Stretching My Perception Of Time

One of the fascinating things about blogging here on an almost daily basis is the way it stretches and deepens my relationship to time. This past month, I often felt as if it had been February for a very long time, and not because of the ill happenings in the world and the bad weather; nor because I was busier than usual (though I was plenty occupied); but because (I believe) the chronicling of my days made them weigh more on the scales of my memory.

In the past, I’ve felt months fly by so quickly, and even when they were wonderful months, I had the sinking sensation that they were in some way slipping through my fingers. As someone who experiences mortality as a visceral black wave more often than I would like, I treasure any bulwark against it, and these chronicled days feel more deeply lived, and seem to have slowed my experience of time down through their weight. And that is a very, very good thing, and outweighs all the goals that I did not achieve this month.

They were ambitious goals, and I knew once I accepted the role in Blood Brothers that some would fall away. Here’s how I did in bold below:

Goals/Steps to take in February:

• Finish (and in many cases, begin) goal-setting and action planning for my various areas of interest in 2014; I did not move this forward much at all.
• Finish The Sea Concerto, one additional full length play, and 15 pages of a new full length play towards my Play a Month goal; I finished The Sea Concerto, and am 41 pages deep into Angel Juice: not bad, but only halfway to meeting this goal.
• Finish the second chapter of the first book in my After Earth series; I am really only 1/5th of the way through the second chapter, but mostly just overjoyed to have begun writing this book again.
• Complete writing and Spanish practice every day–can I go a whole month without missing a single day? Nope, I can’t, but I managed 22/28 days.
• Stress test our current monthly budget to see if it’s feasible; Accomplished! And a revised budget set for March.
• Write two poems for The Book of Hours; No poems this month, which means I’m due four poems this month to keep pace.
• Add four quotes to The Hyperlink Bible; Success!
  
• Write the first post of the Ethics for the Anthropocene essay series; I didn’t even start. 
• Write the first post of The Common Reader essay series; I’m about half-way through the first post.
• Practice music at least once a week;  Only two out of the four weeks.
• Practice juggling at least once a week; Only once.
• Participate in at least one direct social justice action a month; Success! Participated in the Keystone Pipeline action on 2/3.
• Jog at least once a week; Failure, didn’t jog once (I was sick for some time, as far as excuses go).
• Do yoga at least once a week (setting the bar nice and low!); Only two out of the four weeks.
• Double the frequency of my push-ups and squat jumps; Started strong on this goal but then got laid up sick.
• Submit plays to at least three contests/opportunities a week;  Only managed four submissions all month.
• Create an action plan for my indie theatre book idea; Have not yet begun.
  

So, in some ways, my goal-setting for March is easy, because I didn’t accomplish most of my goals for February:

Goals/Steps to take in March:

• Finish (and in many cases, begin) goal-setting and action planning for my various areas of interest in 2014; 
  
• Finish Angel Juice, one additional full length play, and 15 pages of a new full length play towards my Play a Month goal;
• Finish the second chapter of the first book in my After Earth series; 
  
• Complete writing and Spanish practice every day–can I go a whole month without missing a single day?
• Write four poems for The Book of Hours; 
• Add four quotes to The Hyperlink Bible; 
  
• Write the first post of the Ethics for the Anthropocene essay series; 
• Write the first post of The Common Reader essay series;
• Practice music at least once a week;  
  
• Practice juggling at least once a week;
• Participate in at least two direct social justice action a month; 
  
• Jog at least once a week; 
  
• Do yoga at least once a week;
• Double the frequency of my push-ups and squat jumps; 
  
• Submit plays to at least three contests/opportunities a week;
• Create an action plan for my indie theatre book idea; 
  

And away we go again!