challenge update

Last night I had a craving for crab rangoon as well as hot and sour soup, so I ate them, and have leftover soup for lunch today. Mmm.

Last night I also spent an hour on the phone chatting with my mom, which was nice, but the undercurrent in her voice — worry that my life is not following her idea of how it should — made me a little sad. Okay, it made more than a little sad, mostly about making her worry but also about letting her down. But then I remembered how awesome my life is, and how I’m not letting anyone at all down by being myself, unconventional though I may be … and I wasn’t sad anymore.

Very soon I will be attending the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday at Grace Cathedral in order to fulfill February’s challenge, and I am extremely excited and nervous about it. I have not attended Mass in over ten years. It will be nice to see Mary again, even under sad circumstances. She was always my favorite part. And I am so down with G-O-D. Just not the rules and the killing others in his name and the hating on people for being different and also the abstinence stuff.

What do people wear to church these days? Is a jaunty felt fedora inappropriate?

For March’s challenge, now that March is almost over, I cleaned my room. No, no, just kidding. I think I’m going to pick a semi-easy one for March and so here it is: I am going to hang the curtain I made in January! V. exciting, especially since I have no idea how to do that.

So as of this post, I am formally accepting April challenges. Let’s avoid things that either (a) invade my flatmate’s personal space and/or peace of mind or (b) force me to interact with multiple crazy people on the streets of San Francisco. The winner receives a mix CD (Jen, yours is going in the mail this week, I swear) and there is a BONUS PRIZE this month! This BONUS PRIZE is a handwritten letter from me on very chic stationery my dad gave me!

How does one qualify for this BONUS PRIZE (love typing that), you might ask? I might tell you that the BONUS PRIZE will be given to the winning entry that requires a month-long commitment, i.e. Jen’s suggestion of going vegetarian/vegan for an entire month. But I am not doing that one, you see, because I am in love with a fabulous cook who is way too busy with MajorLifeChanges™ to readjust his entire diet around my weird little whims. Also, fish, meat, and poultry. hel-LO!

Ready? Set? Go!

About Halsted M. Bernard

Halsted, a/k/a cygnoir, does stuff with words. Her favourite things to do with words are keeping this diary, writing stories, and organising information. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband, two cats, a few gadgets, several fountain pens, and many books.

Posted on 22 Mar 2005 in Diary
  • chatty

    You can wear jaunty hats in church! Men can’t :/

    I keep feeling like I should observe Holy Week in some capacity, but when it comes to DOING it, I just don’t.

    Vis-a-vis the expectations-of-others-about-my-life thing. Sigh. Tell me about it.

    I don’t remember if this is a repeat of other challenges, but it might be interesting for you to post the next month’s Quill in some other language without the aid of an automated translation tool.

  • ian

    For April, a great challenge, and one that all of us SHOULD do, is to perform one random act of kindness a day and to journal and then post them at the end of the month on your page. The reason for the posting of all acts is not to prove how wonderful you were, but rather to show everyone here how easy it is to make a difference EVERYDAY! A tiny act may even change a life.

  • J. Steinhoff

    Hmmm… a 30 challenge for a BONUS PRIZE?!? Who can resist such an offer!

    OK, here’s one that will drive you insane, but knowing you, this is truly a challenge you could sink your teeth into. Ready?

    No escalators or elevators for the entire month of April. Got that? You are going to always choose stairs when it comes to options of travelling between floors.

    And if you need extra incentive, if you agree to do this, so will I! I am 6′ and 230 pounds, and I will gladly spend every day walking to the fifth floor of my office building if you agree to walk the same path I do.

    Are you game for it? – J.

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/stanishjohnd/ John S

    How about giving up sex for 30 days? It should not be that difficult unless you are a sex addict. :)

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/stanishjohnd/ John S

    I should clarified the sex abstinence would be for all forms of sexual activity.

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/stanishjohnd/ John S

    I should have clarified that the sex abstinence would be for all forms of sexual activity.

  • dean jones

    I have a suggestion for the contest. I know it will sound “lame ass” but this is it..
    Ever morning,pray,meditate or do something that will develop a quiet simple easy to do ritual,at end of day,do the same.
    I do this,and I find it has had a great grounding effect in my life. I do it as a pagan thing,no reason why you can’t make it anything personal you would like to do.
    There ya go. Take it or leave it.

  • http://www.beanbagcentral.com/tanya tanya

    Did you know Good Friday is the only day of the year that Mass isn’t actually celebrated? (At least in the Catholic church.) there’s the service, but since there’s no actual Eucharist, it’s not really a full Mass.

    But anyway.

    April challenge idea…still thinking.

  • eG

    This is a fairly introverted challenge, and it may be at odds with what you want to accomplish. It may also require spending money you don’t have.

    My challenge: what a movie each day. Each movie being one you have never seen before. Ideally, each movie should belong to a genre you don’t normally watch, or be [seemingly] the kind of film you would never want to see.

    Movies are wonderful. However, many are terrible. I believe that if you end up watching a terrible movie, you can still learn from it. Cliches in action and horror films, bad dialog in romance and science fiction, gratuitous nudity in the party flicks of the 80s.

    For added worth, write a short poem for each movie. It won’t be a good poem, but that’s ok — it probably won’t be a good movie. At the end of 30 days you will have 30 poems and 30 new movies in your heard, and possible a small handful of new ideas.

  • http://mickeykuyo.fr-org.net/ Mickey

    No TV
    No computer
    No radio

    Have a nice month! :)

  • http://www.lilybleu.net Lilybleu

    My challenge idea for the month:

    Tell a different person each day of April why they make your life better by being in it – whether in a letter or a phone call or an e-mail or in person, no matter.

    After losing my dad (eight years ago now but always fresh) I have come to the realization that life is too short to not tell the people we love how they matter to us. You never know what will happen tomorrow. :)

  • http://www.sneakypanda.org jen

    Oh church will be interesting. I’m so curious to hear what you think/learn/feel about it.

    I’m totally down with G-O-D, too. Just not so down with all things Jesus or the hating and the rule mongering hypocrisy and stuff of that nature.

  • tyee

    I still vote for the sip of milk the day after the sell by date on the carton. :)

  • http://mickeykuyo.fr-org.net/ Mickey

    Tyee… You want to create a mutant halsted?

  • cornontheschwab

    Wear the hat!!! Mmmmmmmmm, hot and sour soup…AND…crab rangoon!!! *falls over* I’ve gotten that very same meal more than once…

    On to the April challenge…this is something that I’ve done, but I don’t know if you’ve done it before. I made a 7 course Romanian dinner for my friends at the request of my Little Romanian friend, Cristina. It was the most difficult food endeavor I’ve ever done. Now, it doesn’t hafta be Romanian, but it should be multiple courses. My friends were so stuffed they looked comatose!!! :) PICK ME, PICK ME!!! Lata…

  • David

    hmmm … I suggest the following for a challenge…

    Since Spring and Easter have strong birth/re-birth symbolism associations, I suggest that you either spend time re-acquainting yourself with a part of yourself from whom you feel distanced or developing a totally new aspect to your Cygnoir/Halsted-self.

    One path is very introspective, while the other can be reflective or just fun.

    I don’t know you well enough to suggest which path is the better fit.

    Just my $.02. Good Luck!

    David

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/fivecats fivecats

    Spend a day with a child, someone between the ages, say, of 8 and 10. Ask them to take you someplace special so you can both take pictures with your camera(s).

    You’ll learn a lot. Probably have more fun than you expected, too.

    (See? This is a whole lot shorter than a NOW entry.) :-)

    …

  • http://www.beyondthesun.com lily

    Ooh, ooh!!! Let me in on the Y! thingie! Puh-leez?!