding on Saturday. I will have to chose wisely and hope for the best. Here's what I'm thinking:

Mon - Board Game Designer - Look up and study the different types of boardgames. Identify a top three for the types I enjoy
Tues - Voice Actor - Record three different types of voices with a single line
Wed -  Poet - Go outside and write a short poem using a specific form
Thurs - Survivalist - Look up various ways to light a fire without a match. Start planning a trip to the woods.
Fri - Dancer - Learn a basic dance move
Sat - Carpenter - Brainstorm and come up with three basic things to make for the house. Think of one way to make each of them interesting.

Also I've drafted up a template for these Sunday check-ins:

Days of My Lives:

1. Dancer - 0
2. Board Game Designer - 0
3. History Teacher - 0
4. Poet - 0

5. Carpenter - 0

6. Voice Actor - 0

7. Survivalist - 0
8. Playwright - 0
9. Drag Queen - 0
10. Spiritual Counselor - 0

Obviously I haven't official had a day yet so they are all zero but that should change this week!

Haiku of the Day:

Fuzzy carpet threads

cushion thick and callused toes

A fur substitute

Today's Drawing 

Jactitation - a tossing to and fro or jerking and twitching of the body

The Resolution Continues

Cue the Triumphant Fanfare! It is time to begin another ridiculous endeavor in self -improvement!

I am 29 today and will begin my project. This project will present itself in a few parts:

• Challenge Months - Each month brings with it a challenge, either in a thing I have to do or a thing I can't do. More details below. They all start with C because my blog was founded on the principles of abhorrently abundant alliteration. DEAL WITH IT.
• Haikus - Usually a description/snapshot of the day. Keep to the form. Keep up the garden.
• Drawing - The drawing is done in pen (for the time being) and on a piece of printer paper. It is inspired by Merriam Webster's word of the day. VERY loosely inspired.
• Imaginary Lives - I have chosen ten "Imaginary Lives" that I would like to try and make less imaginary. I will spend 30 total days this year on each life and each life will have a simple stretch goal attached to it. If goals are reached before the end of the year (many of them will be) new stretch goals will be established. The stretch goals for each life are listed below. If you want a little more in depth understanding of why I chose each Life, I have embedded links in each one to the previous blog post that explains it.
• Sundays - On Sundays, I plan and reflect. Like a status report. This will give me time to do any blog maintenance, make sure I'm keeping up to date with the Lives and plan the upcoming week.

Here are the Imaginary Lives with all their stretch goals:

1. Dancer - Choreograph a dance to a song and record performing it
2. Board Game Designer - Design a board game
3. History Teacher - Present a ten minute lesson on a topic
4. Poet - Perform a piece of orginal poetry

5. Carpenter - Build a thing out of wood

6. Voice Actor - Record telling a story (original or otherwise)

7. Survivalist - Start a fire without any matches
8. Playwright - Write a one-act play
9. Drag Queen - Perform in drag (I'm doing this in August through a show called Dolls As Guys)
10. Spiritual Counselor - Take a counseling class

Many of these stretch goals will be achieved early on. After that point I will update them to a whole new stretch goal!

Unlike the Imaginary Lives, which officially begin today, The months will go by month starting with the first of July next Friday:

The Month of Conditioning (July) - No TV, video games or junk internet sites
The Month of Conquest (August) - Visit 25 different places over the course of the month
The Month of Cleansing (September) - no junk food, no alcohol, and no swearing
The Month of Character (October) - Create and workshop 10 different characters
The Month of Composition (November) - Commit to NaNoWriMo. Reading is only form of entertainment
The Month of Compassion (December) - Reach out to family and friends. Reject negativity
The Month of Competition (January) - Make and play a game every day
The Month of Contemplation (February) - Extensive meditation. No speaking for long periods. No earbuds
The Month of Computation (March) - Make your own computer and learn basic programming
The Month of Comedy (April) - Write a joke and draw a comic every day
The Month of Courage (May) - Face 10 specific fears

The Month of Calm (June) - Relax. Take up napping. Get ready for next year!

That's all for now. Let the games begin!

Haiku of the Day:
Memory shuffle
the leaflets are numerous
and stained with grievance

Today's Drawing

Extirpate
1 a : to destroy completely : wipe out
b : to pull up by the root
2 : to cut out by surgery

Another year...

We're bringing another year to a close. Tomorrow, I will be 29 years old and I'll be embarking on another grand project. This year's project fell through, but I did manage to accomplish a few things:

-Reading: I read my age in books! Again! Another 29 and they are all listed at the bottom of the page (below the drawing.) My personal favorites are in bold. The MVP author this year is Malcolm Gladwell. Such a great and informative writer and thinker.

-Haikus: I still got one for every day. Well over 700. And I've finally updated my Haiku garden! Check it out here.

-Abstention: I gave up potato chips this year and next year will be soda. List below!

Age 25: Cigarettes

Age 26: Energy Drinks

Age 27: Ground Beef

Age 28: Potato Chips

Age 29: Soda

(As a side note, I also gave up meat and fish after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer in July.)

Of course there was quite a bit that was accomplished on top of this: I was a part of many successful shows, navigated TWO career changes and fought through my first major depressive episode in years. 28 wasn't a picnic but I'm coming out swinging. Stay tuned for the next step!!

The twelfth and final month of my challenge year will be the The Month of Calm. This month will be all about rest. I will allow myself sleep above all things. I will take entire days off. I will take stock and do as much as I can to eliminate stress from any final projects. This is all in the hope that I can be fully charged to leap into that next year. Which will be my 30th. We shall see.

All Twelve Challenge Months:

The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Conquest (August)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Character (October)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Compassion (December)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Contemplation (February)
The Month of Computation (March)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (May)

The Month of Calm (June)

Haiku of the Day:

Sunshine and sirens

a park at the city's heart

soaking it all in

Today's Drawing

Hermetic

1 : relating to or characterized by occultism or abstruseness : recondite
2 a : airtight 
b : impervious to external influence
c : recluse, solitary

For those curious, this was my reading list for 2015-2016.

Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile
The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
Undeniable by Bill Nye
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott
Take off your Pants: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Libbie Hawker
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
The Player of Games by Iain Banks
Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey
Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Emporer of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

Sweet Smarts

The eleventh challenge month is going to be The Month of Character. During this month I'll be creating and work-shopping ten original characters that I will physicalize, create backstories for and hopefully film in some capacity. My hope is to be able to embody at least a few of them for long periods of time, many days even to really get in there skin and play with posture and voice. I often do this sort of thing in my spare time when I'm feeling bored and I figured why not put it toward some purpose. I also hope to use this as a way to jump into the November Writing month and for writing my one act at the end of the year (for The Playwright)

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Conquest (August)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Character (October)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Compassion (December)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Contemplation (February)
The Month of Computation (March)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (May)

Haiku of the Day:
Rock hard caramel
plays a foul game of chicken
with my back molars

Today's Drawing

Genius
1 : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude
2 : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity
3 : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high IQ

Psyche

My tenth and final Imaginary Life that I will be striving towards next year is Spiritual Counselor. One of my favorite things is sitting down with someone and chatting one-on-one. I love getting the chance to look someone in the eye and ask meaningful questions and engage in productive and hardy discussions. I loathe small talk. I prefer to get to the heart of things if possible. This is one of many reasons I don't do well in a professional office environment.

What am I going to do to make this life closer to my own? My plan is to 1.) make a greater effort to spend one-on-one time with close friends and family 2.) create a list of meaningful questions to have on hand for those types of conversations 3.) Read books and possibly go to a class for basic counseling.

The full list of Imaginary Lives:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

5. Carpenter

6. Voice Actor

7. Survivalist 
8. Playwright
9. Drag Queen
10. Spiritual Counselor

Haiku of the Day:

Absent minded girl

holds a half-bit banana

staring at nothing

Today's Drawing

Fiegn:
1 : to give a false appearance of : to induce as a false impression
2 : to assert as if true

Love, Rain and Nonsense

The tenth challenge month in my self-improvement gauntlet is The Month of Compassion. Appropriately during the holiday season (December), this month will be about fostering good thoughts and reaching out to loved ones. I plan to reach out to a different person every day this month, either via letter or phone. Ideally I'd also like to attempt a think positive mentality regarding others. That means no gossip or badmouthing anyone. This might not work considering I currently have to walk through downtown Boston every day but dammit, I'm going to try. 

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Conquest (August)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Compassion (December)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Contemplation (February)
The Month of Computation (March)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (May)

Haiku of the Day:

Early morning rain

pattering a metal plate

just outside our window

Today's Drawing:

Inchoate - being only partly in existence or operation : incipient; especially : imperfectly formed or formulated, formless, incoherent

Shine Sister!

My ninth Imaginary Life is a bit of a doozy, which is why I saved it for near the end: Drag Queen. Before you pass any judgements, do your research. That's a wikipedia article for "drag queen" (if you didn't click it) and it's a great non-bias Introduction to Drag. Later in the article is the main reason why I find drag intriguing: "...skewering traditional gender roles, defying the social norms of male and female appearance and behavior and showing the artificiality of femininity and masculinity..." I want to do drag mostly to shine a bright, sequined light on gendered behavior. What can I say? There's something profoundly cathartic about it. 

So, I'd like to put together a monologue and create a character that pokes fun while simultaneously respecting the gender conversation. This is certainly an "odd one" in comparison to the others but I feel an innate drive to pursue it. 

And, not to toot my own horn, I clean up pretty nice too.

The Lives so far:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

5. Carpenter

6. Voice Actor

7. Survivalist 
8. Playwright
9. Drag Queen

Haiku of the Day:

Fake Senate floor

Our Chairwoman calls for yeas

The pomp is dripping

Today's Drawing (I'm bringing back word of the day! I'm gonna do my best to capture, however reactionary, my responses to Merriam Webster's word of the day. I've realized that meditating on a word for the course of a whole picture was really great for my vocabulary. Gonna keep it up.)

Heliolatry - sun worship

Phlegm and Conquest

My ninth challenge month will be The Month of Conquest. During this month I'll be going on various adventures in and around the city of Boston. My hope is to get a picture for each destination I visit. I will be choosing the destination by asking friends and relatives to pick places they would like to see me go! That's the plan at least. This is all in an attempt to see the parts of Boston that I haven't had a chance to see in case I end up leaving in the coming year.

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Conquest (August)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Contemplation (February)
The Month of Computation (March)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (May)

Haiku of the Day:

A Copious Phlegm:

The thirty page novella

describing my day

Today's Drawing

Book Break

I'm realizing this next year is going to be quite an undertaking, much like the first year was, so I'm allowing myself a "sick" day every month. That's 12 total days where I can do whatever I want and not have to do anything here.

That being said, I have a few more months to hash out and a couple more Lives to explain...then the plan is to lay out all of it in The Contract and have a first draft ready by the 25th of the month. Then I'll go "live" with the thing on the first of July with a final draft and I'll leap into my first challenge month and we'll be off to the races!

I'm excited. A little nervous, but excited nonetheless.

Haiku of the Day:

Stacks on stacks on stacks

Our books laid out before us

Ripe for the plucking

Today's Drawing

Tech and Fireworks

The eighth challenge month will be The Month of Computation. During this month my hope is to build my own computer and learn the basics of a Linux operating system. I've been woefully behind when it comes to my computer literacy so I wanted to spend a month devoted to learning what I can. It seem like a tall order now, but if that's what I spend my free time on I think I'll make some progress. Perhaps I'll create a list of things I'd like to be able to accomplish on the new computer once I've made it so I have some benchmarks along the way.

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Contemplation (February)
The Month of Computation (March)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (May)

Haiku of the Day:
Guessing at fireworks
without divulging too mush
is tiresome work

Today's Drawing

Page n' Stage

The eighth Imaginary Life on my list is Playwright. This life is the closest to what I studied in college and something I would have continued to pursue once I graduated if I didn't decide to quit the whole theater scene altogether and learn how to be an adult from scratch. What can I say, I love me some dialogue. The true mastery of play-writing comes in being able to craft a hearty and multi-faceted skeleton upon which other artists can build. It's a strict form that I miss dearly. I've been doing some here and there but nothing so direct as a play. I think I'm going to try it again. So that's the goal for this one: Write a one-act. Simple as that. Get some people together to read it before June of next year.

The Lives so far:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

5. Carpenter

6. Voice Actor

7. Survivalist 
8. Playwright

Haiku of the Day:

Oh wondrous black sky
please do me this small penance
and swallow them up

Today's Drawing

Clear Head

The seventh challenge month will be The Month of Contemplation. During this month I will go more in depth into my meditation practice by extending into half hour sessions and my hope is to be able to take a vow of silence for an entire week. If I am still gainfully employed at that time it may be next to impossible but I'm very intrigued to try. Also I won't be allowed earbuds at any time so I can best take in the world around me when travelling.

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Contemplation (February)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (I decided on May!)

Haiku of the Day:

The fever mind reels
unhinging at the bottom
and the world pours out

Today's Drawing

Stay Alive

The seventh Imaginary Life I'm looking to cultivate is Survivalist. I've been harboring a deep desire to buy some property in the middle of nowhere and learn to live off the land. That excites me to no end. This ties in with the carpenter and my innate desire to build things from scratch and find new creative ways to live. My hope is to start picking up basic survival skills, like knot tying and fire making and stuff like that and then go on a wilderness adventure for a few days. That sounds so satisfying to me, from both the autonomous side and the "getting away from people and screens" side.

The Lives so far:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

5. Carpenter

6. Voice Actor

7. Survivalist

Haiku of the Day:

In a menthol haze

the throat-back's iron fillings

grate incessantly

Today's Drawing

Get Ready...FIGHT!

The sixth month on my challenge month gauntlet is The Month of Competition. During this month I will strive to both invent and play a game every day. A "game" in this case includes at least one rule and some endgame condition. I hope to be able to convince friends to join me when possible!

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Competition (January)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (I decided on May!)

Haiku of the Day:

Rehearsal outfit

Bare feet in camouflage shoes

Complete with suit pants

Today's Drawing

Compassion Overcomes

Rough start to the day to say the least. Glad I got to enjoy an event of love away from the poison on the news reel.

Haiku of the Day:

Under the big top

Our revelries blossom full

We are bursting tides

Today's Drawing

Love and Adventure!

Busy being in a wedding. :)

Haiku of the Day:

Family and friends clump

Despite the cold and light rain

To share each other

Today's Drawing

Green Hills

The fifth month on my list of challenge months is The Month of Conditioning. This will be the first month in the series, taking place in July. The goal of the month of conditioning is to get me up to the task of all other aspects of the project. Basically I won't be allowed to do a bunch of stuff that wastes my time (TV, junk internet sites, video games) and I'll be undergoing a schedule that involves strict bedtimes and mealtimes. My own personal boot camp. I've been already doing many of this exercises in prep, so the transition should be relatively smooth.

Months so far:
The Month of Conditioning (July)
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (month not yet known)

Haiku of the Day:

Our hands caked in earth

We plant saplings together

To celebrate love

Today's Drawing

Talkies

The sixth Imaginary Life on my list is Voice Actor. Why voice actor and not regular actor? Because I find acting in the conventional sense exhausting. I love moving. I love speaking. But put them together and I stumble. I feel like I'm trying to have a conversation with two people at the same time when I act. I can't give the movement and the voice the attention that either deserve. So I've cleaved the actor in two.

Additionally, I love the act itself. Reading aloud brings me joy. Listening to stories, either through radio or podcasting, has been a media staple of mine for years now. With this in mind, I'd like to do a few things toward this Life:

-Reading books aloud is something I've been doing for Emily before bed for a few years now. Let's make that a more regular thing.

-Workshop a few characters so I have a consistent handful I can pull from

-Voice/accent work either by class, book, or online.

The Lives so far:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

5. Carpenter

6. Voice Actor

Haiku of the Day:

Errant arm slip up

and the bowl of chips explodes

I stare - bewildered

Today's Drawing

Har Har

The fourth month in my theme month series is The Month of Comedy. During the month of comedy I'll be attempting to write a joke each day and all my drawings will be comics. My hope is to do this during the month of April because it has a joke holiday in it...we'll see.

Months so far:
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Comedy (April)
The Month of Courage (month not yet known)

Haiku of the Day:

Delicious muffins
banana nut by name but
I taste cyanide!

Today's Drawing

No TIME!

No Imaginary Life or Month today. Very busy.

Haiku of the Day:

A day on my feet

The dogs cry out in protest

My sole aches with them

Today's Drawing (inspired by MW's word of the day, Nescience)

Cape N' Cleanse

The third challenge month I'll be covering is The Month of Cleansing. I mentioned this month briefly in the Next Steps post and the premise is simple: No cursing, no processed food, no alcohol and no animal based products (vegan). I hope to do this one earlier - my thought was September since there are few parties that month and it preps me for the final holiday-heavy quarter of the year. I think the cursing will be the hardest. Actually they all seem pretty bad now that I think about it.

Months so far:
The Month of Cleansing (September)
The Month of Composition (November)
The Month of Courage (month not yet known)

If you couldn't tell already, I've got some alliteration going with all the C's. I'd noticed that half of them began with the letter so I figured, Why not?

Haiku of the Day:

Meeting at the Cape

Wait, this is a thing I do?

Someone pinch me, please.

Today's Drawing (inspired by MW's word of the day, Walter.)

Canoe Anyone?

The fifth of my Imaginary Lives is Carpenter. This one may seem to come out of the left field, but recently I've been drawn to tasks that involve building things. With my hands. I made the frame for our bed last year and, as that's a project I reap rewards from every day, I want to keep that going. I have a few project ideas but I would love to make at least five solid pieces of furniture or fixture over the course of this year. Maybe even look into utilizing one of those shared workshop spaces. For that bed project, I enlisted the help of a friend and we cut wood on the roof of his apartment. I want more moments like that in my life.

The Lives so far:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

5. Carpenter

Haiku of the Day:

I can see the days -
charging over the hillside
weilding To-Do lists

Today's Drawing (Inspired by Lucid, MW's word of the day)

Sit Down at the Typewriter and Bleed

The second challenge month I want to cover is The Month of Composition. This will be the month of November and during this month I will turn my focus to writing. First, my only form of entertainment will be reading during this month. This will help prompt my writing mind and hopefully put a decent dent in my book reading goal. I will also attempt to participate in NaNoWriMo, something I've wanted to try but never had the opportunity to plan. I anticipate this to be an interesting month.

Note: The title is from a Hemingway quote.

Months so far:
The Month of Courage (month not yet known)
The Month of Composition (November)

Haiku of the Day:

With no agenda

we stay up monstrously late

shirking tomorrow

Today's Drawing

Prithee

The fourth of my Imaginary Lives is Poet. I like to write, but I've never had the discipline, grammatical prowess or sense of planning to be a more long form writer. And I'm big on feelings and the sounds of words. Spoken poetry is my favorite and I'm inspired by poets like Shane Koyczan and Saul Williams. There's a deep desire to let loose that voice and so I hope to craft a piece that I can speak aloud, preferably in a public forum of some kind. Perhaps I'll go to a few readings to see what he scene is like here in Boston.

So the community's fleshing out:

1. Dancer
2. Board Game Designer
3. History Teacher
4. Poet

Not necessarily an economically viable community, but I prefer poor and vibrant to well-off and dreary.

Haiku of the Day:

Masses underground
frustrated insects clawing
each other for food

Today's Drawing

Fear Factor

So in addition to the "Imaginary Lives" section of next year's project I will also be attempting a challenge each month. I mentioned this briefly in the announcement back on the 25th of May. So I figured I'd cover a little bit of each of them in the build-up to the project launch. The actual months in which they take place may switch...it all depends on what I've got going on.

The first Challenge Month I'll cover is The Month of Courage. I was planning on doing this one sometime in the winter. During the Month of Courage I would face 10 of my most basic fears on 10 separate events or occasions. At the moment I don't have all of them, but here are a few I'd like to try:

1. Bees - I hate bees and they terrify me. My plan for this one is to visit a beekeeper and look at a hive. I get chills thinking about it.

2. Spiders - Going with the heebie-jeebie theme, I hate spiders even more than bees. I've had recurring nightmares about spiders since a very young age. I'm going to see if I can hold a tarantula. Or at least be able to be in the same room as one without a cage or glass separating us. *shudder*

3. Heights - I get some mad stressy vertigo at high places. I would love to skydive (though it might be too pricey.) or at least experience some ride type of freefall. Hell, just standing on one of those glass floors over a very high place for five minutes would do it for me.

4. Dead Bodies - I'd like to visit a morgue or cadaver lab. It freaks me the heck out but since reading Mary Roach's Stiff I've been really intrigued...

5. Intimacy - Looking people in the eye and saying "I love you" is petrifying. I plan to do this with all the people I can this month. Preferably with an explanation of why to make it that much more uncomfortable.

6. Talking on the phone with strangers - Huge problem. Ever since I was little. Each day this month I have to call a complete stranger for a non-commercial reason.

7. Being naked in public - It's illegal in most places. Not nude beaches though...Maybe I should make this month in the summer...I'll think about it.

That's all I got so far. I'm open to suggestion as I will also be digging into my fear center to get the last few for this.

Oh man this entry gave me cold sweats.

Haiku of the Day:
Night-time bridge journey
City lights gleam on the Charles
Try not to feel small

Today's Drawing