Day 32: Be A Vegetarian

     So, right now its -9 degrees outside. That means that its so cold, that even if the temperature magically shot up a hefty 41 degrees, it would still be cold enough to consider getting your tongue stuck to a metal pole a practical risk. Its so cold out that we were given a snow day, not because of the amount of snow that had fallen (about 2 inches), but because of the amount of ice on the roads and the dangerously low temp. My friend had to e-mail his teachers and explain to them that he couldn't get to class because of the inch thick layer of ice that had encased his car. He literally broke his ice scrapper in an attempt to get the ice off. It snapped in half. Its that kind of cold that justs slaps sheets of frozen pain onto your cheeks with every whip of the wind. It penetrates every inch of your lungs with cold, brute hate as you inhale. Its terrible, and I fucking hate winter.

     The whole winter thang had nothing to do with my challenge today, but I just felt like getting that off my chest. So in an effort to distract myself from my own haterid/loathing of winter, I decided to focus on my new thing of the day. I decided to be a vegetarian. Now, I think that its safe to assume that you know the jist of how this project goes. I pick a new thing to do every day, and today, I picked to not eat meat. I know what your thinking, thats way too easy. People go without eating meat all the time, even dinosaurs probably. And thats true, I can even admit to not consuming meat for a 24 hour period at least a couple times in the past(usually when I'm working at my dish washing job, their food just isn't worth it anymore). Thats why this challenge is going to be in effect for the remainder of the week. 7 days of resisting anything from prime rib to road kill. Now that sounds like a challenge worth doing, and don't worry, I'll still be doing new things every day as well as attempting this longer term project. We are witnessing history in the making people. This is the first time since the start of this project that one of the challenges required anything more than a 24 hour attention span. That means that this may be a week long endeavor, but it only counts as one day's challenge. I made it through today pretty well. I just had some cereal, potatoes and a bean and cheese burrito. Lets hope that the next 6 days go as smooth.

Day 9: Front Flip

It was just another day which meant another challenge. But today was a cold, sleepy, snow covered day, and so today's challenge was cold, but mild (at least compared to some of the other challenges) one. I planned on making a snow sculpture in the backyard. I thought it would be a fun way to get creative and take advantage of the snowy wonderland outside. I researched some pictures of sculptures constructed completely out of snow to get an idea of what I should try. It was apparent that these elaborate and highly intricate pieces were too complicated and time consuming for a rookie like me. I was a bit intimidated but not yet ready to give up. I went to the back yard and started to pile the snow into a huge mass before I would attack it with furious creativity and what not. I shoveled towards my soon-to-be-masterpiece, building it up to a 3 foot long by 2 foot deep blob. The mess of snow was ready to be molded into pure awesomeness but the anti-packable properties of the snow proved to be problematic. It would collapse and crumble as soon as I laid a finger on it. Poop. The snow sculpture challenge was over before it even started. So, I did what any other self respecting teenager would do... I jumped in the pile. It collapsed instantly and snow was everywhere. Thats about when that whole "destruction breeds creation" rule came into play. Since the snow was so fun and comfortable to jump into, I decided to return to an old challenge that I had failed a while ago (before this project even started up). The challenge was to front flip off the retaining wall in the backyard. I chickened out last time out of fear of me braking my neck. So I repacked the snow next to the wall to make a cushion and talked my little brother (Sean) into test trying the landing. He jumped and flopped on his back but didn't complain or even hint that it hurt. His willingness and successful test flight gave me some confidence, so I did something that I had never ever done before, front flipped off something (I don't count trampolines or diving boards cause thats lil' kid shit). Jump. Tuck. Flop. I landed straight on my ass and was surprised how close I got and how pain free the process was. Sean and I took turns attempting to land the flip and each time we would both get within farting distance of sticking the maneuver. But each time, we failed. This went on for probably a half hour; running, jumping, flipping, repacking the snow, repeating. Pretty soon we realized that our pillow of snow wasn't as comfy as it used to be and we were numb in the fingertips. We were sore and cold and tired and still out of reach of a flip. We couldn't get it, and I still haven't gotten it. The front flip has eluded me once again but this time, I consider the challenge a success. I may not have landed the flip still, but that wasn't the challenge in the first place. The challenge was to try something new and I did that. I gathered the courage to try the front flip, which is waaaaaay farther than I got last time. I tried it, and failed, but the important part is that I tried something new. Maybe I'll actually land it sometime.