One Memorable Day

My friend Em posted a link to One Memorable Day with a comment about New Year's Resolutions.   So my mind immediately went to doing one memorable day / month -- in my mind, memorable being exciting, emotional, fun, etc.   But what it actually talks about (here's to reading the article and not just the title ;) is setting aside one day a month to get something done.  Something just for you, that you've been wanting to get done for ages.  And it has suggestions -- learn a new skill, finish an unpleasant task that's hanging over you, volunteer, etc etc.  You have the link, you can read it if you wish ;)

My first thought was -- that's an awesome idea.   My next thought was, most of those suggestions won't work for how I try to live my life.   I'm pretty good at getting things done that I want done, and there aren't too many things I want to learn (read any) that I believe can be learned in a day.   So then I started thinking well what *do* I want to do?

It turns out there are a few things I want done that are not:
- what CDs I still have (all my favourites disappeared from my car several years ago) I'd like to get uploaded to iTunes.  I got half way through and the stack remains sitting on my desk, annoying me every time I see it.  Finishing that - while probably only a couple hours of work - would be wonderful.  And preferably before I get my new computer that will likely not have a CD drive ;)
- I wrote two or three novels several years ago that I never did anything with.  While I'm not certain I have any interest in publishing them, I would like to at least edit them.  A solid day dedicated to each would go a long way.   And at this point, it's been so long since I wrote them that'd I'd be coming at it almost cold -- far more effective really ;)
- My bathroom is still PINK.  This is very much against my religion and the only thing that really makes me cringe in my little portion of our house.   Now to be fair to me, it's still pink because we intend to make other changes that would require repainting afterwards.  But someday, hopefully someday soon, the pink has to go.
- Friends.  I miss my friends.  So many of them were connected to me through the barn that without the barn I never see them anymore.   Reconnecting would be a definite plus!  Not sure I like the idea of that being on the list though -- while it definitely has the feel-good effect said article is suggesting, it's in no way a chore like the other tasks.   So iffy on that one.

Other than that though, most of the things I want to do -- and there are many! -- either require significantly more than a one-day commitment, significantly more money than I have at my disposal, or both (can we say Africa???).

So while thinking this through it occurred to me that the one thing that I'm not doing that I really miss is writing.  Hence this post.  But more importantly -- I'd like to start Friday Flash again.   I'm not even sure the community I used to write with even exists anymore (although a few of its earliest members I'm still in contact with through the power of Facebook!)   I can quite honestly say my novel would never have been written, much less published, were it not for that group.  I don't think I've written anything I've liked since starting at the bank -- apparently corporate life really does kill creativity *sigh*.   Yup just went back and checked -- the last story I wrote that I'm moderately proud of was within my first month there.   Sheesh.   So I'm going to set a goal -- not a new years resolution, partially because they always fail and partially because as far as I'm concerned the new year is an individual thing that starts on ones birthday.  But a goal of one flash per month.  While once upon a time it was a flash a week, at the moment after about a two-year dry spell of writing, one a month seems more of a challenge than running the half marathon was!

It also occurs to me that one memorable day / month -- in the literal sense -- is actually a fairly ambitious life goal.  I'm trying to think of 12 last year...  Can you do it?   Let's see, for me, in no order beyond how I think of them:
1. Moving day
2. New car day
3. Half marathon
4. Surprise promotion call
5. Waterpark adventure with Chris
6. Thanksgiving at Linda and Jamie's new (almost) cottage
7. The night Chris brought home surprise cheesecake after we hadn't seen each other all week (it's the little things in life :)
8. Girls' night with Mieke, Aileen, and Emily
9. Steph and I failing our unexpected knot tying test (remember the snowman...)
10. First Spanish lesson
11. Winning the gold star at work
12...   Ugh.  So close.  Oh wait -- riding Cal and giggling like a little kid on her first pony ride!

I'm actually fairly pleased at that :)   When I started the list I had serious doubts I'd make 12 -- I wasn't sure 2016 was all that memorable a year (at least for positive reasons!)   Admittedly there are a couple there that I had no say or influence over, but hey - they still occurred!

So on that note I'm off to sleep and dream of what can make 2017 memorable to me.