The Idle Adventure!

Well, today I fell off the wagon. I had made a bold promise to no one in particular that I was going to stop eating sweets for 60 days. I impose these kinds of rules all the time. No drinking for a month! I can only eat red meat one time a week! I will meditate every day for 20 minutes! I don't why I do it because I almost always wind up falling short of my goal. I have managed to give up tobacco completely (something I'll never go back to) but the other stuff-- the other addictions-- are tough to avoid entirely. So, today I flamed out in style, chomping down 7 "fun size" Kit Kat bars and then 4 bite sized brownies that were lingering in the kitchen area where I work. Damn! So good. I think one of the reasons I lost my will power was that after 32 days I weighed myself in the buff on the exact same scale I had used at the beginning of this challenge. Result? Net gain of one half pound. Seriously. No sweets for over a month and that's the outcome? I must have made up the calories somewhere else. I don't know why I'm becoming obsessed with weight loss after already losing 13 pounds. It's a double edged sword for me. I'm proud that I lost the weight, but now I focus on my flab more than ever. When I sit in a chair (like I am now) I can feel it around the top of my jeans. Yeah. I could lose another 10 if I really pushed myself. But for now, I'm onto another self-imposed 'challenge' of sorts.

The Idle Adventure! I am reading an excellent book called "How to Be Idle" by Tom Hodgkinson, which argues in irreverent but convincing style that we all work too damn much and all that toil really does is serve the upper classes who own businesses and factories, while enslaving us to a financially dependent consumer lifestyle. I'm not doing the book nearly enough justice with that synopsis, but if your interest is piqued you should look it up next time you want a new book. ANYWAY, people who know me well will no doubt be questioning how my lifestyle could possibly get MORE idle, seeing as how I'm self employed and work an average of about 25 hours a week. I do spend a lot of time in daddy mode, which is definitely a form of work a good percentage of the time, but actual hours as a 'worker' are small. However, I had a flash of inspiration the other day that it might be interesting to take a whole month and do nothing more than I absolutely had to, work wise. No pushing myself to drum up business or network. No re-cutting of voice demos or polishing my bloody Linked In page. Just work when I was hired to work and otherwise read books, take walks, tinker with DETOUR, exercise, lounge, and BLOG ABOUT THE WHOLE THING.

Yes, I feel the cynical waves hitting me now. "Why the hell would we want to read about you loafing around for the month? What? Are you gonna keep a journal of your nap times? How captivating!" Well, maybe it will be a crashing bore, I grant you. But for one thing, I'm always wanting to do this more often (blog), because I like it, so this will give me consistent grist for the mill. And two, I hope against hope that in some way I might inspire someone, somewhere to rethink their conventional 40-50 hour a week lifestyle, which I think is a terrible tragedy (unless of course one truly loves their job, but I think that's a rarity).

This is a time, it has been oft stated recently, of historic change. I am extremely excited and inspired by what Obama is doing so far. But as he has said many times, it's not about him, it's about us. And I would go further to say that it's just about policy and politics, but a chance to put everything under the microscope. Why do people continue to work in jobs for years that they don't like? So they can buy more stuff? So they can get the big house they don't really need? One of the most depressing things I hear when I'm out and about is people groaning that it's Monday or rejoicing that it's Friday. If you're so bummed about your job that you can't stand Mondays, you need to make a radical career change NOW. You are pissing away the better part of 5 days of every week! WAKE UP! Maybe you can work less, earn less, consume less and live MORE.

Anyway, The Idle Adventure begins Sunday February 1st. My wife will be out of town, so I'll be on daddy duty for the first 2 days, but I'm planning more posts in February that I've ever done in one month. Stay tuned! And of course, it could all go to pot if I wind up being hired to do a big production job or dozens of voice gigs. We shall see.

Musical notes: A new DETOUR is being cut together and played with. I expect it to be ready for March release. I am looking for suggestions of what to pick up for music. The well isn't exactly running dry, but I'd like some 'new blood.' Send me your thoughts if you have any. I strongly urge you to pick up the best album I've heard in years, Stephanie McKay's "Tell It Like It Is."