2010/11/12

11.11.11

I spent a bit of time yesterday thinking about the date. The date. Catch that? It's hard to emphasize capital "The" when it is at the beginning of the sentence. Let's try this: The date. As in, calendar date.

I'm not the only one that does this from time to time, date to date. People count down the days to and celebrate days like 08.09.10 (kudos to those who caught the 08.09.10 11:12:13 moment in time); my senior ditch day in high school was 06.06.06; less than one year after my birth, we had such a date as 6.7.89. Needless to say, I was unable to fully appreciate the charm of said date the day of, but surely others in the world were ahh-ing and ooh-ing (while I was babbling and cooing).

Anyway, when these funny calendar days arrive, I spend a second thinking about it, and then spend all the rest of the seconds in the day not thinking about it. Because... you know, whatever. Dun' matter.

But 364 days from now, nearly to the minute, it will be 11.11.11 11:11:11. That's kind of cool. Almost noteworthy. In fact, about 5 years ago, a good childhood friend of mine announced to us that she and her then-boyfriend were going to get married on this date. I don't think that this wedding is going to happen anymore, but that's not the point. The point is...

The point is...

It's fun to count, and count down, and set landmarks for yourself, and count on yourself -- and others -- to meet goals on said landmarks.

So, back to what I was saying about yesterday and thinking about the date. To be more precise, I was doing my own planning for something amazing to happen one year from now. More amazing than 11.11.11 11:11:11, even though that is when it will take place. The amazing thing, that is.

Should I visit somewhere unimagined? Take a "next big step" in my life (whatever that may be)? Tattoo? Sky dive? Nov. 11th is Veterans Day and we'll have a 3-day holiday (Fri-Sun) that weekend in November. That gives me a bit of leeway. But who would I do this amazing thing with... who will I still be close enough to one year from now that we can have the foresight to plan something so big together?

I came up with a lot of dead ends. Boring logistics started getting in the way of my planning, taking away all my momentum. Stupid logistics.

Then I realized that my problem is that my thinking was too abrupt. I was looking for an amazing something that would give me immediate and even short-lived gratification. In fact, everything that made my list was a bit outside of my character (I love my body too much to get a tattoo). I want something that I can work towards little by little for a year and then celebrate on November 11th, 2011. I'll work on it by myself if I have to.

So, here it is, the amazing thing that I will do in celebration of Nov. 11th, 2011. Or rather, the amazing thing that I will do and celebrate for doing on Nov. 11th, 2011.

I, April Isabel, will write 111,111 words-worth of blog/journal entries by the 11th of November in the year 2011.

OK, OK, sorry if you're disappointed and sorry that I'm so dreadfully boring, but really, this is important to me.

Everyone talks about how oh-so-busy they are and how they're too busy to scratch a few meaningful words down on paper, even if those words are sparse and meaningful only to the writer. No offense, busy people. Truth is, I'm not one of those people. I've got the time. I've even got the words. What I don't have is the discipline. And hey, while I'm at it, confessing my faults and all to you, anonymous reader, I don't have the courage either (courage, on the other hand, is an entirely different subject, not one for here or now).

OK, it's time for one year of discipline and one year of writing. Hopefully, this will lead to one year of reflecting, one year of practicing writing, one year of trying out new words and ideas, and one year of self-given alone time.

Who knows, maybe this one year will lead to many years of writing.

= = =

Word Count: 712.





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