18 Feb 99 
 
Well, Lent has begun.  If one remembers, last year all I did was give up 
meat (truthfully, just beef.  But since that's the only meat I eat, same 
difference).  This year I'm taking a "proactive" stance.  (Why does one 
say "proactive" when "active" is actually the same meaning?  Do people 
think it gives their speech more punch?) 
 
Instead of _giving_ up stuff, I'm making sure I _do_ stuff. (Hi Stu!) 
This comes as a three-point plan (one point has a quote, even! -- 
actually 2 quotes): 
 
Physical: 
 
As my Dad said, "Be a good animal." 
 
And in a little more indirect way, as Andrew Slivka wrote in NYPress a 
couple of weeks ago, "People should pay more attention to the 
consciousness-altering capabilities of food, and I don't mean just in the 
ways that suburban youths do -- by smoking banana peels, for instance, or 
by forcing nutmeg down the hamster's throat to see if the animal flips 
out.  Mystics know what's obvious -- that what you consume has a lot to do 
with how you feel physically -- but they also take it to the next level, 
accepting that how you feel physically has to do with whether your mind's 
working clean or not."  Right on! 
 
The points are these: 
- eating fruit every day 
- eating veggies every day 
- not eating meat more than once a day (and probably less often than that) 
- exercise (non-walking) at least twice a week 
- walking expedition once a week, under reasonable weather conditions 
- adequate sleep 
 
basically, do what I should be doing, Lent or no. 
 
Mental: 
 
- working on my research at least one hour every day 
- doing guitar at least an hour every other day 
- listen to music more 
- keep going to Speaking Freely, German 
- a little bit of crochet per day, come up with new patterns 
 
Spiritual: 
 
- daily prayer 
- do a rosary per week 
- regular fasts on friday (and no, this doesn't contradict with my earlier 
eating points) 
- RCIA (which I was doing anyway) 
- confession (I've got to think about the sins to confess.  It's kind of 
tough when one hasn't been to confession in over 10 years.) 
 
 
I think that should cover everything, don't you think?  Much of this 
stuff, actually all of this stuff, are things that I should be doing 
year-round.  I'm seeing this as a time for _true_ new years' resolutions. 
I've still kept my promise not to buy new yarn until I finish a sweater. 
I'm working on a, um, tank sweater right now. 
 
Anyway, that's all for now.  Ma won $1300 in slots last weekend, I won a 
hand-crafted crochet hook in an online draw, and I'm looking forward to a 
master class on chords next weekend.  LAAAAAAAA!