One Month In...

A recap of sorts…

It has been exactly one month since I officially resolved to embark upon a life “cleaning” mission, and so far…

So good.

My diet was easier to start to change than I expected, as resolving to dump unhealthy in favor of fruits and vegetables was a welcome transition. And results aren’t impossible to note – clothes fit better and I flat out feel better. The rare occasion I’ve had a bite or two of bread this past month has left me feeling sluggish even, which indicates to me that I’ve been moving in the proper direction.

A tougher challenge has been making sure my gym/workout regiment stays on track, which isn’t as easy as I’d hoped with a busy and evolving schedule. In month 2 I’ll be pushing that forward a bit, especially given that the one workout I forced myself to keep at as planned and accurately turned into the best workout I’ve had in about a year or so… perhaps more. Signs of life are out there, I can tell.

On the rest of the personal care front, I’ve worked through my antibiotics for my neck, I’ve discovered what’s covered by insurance with my chiropractor(s), and I’ve found a new dentist.

I bought a couch, and maybe some new bed sheets, and some plants to liven up the work and home.

I pitched a project to a producer in L.A. and now owe them a great draft of a script. Emboldened by that push, I put together a pitch package for Marvel Comics and sent that off, as well.

I started managing my finances like a hawk, both on my own and through Expensr. Opened a savings account, started a credit payment plan, and am positioning to invest and more.

My book reading list for the year started to get worked through. I read this:

And this:

And am working on this now:

A sign of maturity

Just when I think my Renaissance Year is the point at which I'll be too old to enjoy ironic t-shirts, T-Shirt Hell has to go ahead and release this one.

I won't buy it and I won't wear it (so that's a proud moment), but I'll be damned if I don't think it's clever.

Plots and Renovations

I’ve been trying of late to put together a natural progression of the next couple of years of my life – not in any set schedule or timeline, but more of a general idea of when I’d like to do certain things, and one of those things that needs to be considered is going to grad school.

Heading back to class(es) and obtaining a Master’s Degree has always been somewhere on the horizon for me, but I’ve managed to sneak up to 30 without having faithfully considered it. Certainly, I flirted briefly with the idea of getting an M.F.A. in Playwrighting at one point, going so far as to speak with the school about my candidacy, but never to the point where I’ve factored in application deadlines or GRE scores or anything of the sort.

And then two days ago I randomly saw an advertisement for an MBA Tour convention and decided it was worth checking out. At the very least, I might learn what programs are in the area (with me considering an MBA in a marketing concentration to be the most valuable to me and my career these days). Then I can dig in to see what my company has in the way of tuition reimbursement – with their once-mentioned career development budget. The convention isn’t until September 11th (NICE), so I might force myself to plan and prepare some information beforehand.

***

Not content with sitting in one chair every day of my life, I bought a couch the other day. I’d say that was in my Renaissance Year plan, but in reality it was about 8 or 9 months overdue since I moved into my current residence. Now I can actually have guests! Who are allowed to sit down! I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of this newly acquired butt space. (Other than think that that’s gross.)

What I’ve noticed more than anything, however, is that home retail shopping is an infectious, powerful disease. By simply buying a couch (and thereby pounding the ceiling of my home-spending budget for a short period), I now feel possessed to get that nightstand, and that end table, and that filing system, and all of these other items that I’ve subsisted on for a little while without but immediately consider the most important purchase I’ll ever make… next. Want a sandwich, Aaron? Tough – you need that coat rack for your living room. Curious.

The Music Project

Since the start of July, I’ve instituted a weekly tradition wherein I email my 14 year-old sister Slammer a new song for her to download. The song may not be new in and of itself, but my hope is that it’s new to her, and she’ll get some unseen value out of listening to it. Whether its by her loving it or by her just hearing things that her older brother deems quality music, the point is that I’m on a mission to broaden her musical exposure.

My plan is to do this every week for 52 weeks, all of which I’ll be giving her an Itunes gift card for so as to sponsor the “musical journey.” Part of me is doing it out of brotherly love, while the other part is insanely jealous, in that I’d get a total kick out of someone forcing me to try new things every single Sunday evening that doesn’t require extensive sporting equipment or a change in my ethical structure.

Below is this week’s email to her and this week’s selection… chosen as such because it summed up my entire outlook on Saturday.

“S –

This week’s song comes to you on the heels of a weekend spent seemingly mired in nostalgia… a Saturday afternoon spent accomplishing a large number of tasks all beneath the weight of vivid memories, recollections, and a dash of déjà vu.

Such is the course when you’ve sort of locked yourself in for serious self-discovery, I suppose.

Many years ago, I was your age, and when I was, this week’s song was having a run of popularity. It’s by the band Weezer, which has been around for a fair amount of time by this point, and while I own 3 of their albums I can’t confess to being a big fan of theirs. This is jarring to me in a way, because in the back of my mind and on the periphery of my pop-culture immersion, Weezer strikes me as a band that should be a bigger deal to me.

This is different in the way that, say, U2 is in my opinion the most important band in the world. (Not to be confused of course with the band Radiohead, who I will widely argue is the only band that matters anymore.)

No, Weezer should be a bigger deal because they’ve been around awhile, and they’ll always have this song to take me instantly back to when I was a sophomore in high school who just got his driver’s license and blasted this song with the windows down – blissfully unaware that life at 17, and at 18, and at 25, and more, would be rushing past and before long this very song would serve as little more than a vivid memory… a recollection… or in Saturday’s case, when it came on the radio I rolled the windows down and cranked up the volume and was oh so aware of the déjà vu at that very moment.

“Come Undone (The Sweater Song)” by Weezer.

Enjoy!”

9 Days Later

My access to updating here was shunted the past week and a half with an increased work schedule and the week-long visit of my family in town from Ohio, yet while I was away playing tour guide and keyboard-less I was still reaping some Renaissance Year benefits.

Since I expect the diet regulations to be the most difficult part of these next 12 months, I can at least find solace in the fact that there are some ever-so-slight noticeable changes. Clothes are starting to feel just a weeeee bit better, and I’m much better-rested. And its funny how you lose the taste for bread when you stop touching it.

Another benefit is that focusing on growth is a terribly awesome excuse for spending a ton of time in Microsoft Excel – creating a training program, for instance, or designing the most pride-inducing spreadsheet I’ve ever seen… a multi-tabbed budget spreadsheet that tracks my financial planning by the penny. I credit that effort with pushing me to do something I have not done since I was about 10 years old – open a savings account. I can track those efforts month by month.

Now I’m on a mad dash to finish the script I pitched to Los Angeles. Interest was present and a script was requested, so I’m tightening and drafting, pushing to get the best damn draft imaginable in the hands of a potential agent.

Next month, I take over the Dominican Republic and install myself as a dictator, crushing opposition beneath my thumb in a despotic fit of rage and power. I’m not kidding. I made a spreadsheet for it and everything.