H is for...

There are good habits and there are bad habits.  Currently, I am trying to incorporate a few good habits into my life so that I will be happier and healthier as I sprint towards the finish line.  One of these habits is running.  Let me backtrack here for a second.  I used to be a smoker and I'm talking a heavy, two pack a day chain smoker.  On a good day, I had the lung capacity of a hamster.  But, I was able to kick that cigarette addiction a few years back  with the assistance of nicotine lozenges.  I started out with Commit, but found that I liked the Wal Mart generic variety because they were cheaper and tasted more like candy.  And guess what?  I am now thoroughly addicted to the lozenges.  Like a nincompoop, I disregarded the right way to quit.  Ya know, like in three months with a gradual decrease in the nicotine consumed.  

Every day, I pop those tasty little lozenges like they were Altoids.  I drink with them.  I sleep with them.  I eat one right after eating.  In other words, they have become another nasty, expensive habit that I need to break.  Like today.  

Yes, you heard me right. Today I am cutting them out cold turkey like I should have done with the cancer sticks two years ago.  Goodbye weekly $30 box of nicotine and Hello, .99 bag of Atomic Fireballs!

Let's see if I have any teeth left by next week.  So, back to running.  I decided to run a 5k a few months back so I did the Couch to 5K app on my phone.  At first it was really tough, but after I hit some magic moment on that treadmill, I began to love it.  Each day I walked out of the gym floating on air.  Endorphins rock!  And accomplishing a goal rocks too.  My 5k is June 1.  We'll see if I can actually run outside with wind blowing and Texas heat and humidity assaulting my senses.

So, the other habit I'm trying to incorporate into my life is writing on a daily basis.  I'm one of those writers who sits down when the mood strikes and lately, well, the mood hasn't been striking.  And I've got to finish this book so that the editor that I'm paying actually has a story to rip apart.  It's got to have a beginning, a middle and an end.  And it's got to make sense.  And she needs it April 20th.  Yes, I have 290 pages.  Yes, it's book length, but does it flow?  Is there a narrative arc?  Will people care?  I have no idea.  I'm so lost and so so distracted.

Which brings me to the A to Z blog challenge.  I thought very deeply today about throwing in the towel and giving up. Heck, nobody would really notice.  But then, I thought, wait a second, this is daily writing.  And it is a good habit.  But then I thought, well it's not really fair to the people who visit my blog and I don't respond and visit their blog because I get distracted and stop writing on the project that is closest to my heart.  So, this is what I decided on.  I will post every day.  If you post a comment, you're a saint.  You are getting some seriously good Kharma by doing so.  Your reward will be delayed, however.  I will visit your blog and sing your praises on April 21.  In fact, the last week of April will be a marathon of blog hopping.  

I know it's unconventional.  I know it's sort of lame.  But, what can I say?  Sometimes we have to put ourselves first.

I wish you all great success.  If you want to hear me bitch and complain till April 20, stop on in.  The door is always open.

G is for...

Guides

On my B post, I had a contest to see who could figure out the writer I was going to see that night. Sarah Holmes, a fellow A to Z blogger, guessed Anne Lamott and she was correct.  As the winner, she got to pick my "G" topic.  She said "guides."  So, here ya go...

First of all, I feel kind of silly winging the old A to Z without a theme.  I am supposedly the "death writer" and  here I am writing about baseball and books and writing conferences.  Yes, I have a life beyond death, but I doubt anyone is popping in here with the intention of finding out what I ate at the Ranger's game.  But now that I've gone and brought it up, you're probably mildly curious, aren't you?  It was a bacon wrapped hot dog, which may or may not be the official hot dog of Los Angeles.  

There are many guides I could talk about here, but I decided to just wing it and write the death writer's guide to life.

1.  Talk to people you love about death, specifically your death and what your wishes are.  Do you want your cremains made into fireworks?  Now is probably a good time to let people know that.

2.  Be grateful every day for at least one thing.  I guarantee you that even if you think your life is crappy, someone else thinks it's awesome.  (Oh, and if you think your life is crappy, it is.)

3.  Do one thing a day that scares you.  

4.  Hang out with animals.  Even if every person you encounter thinks you're a jerk, the dog at the animal shelter thinks you're a rock star, especially if you take it home, feed it and rub its belly.

5.  If you want to be loved, act loving.

6.  Water.  Lots and lots of water.

7.  Walk outside.

8.  Wear sunscreen.

9.  Laugh, especially at yourself.

10.  Read a book a week.  Discuss that book with someone.

So, what guides you?  

F is for...

Fans

Yesterday, I went to go see the opening day game for the Texas Rangers in Arlington.  My husband and I love baseball and the three years that we've lived in Texas, the Rangers have gone to the World Series twice.  We've been to several games, but we're usually seated in the cheap-o nosebleed section.  But not today.  These tickets were gifted to him and they were SWEET.

But, and there's always a but.  We were seated very near Josh Hamilton in the right field.  Josh Hamilton used to play for the Rangers but he left for the Angels after last season.  Mr. Hamilton had this to say about his time in Texas...

"Texas, especially Dallas, has always been a football town. The good with the bad is they're supportive, but they also got a little spoiled at the same time, pretty quickly. You can understand a really true, true baseball town. There's true baseball fans in Texas but it's not a true baseball town."

So, this did not sit well with Ranger fans.  They loved Josh Hamilton.  He was a player that could knock a ball out of the park and when he was good, he was really, really good.  But when he was bad, he liked to blame it on Red Bull and quitting nicotine and stuff like that.  Oh, Josh.  The mere mortals of the world who don't make millions of dollars have to do that humdrum/icky no fun stuff all the time and we still have to show up and do our best.

So, here you were, Josh, back in Texas.  And boy did the forty-eight thousand fans at today's game vocalize their dislike for you.

I didn't boo.  Or call him a traitor or bring up his drug and alcohol addictions.  I merely clapped when we struck him out.  I know why people feel the way they do about him, but I didn't want to focus on the negative.  I was enjoying the sun on my face, the bacon wrapped hot dog and a day with my husband at a ball game.  

Are you a baseball fan?  Who's your team?