The Pink Away Kit

With May being the month that I finally get organized, it’s funny how I’m two (or, three) days late with my first weekly update.

Baby steps, guys. You can’t ask me to give up all my bad habits at once, can you?

That said, I am not going to put this off any longer, not going to do the whole “two weeks in one post” thing because then I wouldn’t do that, as that post would be extraordinarily long. So, basically, I’m going to write about the first week went.

(Yeah, I really can’t take credit for that title–it’s something I’ve seen on Tumblr and I’m always horrible at titles so I stole it.)

In my last entry I talked a little bit about #WriteMotivation and my plans for this month. I wanted to delve further into what I’m getting into for the next month. Basically: I’ve set a few goals with regard to my writing and through this blog will be held accountability on my way to achieving them.

So here’s my to-do list:

I’ve never been the most organized person. I’ve tried to take steps toward organizing my life, steps like Operation 101. It isn’t that I’m unable to focus myself on completing tasks–it’s just that my mind runs so chaotically that I rarely have a clear plan for what I’m going to do next. In some ways, I think this is good: that chaos can, if used correctly, add a little spontaneity and excitement to life. It is certainly helpful in creative endeavors, including writing.

That said, everything in moderation. The thing about chaos is that is so difficult to control and when it gets out of control it can be nearly impossible to reign back in. Just as I’ve never been one to want to enslave myself to fixed schedules and to-do lists, neither can I operate without some kind of structure.

This Ched Evans rape conviction has revealed to me a few things about a few fellow soccer fans that I would rather have never known–because now I know that a few fellow soccer fans that I had respected for their soccer opinions and knowledge are actually misogynistic rape apologists, and I’d rather keep going on believing in the best of people.

The story, simplified, is this: Ched Evans, who plays for Sheffield United FC, was accused of rape by a teenager who claimed she had no memory of what happened and that she believed she had been drugged. Prosecution claimed (and successfully proved) that she was too drunk to consent to sex. It’s interesting, because another footballer who was with her, and who was also accused, was found not guilty. (From what I gather, she’d been with this first guy, Port Vale defender Clayton McDonald, who then texted Evans to say that he had “got a bird.” Evans showed up later, and that is when this all took place.)

Another birthday has arrived and I’m contemplating the first 25 years of my life and wondering what I’ve done wrong, right, and everything in between. I’m thinking of time, how back when I was 23 or 18 or 15 I always seemed to have enough years left to accomplish everything I needed and wanted.

Lately, though, I’ve come to see that everything is limited and that if I wait too long I will never get started–much less finished. That’s the point of Operation 101 and every other project, big and small, I’ve taken on. Pre-emptive panic. Do it now while time is still in abundance because the time won’t wait for you.

Two weeks ago, my grandfather’s time came up. Ninety seems like a lot of years, doesn’t it? Then again, when you’re young, six months seems endless.