Table of Contents:
#1: AtoZ
#2: ROW80
#3: Happiness Project
#4: Movies
#5: Books
What’s Up Wenzday #1: AtoZ Challenge — C is for Challenges
I am participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Which is fitting, because Challenges are one of the reasons I blog. Obviously, it didn’t start out that way. I mean, before I started blogging, I had no idea there even WERE challenges, and why should I have? I started blogging because my hubz got tired of me complaining about the world to him, and he suggested (kindly, of course, because he’s awesome at handling me) I maybe spew on YOU GUYS instead. So you can thank him for this here bloggy-blog.
Challenges rock my freaking socks!
Challenges are a great way to figure out WTF you’re doing. They are also a smart way to push accountability. And they help you know you aren’t alone — you can make a lot of friends, even if you’re a raving bitch like me. I participate in other challenges, too — not all of them blogging related. Challenges keep me motivated to keep trying, to be the best me, to take baby steps in the right direction.
A few of my Personal Commandments:
The key to doing anything is doing something.
Just show up.
Don’t stop starting.
Just do it — NOW!
Do the work.
Perfection is the enemy of progress and productivity.
These in particular personify why I participate in challenges, and why I keep blogging.
What’s Up Wenzday #2: ROW80
I am participating in the challenge A Round of Words in 80 Days.
RUN:
My Keystone Habit is to walk two miles daily. This is the bare minimum of what I must accomplish daily in order to receive the title “Functioning Human Being Capable of Completing ONE Simple Task Beyond Breathing, Sleeping, Eating, and Peeing”. If I can go 42 days straight, I get some massive prize. Like maybe those black boots I’ve been dying for.
I get a *Silver Star* if I complete a second Simple Task, a *Gold Star* for a third Simple Task, and *much Throwing of Glitter* for a fourth Simple Task.
ORGANIZE:
~ Spend at least 15 minutes on housekeeping.
~ Spend at least 15 minutes on an Organizational (or Decorating) Task in my office.
WRITE:
~ Write a blog post.
~ Add at least 300 words to my Wippy-Doodle { WIP: Work-in-Progress }.
SMILE:
~ Update my Happify.
~ Attend a Swanky Function { Book Club, Writing Group, Scrapbooking Workshop, Coffee }.
So, how goes my ROWS { Run, Organize, Write, Smile } for the last week (Sunday 3/24 through Saturday 3/30/2013)?
… Oh. Um. Yes. Well.
Look, I really wasn’t keeping track, because… uh, yeah… I kind of suck. I had this complicated list I was working off, and I got really overwhelmed. Here, I’ll show you what it looked like:
That crapola was before adopting a simply Keystone Habit, which has done wonders for me. So, next week will totally have a better track record, replete with stars and glitter and all that shit. There will be much merry-making. No, for realz. Because look at my new, shiny, pink “TO DO” list:
What’s Up Wenzday #3: Happiness Project
“Homework VIII” by Julien Smith
This week’s assignment is:
“a part of a practice of detachment. Throw out or give away the most important item you can stand to get rid of.”
Ouch. This one is ROUGH.
Over the past few weeks, however, my hubz and I have been going through our book collection and slowly weeding out those which we know we won’t read. This exercise is pretty intense for us, as we are avid readers. But even that was NOTHING compared to the pain of going through my kids’ books. Some of them are from my childhood, some from my hubz’ childhood, many from my adult son’s childhood, and quite a few which my eight-year-old daughter has already outgrown.
Books mean a lot to us.
They are a form of escapism and enlightenment and education and all kinds of other wonderful adjectives. My son made sure to tell us not to touch his books without checking with him first, and my daughter piped up agreement that no one was to get rid of anything without her express permission. It’s funny — this probably sounds like my children walk all over me or something. If you know us at all, you realize this is completely untrue. I am the queen of the universe and I rule the world and my kids know who’s boss (it’s me). Books, in our house, are just the one area you don’t fuck around. And I’m so very proud that my babies are readers who share our slightly covetous, tight grip on books.
But it was time to let some go.
My hubz sold a few on Amazon, and sent several more to a book exchange. My daughter picked out a bunch to pass down to her baby brother at her “other” house (we’re a split family). My son and I both picked out a bunch for my hubz to deal with. So our shelves are slightly less over-packed, and reading material no longer sits on each step of the staircase. We still have our wall display, and there are still a bunch of items we could stand to lose, but it was a good start.
What’s Up Wenzday #4: Movies
Just watched THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY at the dollar theater, and it was pretty terrific. Our little one was enthralled and sat through the entire thing without a peep. My sister says her little boy (same age as mine) was equally entranced. My hubz and I agreed that our favorite part was the riddle exchange between Bilbo and Gollum, although we both admitted this was our favorite part in the book, as well, so perhaps we were emotionally biased. Our daughter’s favorite part was when the giant birds swooped in to save Gandolph and the company of dwarves. She leaned over and whispered, “I never get to fly on giant hawks!”
My hubz and I also saw THE SESSIONS on DVD recently, which was a *LOT* more porno-ish than we were expecting. Although the movie was entertaining, and although I am far from a prude, there were definitely parts that made me squirm uncomfortably. I must give giant kudos to Helen Hunt for her brave performance, cuz girl got total naked and I’m not even being funny. We saw full front, full back, full EVERYTHING. Oh, and Jesus Christ, do not watch this with children in the house, much less in the same room. It’s just shy of an X rating, but not in a tasteless or overly gratuitous way. You should really just get rid of your children altogether if you plan to watch this. Sell them to the gypsies or something. You do NOT want to risk them walking into the room during certain scenes.
One thing we found interesting was the inverted reflection between Helen Hunt’s character versus that of her patient: She had freedom of movement, a very open marriage, and (seemingly) the perfect picket-fence life, while her patient was completely immobile and dependent upon others for the simplest of tasks. You’d think she’d be happy and he’d be miserable; that she would find love easy to obtain and he’d be lonely and bitter. On the contrary — her life was quite cold and sterile, even for all its comfortable luxuries, only she didn’t know her life was so empty until compared to his — a man who was able to gain love from every individual who passed through his life, and who eventually found his soul mate.
If you are a James Bond fan, rent SKYFALL. I’m not a James Bond fan, and even I enjoyed this fun movie. It was a fabulous bridge between the old and new, the aged and the youthful, and a sad but moving goodbye to Judi Dench as the long-fabled character “M”. Seriously, you guys. I wanted to hate this movie because James Bond flicks are always so over-the-top reedonkulous. But the script was smart, the story was involved, the scenes were action-packed, and the characters were all well-developed. Probably one of the most straight-up FUN films I’ve seen in a while. And of course, who can resist Adele’s sultry voice as the end credits roll?
What’s Up Wenzday #5: Books
On my iPod:
UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi
On CD in my car:
My hubz is listening to CDs in his car, too:
A STORM OF SWORDS by George R.R. Martin
On my bedside table:
THE DROWNING GIRL by Caitlin Kiernan
For the Classics Book Club:
1 HENRY VI by William Shakespeare
With my 8yo daughter:
HOCUS POCUS HOTEL by Michael Dahl
And that’s what’s up Wenzday.
Hope your Hump-Day is full of hump-ish good times.
I’d love to hear what’s up with *YOUR* Wenzday.
Please tell me about your Happiness Project, how goes your ROWS, what Challenges you’re involved in, and what movies or books you have loved lately!