Day 8: Take a Silly Picture of Yourself

Yeah, I skipped from day 2 to day 8. I'm slightly rebellious. I've decided I'm going to do all 31 days, just in the order I want to. The point is to do them all. Anyway, day 8 is take a silly picture of yourself and explain how you were feeling at the time.

It's a silly picture so I am feeling silly. I chose this face because this is the ONLY silly face my mother used to make. I remember visiting her office and after people she really didn't want to talk to would leave her office she'd make this face. Also the shirt I'm wearing was her old DST shirt, kind of makes me think she's got my back when I wear this shirt. Well it's mine now. I wore it once and a friend thought my line name was Dee, as in, Dee from What's Happening. I know I can be snippy and sarcastic but I can't possibly be as bad as Dee Thomas.

Day 2: Clean Your Room

Had I not been doing this challenge I probably wouldn’t have cleaned my room today. The history of cleaning my room. My parents never told or made me clean my room. EVER. Actually we never had any real chores, things just somehow got done. So I cleaned my room this weekend. Took all of 30 minutes and was mainly putting up clothes and shoes I stripped out of when I got home from work and had piled up in one spot. I’m one of those organized disorder people so my room never looks like a total disaster. All of my clothes are strategically piled on the right corner of my bed and all my shoes are on the other corner on the floor. Throughout the week I think about cleaning my room to the extent that in my mind I can see where things should go and just don’t bother to put anything up.

Just like most things I want to do…most ideas live in my head. I need to put some action to those things. Perhaps the vision board assignment will help with that. It’s not like I have to look for anything to put on the vision board because all the info I plan on putting on my vision board is and has been in a pile on my coffee table. Been in the same spot about 3 weeks. I’m looking at the pile now.

Day 1: People Watch. Children of the Movement

Last night I attended a once in a lifetime event, the 90^th birthday celebration of Rev. Joseph Lowery. It really didn’t occur to me who might be in attendance until the day of and even as I was walking into the venue. I knew Stevie Wonder and a few other musical guests were going to be there but walking up to the Atlanta Symphony Hall I saw secret service outside, my mind immediately went to The President and First Lady but then I took it down a notch and realized Jimmy Carter lives here and they might be for him. But then I switched back to The President and thought maybe he sent some of his people. Well he did…Valerie Jarrett and Eric Holder to be exact. Anyway, it was an awesome musical tribute to a living part of history.

AND

I sang Happy Birthday to a 90 year old civil rights legend with Stevie Wonder playing and singing his version!

AND

I sang We Shall Overcome in a room full of people including the people who understood the true meaning of this song and through their service made it possible for me to have a better life. Rev. Joseph Lowery, Andrew Young, CT Vivian, Al Sharpton, John Lewis, the children of MLK. I’ve never been in a room with so many Civil Rights pioneers at one time and it’s not likely to happen again, actually I’m not sure how many people my age can say they’ve had the same experience. Needless to say I was moved.

So, about people watching. Living in Atlanta I’ve seen Bernice King a few times and she never seems happy. Her voice seems sad and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a true smile from her. It always seems like there is pain behind her smile, which I guess is understandable. Seems like being the child of a preacher who was also the most widely recognized Civil Rights leader has to be a gift and a curse. When her father died she was not quite 5 years old so she basically grew up without her father. When you think about it she probably got to know her father the same way I did, from books and through the stories of others. Her siblings on the other hand, probably have more of a recollection of him. I think she’s probably one of those “I just wanted a normal child hood” people. And not only is she the child of MLK but she’s also a minister so I’m sure it’s difficult to know who to trust. Attending a church led by a woman, I’m aware of the struggle of women in ministry and I hope that Bernice has a great support group of women around her. I hope she is blessed with an out of this world spirit of discernment because if I were her I’d probably be leary of the motives of most people that approach me.

Bernice King is not the only child of the civil rights so I wonder if there is some sort of “children of civil rights heroes” reunion or support group? I always hear about the sacrifices made by spouses of civil rights heroes but I’ve heard much, if anything about the lives of their children or how the movement impacted their lives. Perhaps they prefer to stay out of the lime light, but I still wonder if they ever get together and talk about their parents or if they feel the pressure to be great leaders like their parents were.

Live A Little

So I saw this over on Sepia Says... (she's already on day 5) blog and she saw it on Miss Lucy's Blog and I thought I’d give it a try. I need to mix up things a little anyway. I’ve gotten into a comfortable routine lately so I think trying the “Find Time To Live” challenge might be interesting if nothing else. Hopefully, I don’t fall off midway because I have a tendency to get bored with things so we’ll see. And there are a few things in the list that my fearful side already said I’m not going to do or I’m going to remix it and do it my way. Even decided I’d write about a few of the things listed but based on previous experiences and not actually do them again but that would be living in the past not the present. Feel free to try it yourself, you might be surprised at yourself when you step outside your comfort zone.

I haven't officially started but I've already revised Day One to suit my needs, so I see how this is probably going to go. This will probably turn into the Christie List. I'll try my best to post daily, perhaps that will keep me from making the posts too lengthy.

So here’s what I or you have to do to “Find Time To Live”:

Day One: People watch.

Day Two: Clean your room.

Day Three: Attend a networking event (or networking with someone).

Day Four: Research a topic you’ve always wanted to know more about.

Day Five: Read a few chapters from your favorite book or (like me) a book you haven’t completed yet.

Day Six: Brainstorm/strategize. Write out your future.

Day Seven: Take one thing off your “to do” list that you’ve been avoiding.

Day Eight: Take a silly picture of yourself and explain how you were feeling at the moment.

Day Nine: Make a new dish.

Day Ten: Work on a creative project.

Day Eleven: Rent a funny movie and laugh uncontrollably.

Day Twelve: Introduce yourself to someone new. Start a conversation with them.

Day Thirteen: Get me bodies! Dance to your favorite song.

Day Fourteen: Create a vision board.

Day Fifteen: No social media. (No twitter, no facebook)

Day Sixteen: Do a community service activity.

Day Seventeen: Go out for ice cream.

Day Eighteen: Sell some old stuff/de-clutter.

Day Nineteen: Play a board game.

Day Twenty: Meditate.

Day Twenty-One: Do something daring.

Day Twenty-two: Take a bath.

Day Twenty-three: Make a youtube video.

Day Twenty-four: Listen to music you wouldn’t normally listen to.

Day Twenty-Five: Ask someone out on a date.

Day Twenty-Six: Call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time.

Day Twenty-Seven: Create a budget for the weekend.

Day Twenty-Eight: Learn a few new words in a language other than your native tongue.

Day Twenty-Nine: Create a wish list or bucket list.

Day Thirty: Have a conversation with someone of another race/gender/culture/religion/political view etc, and be open to their perspective.

Day Thirty-One:Create a list of 31 things you’re grateful for.