1- Have a fresh start.

I started feeling like I needed a fresh start when I went shopping with my mother and bought twelve pairs of new earrings.

Now… I know that sounds incredibly materialistic and in a way it is. But I almost feel like one of those What Not To Wear participants who will say things like ‘This is a whole new beginning’ or ‘I’m a whole new me now’ by the end of the show. As dumb as it sounds, getting a change of wardrobe – or in my case, earrings – can change the way you look at your life.

Metaphorically speaking, the earrings represent the new me. They don’t resemble the ones I used to own, which tended to be darker, more childish, and involve skulls or bolts of thunder. The new ones are quirkier, more colorful, brighter, more original. Not made of plastic. As I bought them, I thought: “As soon as I get home I’ll chuck the old ones away.” Which isn’t a thought that often comes to my mind because I tend to be an item whore and enjoy keeping every single trinket that passes through my life. That night however, I realized that there are a lot of things that I keep from my past that I no longer need. Things that aren’t useful, things that won’t even be that enjoyable rereading in ten years time, things that are keeping me in the past rather than in the present where I should be looking toward the future. Having great memories of the past is great, but having dozens upon dozens of souvenirs and mementos plastered on my four walls was like being kept in my personal time machine, and it just wasn’t healthy. The stage I went through was great, but I could see myself sprinting towards the next one, needing to have my four white walls back; a blank canvas to create new art on.

I was sitting on my bed, looking around my room and suddenly thinking: “Well I don’t need that anymore. Or that. That can go too. Why did I ever want to have that up there?!” and not feeling attached to the items or images anymore. I went around and starting taking them down, crumpling them up and chucking them away. It felt good, like I was someone who had been sitting in the back of AA meetings for months and deciding to stand up one night and tell their story. It was the exhale after realizing you had been holding your breath, the oblivious smile after a confessional when a weight is lifted off your shoulders.

I began to become addicted to that feeling, in the sense that I knew I wouldn’t stop going through my junk until I had chucked all the useless rubbish. Throwing away old clothes, my rock collection I forgot even existed, boxes full of random keychains and ‘note to self!’s and laces. I even went so far as to go through the hundreds of pictures on my computer and throw out the ones I had ‘outgrown’. It was incredible how much I had parted with in the end, and even though my walls look empty… it just feels better this way. Cleaner, in a sense, and I’m settling into the new phase of my life quite nicely. I don’t know what is supposed to happen in this new phase, but I can’t wait for the challenges life has waiting for me. (:

Smile. by GracetoRise

8- Send anonymous letters.

Coffeehero came over today, and we started on my numberEight. :D
We picked out 6 names from the phonebook, more or less randomly: We chose those that had something to do with A Series of Unfortunate Event (i.e: Looking for last names such as ‘Baudelaire’ and ‘Olaf’.)

Then we decided what we would put in each envelope:

• 1x What we think you are [ie : "Your names makes me think of a business man. Someone who works behind a desk but really wants to go out and save the world."]
• 1x random citation
• 1x random definition
• 1x crepe recipe
• 1x recommended film
• 1x recommended song
• 1x recommended book
• 1x letter, signed Salmonheadsoup&Coffeehero
• 1x (each) mini biography of anonymous author self
• 1x paperbag.. entry.. poem.. thing. By Salmonhead.

We started with the recommendations, writing one book, song, and movie recommendation (or irrecommendation in Coffeehero’s “The Happening” case) for each lucky stranger.
Then, I wrote out the first impression the person’s name gave us, passed the paper on to Coffeehero who would write her section of the letter before she sent it off to me to write my paragraph to them. I would give it back to her to sign, and vice versa. I think my favorite part was signing all the letters at the end.
Then I wrote out my randompaperbaggarble (for all those not in the know, it’s a bunch of random lines I made up and posted on a blog, saying I had found the thing on a paperbag at the beach. Ever since, I’ve kind of had this secret yearning to actually write it on a paperbag and leave it at the beach so that my lie could become someone’s truth, but I figured no one would actually take the time to pick up someone’s garbage and read what’s on it. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.) while she wrote out the crepe recipe six times.

Then we started watching Steven Strait The Covenant.
Caleb: *SMILES*
Coffeehero & Salmonheadsoup: *LAUGH*

It’s good to have nice friends you can do strange things with. (:

Our homework would be to write our own mini-biography, and next time we’ll assemble everything and send our letters off in the mail!! This is so exciting. I just wish I could see the person’s face when they receive our random letters. ♥

Summerlist – Just add awesome, round objects, and other depressing things to this mix of infernal habitual excretory habits and other childish mugs filled with sunshine and awesome.*

*Coffeehero-approved title.

[x] 1- Have a fresh start.
[ ] 2- Eat a bag of cherries in the movie theatre.
[ ] 3- Paint each finger nail a different color.
[ ] 4- Dress up fancy at a casual place.
[ ] 5- Have a photoshoot.
[ ] 6- Show the versatility of a red balloon.
[ ] 7- Taste every color of the rainbow.
[onmyway!] 8- Send anonymous letters.
[ ] 9- Don’t say no.
[x] 10- Turn around; look back.
[ ] 11- Don’t take the usual route.
[ ] 12- Go alone.
[ ] 13- Celebrate an Unbirthday.
[ ] 14- Light a candle for someone.
[ ] 15- Walk everywhere in heels for one whole day.
[ ] 16- Don’t touch your face for one day.
[ ] 17- Don’t come prepared.
[ ] 18- “Can I lay in your bed all day?”
[ ] 19- Lay a head on a shoulder.
[x] 20- Make a new LJ.
[ ] 21- Pass it on: surprise a friend. ♥
[ ] 22- Paint on a canvas : create.
[ ] 23- You can’t know what you do & don’t like until you try it a l l . So try it all.
[ ] 24- Storm out.
[ ] 25- Think twice.
[ ] 26- Pack your bags.
[ ] 27- Collect them all.
[ ] 28- Send a postcard.
[onmyway!] 29- Buy a pair of shoes. (Per Lopes’ description)
[ ] 30- Pray in a church.
[ ] 31- Put your earphones in, but don’t turn your iPod on.
[ ] 32- Give something life.
[ ] 33- Get a job : Buy a camera.
[x] 34- Thank someone you don’t usually talk to, but have always wanted to show your appreciation towards.
[ ] 35- Spend the day reading outside.
[ ] 36- Catch the summer sun.
[x] 37- Go to Jazzfest.
[ ] 38- Walk outside at sundown.
[ ] 39- Swim at night.
[ ] 40- Write entry on NewYork trip.
etcetc. (:

[July19'08] Last updated.