Day #8685 - Dear 17 Year Old Me

With today being graduation day for the seniors at the high school I work at, I got to thinking about my own high school graduation and what I would tell my seventeen year old self if I could.

Day #8607 - Happy Unniversary

First off, Happy Saint Patrick's Day! My Irish ancestors would be remissed if I didn't start right off the back with that. I'm sporting green and my pale skin with pride today. Corned beef will be coming later.

Anyway, I've actually been looking forward to today for another reason. March 17th in my mind has been a date one year in the making. It was, to me, the date that I could start calling myself a writer because it was the day I started writing in my journal and have written an entry every day since.

Now this was not my first time in my life trying to keep a journal. I have quite a nice collection of carefully selected notebooks that, if all goes to plan, NO ONE WILL EVER READ.

My first ever journal is not among these. It was from junior high and upon reading it a few years later in high school, I was so mortified by my former self that I ripped all the pages out and threw them away. Not to say that some of the thoughts in the ones I've kept are gems either. The earliest on the far left has sporadic entries from my freshman year of high school, then the pink one has random acts of high school and college. Next, the brown one was specifically for my summer studying abroad in Italy. Then the green one, a college graduation gift from my aunt, was one the one that got me in the habit of writing at least once a week again. That is, until March 17, 2011 when I then managed to start writing every single day, even if just a sentence proclaiming that I'm not dead yet.

So today was supposed to be my anniversary and a cause for celebration. Except for one tiny detail.

Upon double checking, I learned it was actually March 7th, not the 17th.  Oops!

Honestly, I'm a little bummed I missed it, but at the same I think it's a good thing that I did. I think it shows that writing has become such a part of me that it goes without saying, that it is as much a part of me as eating and breathing and all those other things we need to do to live. And now I really feel like a writer because I have done A LOT of writing in the past year in a lot of ways and forms, and my only wish is that I'd found this wonderful thing sooner.

In other writing news, I think Summer Project from last year is finally in a position where I'm comfortable with sending out query letters about it to agents and whatnot. So if you happen to be reading this, keep your fingers crossed for me, eh?

So there's a lot to be thinking about on this sunny Saturday in March. Happy Saint Patrick's Day, Happy Unniversary, and just think happy thoughts!

Day #8000 - Me and John Mellencamp

It's become an interesting practice to measure my life in days with this blog rather than just years, and to realize that I am 8,000 days old has been interesting to say the least. When I realized this day was coming up, part of me instantly thought that I should try to make it unique somehow. Memorable. Special. Then I remembered how when I've tried doing that in the past with birthdays, Hallmark Holidays, and New Year's Eve, it's never lived up to the hype and I always end up disapointed. I also thought of the title I gave to this blog over two years ago, "Just Another Day," and it actually did shape the way I chose to spend this, my 8,000th day of life.

I wasn't being apathetic when I came up with the name for this blog. In fact, a lot of careful consideration and thought went into the decision and it all comes down to John Mellencamp. In 1997, he released the song "Just Another Day" and I remember always finding the tune incredibly catchy. The lyrics talk about how days can go by so quickly and the idea of living in the now because it'll be over before you know it. We spend so much time thinking about the past and the future that the present is easily forgotten. That message combined with my decision to label every entry with a day number fit well together.

And so today really was just another day. Woke up listening to Eric & Kathy on WTMX, ran on the treadmill and did a short workout, did laundry, cleaned my room, went to Michael's to get a frame for my latest needlepoint project, practiced my guitar, and have been drawing while watching my old West Wing dvds. In the grand scheme of things, was today especially memorable? Not at all. But it was still a good day and I think all of us should take the time more often to step back, look at what we have, and be grateful for it.

I blink my eyes and the moment is over. I guess another day has passed...

Day #7980 - On the Road Again

Not going to lie, I wasn't going to blog tonight, but I like that today's day number is at a nice, round, divisible-by-ten state. Yeah...welcome to the inner workings of my mind.

Today was pretty meh. Went out to St. Charles to get my hair trimmed up for the first time since January. Let me tell you, it's almost frightening how slowly my hair grows. That was followed by a trip to Borders, coming home and taking notes for my essay, and then packing for the road trip I will be starting in roughly six hours. Woooooot. So not the most action packed of days, but I'll take it.

In other news, I rediscovered both my high school blog as well as my blog from my early years of college. Wow. I'm not even sure that I would have been friends with me, so to anyone who was, even if only for a little while, my sincere thanks. I'd like to think I've grown up since then and while my primary forms of humorous expression still seem to be sarcasm and self deprecation, at least now I'm saying it only when it's actually funny to people other than just me.

One thing I've been able to rekindle this summer already is my love of reading books that are not assigned for homework, but are just fun. I recently finished rereading the novel Austenland (a great read for any fellow Jane Austen addicts out there like myself) and started rereading Pride & Prejudice in the car to St. Charles. However, P&P isn't exactly roadtrip reading, so while I was at Borders I bought the memoir Eat Pray Love - total chick book, but I've heard wonderful things about it. I've always loved biographies and memoirs, and as a bonus, this woman was traveling - she lived in Italy for four months, then India for another four, then spent the remainder of the year in Bali. I'm feeling good about this book.

Well, I should really get to bed. Though I am absolutely a morning person, waking up at 4:30 is still really, really early...