All posts tagged: Life

Post #54: Giving Up Cable TV

Published by

Living without cable has not been as difficult as I imagined it would. It’s been over a month since we pulled the plug, and I have found it liberating. There’s no more ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’, and I feel smarter for it. Since giving up our cable TV habit, we’re communicating more. We read more books, engage more in our writing and creative challenges, and fill the time with discussions whilst lounging on our rug. We listen to music, we dance (well, I do), and we jam with our new instruments. We have not gone off TV cold turkey – we still watch a few things via Netflix streaming – but there’s a more healthy balance in our life. But I do miss being able to fast forward the ads in Jeopardy. *** Welcome to the fifty-fourth post of  the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. At least three days a week until the end of the year, I will post about a topic of choice. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), …

Post #39: Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Published by

Welcome to the thirty-ninth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. The Great Writing Challenge 2012 has already been a great opportunity to stretch my creative muscles, and I am grateful for your feedback and your support. And so I want to pay it forward. My friend, Carolyn, has set herself a challenge of a different kind, and I wanted to share it with you. Each weekend, Carolyn has set herself a goal of doing one thing she has not done/gone to/experienced before in the ‘Stop Procrastinating’ Challenge (alternatively called the ‘Get Off Your Damn Ass and Do Things’ Challenge). There’s so many cool things to do in this city, but it’s so easy to let inertia take over. So each weekend, she’s going …

Post #35: The Intimation of Life

Published by

Welcome to the thirty-fifth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. This morning, we enjoyed slowly waking up and adjusting to the day. We made a breakfast of oatmeal and bagels, with a cuppa tea for me and coffee for the American, and switched on Fox Soccer. It was Bolton v Tottenham game from White Heart Lane. Little did we know what would happen next, live on television. The 23-year-old Bolton midfielder, Fabrice Muamba, had a heart attack. Right there on the pitch. The looks on the faces of the players from both sides said a thousand words. Muamba had apparently stopped breathing and they were resuscitating him on the field. It was horrendous. Part of hearing terrible news is the about-face you encounter …

Post #34: It’s Bracket Time!

Published by

Welcome to the thirty-fourth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. Hurrah, it’s bracket time! It’s that time of year where I get to fill out my Bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament. I just watched the President fill out his bracket (the ‘Barack-ket’, as ESPN was calling it). The Pres knows his basketball! He tipped the Tar Heels to win it this year, but I went for Georgetown. I went there on my exchange/study abroad program, so I have to pick them to win. Hoya Saxa! At the moment, professional Basketball is really lacking that je ne sais quoi. The NBA has suffered a great deal from the lock out, and the Golden State Warriors are perennial cellar dwellers. There’s just something about …

Post #31: The Obligatory California New-Agey Granola Epiphany

Published by

Welcome to the thirty-first post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. I feel as though I am emerging from an extended period of fluctuation in my life and am awakening a renewed vigour within. I have experienced great moments (days, even) of clarity, and I have been actively shaping my life to be what I want it to, and what it ought to be. I have goals and dreams to achieve, and I can see now exactly what it is that I need to do to achieve it. It’s so empowering. The fog of uncertainty is clearing! I have enough clarity to know that it feels fleeting, so I’m taking charge of these moments to chart, grow, learn and develop before it fades. Maybe this …

Post #11: Belonging

Published by

Welcome to the eleventh post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. A friend at work surprised me with big gift last week. It was her way of saying thank you for helping her and her new Aussie husband with their immigration paperwork. And it was big! And heavy! I had thought myself immune to the giddy joy of unexpected gifts, but thankfully not! My friend had aced it: a bottle of red, some really hard-to-find Heinz beans and something I didn’t even know I was dying for: a jaffle maker (or as we always called it, a ‘toasted cheese sandwich maker’). At once, I could taste the toasted cheese sandwich-y goodness of my childhood. Scalding my mouth on tinned spaghetti jaffles. Easy Friday night …